Social memory and ritual performance

2016. ‘The social construction of place, mobility and stone in Neolithic South-West Britain: a case study from Mendip.’ In J. Leary and T. Kador eds., Moving on in Neolithic Studies: Understanding Mobile Lives, 169-186. Neolithic Studies Group Seminar Papers 14. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

Stone objects and the social construction of place come together in creating social identity within the limestone landscape of Neolithic Mendip. On Mendip lithic scatters predominantly consist of flint tools, cores and waste, interpreted as signatures of repeated seasonal visits. But, with these scatters other stone objects are also recovered: (Mendip) Old Red Sandstone and Greenstone, hammerstones, whetstones, hones or rubbers. These are portable stone objects, but in the later Neolithic to Beaker period, with the construction of henges, barrows and standing stones, this medium is incorporated into monumental projects adopting, or appropriating, the natural world. This chapter will discuss the changing perceptions and beliefs tied to long visited locales and the rationale for the selection of specific stone sources. Demonstrated is a relationship between cultural tradition/memory, a long attachment to place and cosmology. It is argued, with stone, spiritual attributes operated at different levels and contexts: small (object), large (monument), above-(activity at, or view to, or from) and below-ground (cave). Changing perceptions of stone and other elemental properties, such as water, are fundamental to understanding this stone landscape and those Stone Age communities who inhabited and moved around this unique socially constructed landscape.

Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 2010

Cambridge Archaeological Journal 21(1):138-139.

2007

2017

The social context of mines and quarries is fundamental to the interpretation of Neolithic stone extraction. Why did communities choose to exploit certain raw materials in preference to others which were often more accessible? To address this 168 global ethnographic studies were analysed to identify common trends in traditional extraction practices and produce robust statistics about the material signatures of these sites. Repeated associations emerged between storied locations, social networks and the organisation of extraction practices on the one hand, and features of the material world on the other (e.g. landforms, extraction practices, structured deposition), suggesting that we can now probably identify sites which were mythologised/storied locations, those owned, seasonally used, and those practicing ritualised extraction-all leading to product objectification. A second stage of analysis compared the ethnography to 223 global archaeological sites which produced similar patterning in the material record, 'For the archaeologist who is concerned with all phases of lithic technology, particularly production, the ethnographic documentation is very incomplete. When we consider the wealth of information available on the varieties of human experience, the information on the activities associated with quarries and workshops have to be ranked among the most abysmal. Early explorers apparently took little notice of lithic procurement and production practises. Generally, observations were restricted to village life or observations made along the route of travel. Lithic quarries were infrequently visited.' (Ericson 1984, 2).

2014. 'Changing Perceptions of Stone and Place within Neolithic Mendip, South-West Britain.' Proceedings of the Clifton Antiquarian Club vol. 10, 66-83., 2014

Stone objects and the social construction of place come together in creating social identity within the limestone landscape of Neolithic Mendip. On Mendip lithic scatters predominantly consist of flint tools, cores and waste, interpreted as signatures of repeated seasonal visits. But, with these scatters other stone objects are also recovered: (Mendip) Old Red Sandstone and Greenstone, hammerstones, whetstones, hones or rubbers. These are portable stone objects but in the later Neolithic to Beaker period, with the construction of henges, barrows and standing stones, this medium is incorporated into monumental projects adopting, or appropriating, the natural world. This paper will discuss the changing perceptions and beliefs tied to long visited locales and the rationale for the selection of specific stone sources. Demonstrated is a relationship between cultural tradition/memory, a long attachment to place and cosmology. It is argued, with stone, spiritual attributes operated at different levels and contexts: small (object), large (monument), above- (activity at, or view to, or from) and belowground (cave). Changing perceptions of stone and other elemental properties, such as water, are fundamental to understanding this stone landscape and those Stone Age communities who inhabited it.

This article considers the interpretation of stone and wood in Neolithic chambered tomb architecture in Britain and Ireland. Against a broader theoretical agenda of both relational materialities and animistic ontologies, it is argued that the qualities and essences of stones dictated their choice and use in monuments. Essentially, it was the hidden natures of stones which gave them meaning, and as archaeologists we can explore this through understanding lithic sourcing, quarrying techniques and the movements of stones, as well as their final resting place within monuments. These ideas are explored through the life history of one monument, that of Blasthill in Kintyre. These ideas are then expanded out to include wood and provide a critique of the wood–stone dichotomy prevalent in current interpretations of Neolithic monumentality.

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 1981

The complex of sites that forms the subject of this account lies in the extreme north-east corner of England, about 10 km south-east of the river Tweed in the parishes of Kirknewton, Ewart, Akeld and Milfield, district of Berwick-upon-Tweed, county of Northumberland ( ). The sites have mainly been discovered by means of air photography, but some were recorded as earthworks in the last century while two standing stones survive to this day. The modern discovery of the complex can be attributed to St Joseph during aerial surveys in the late 1940s, when a henge monument 1 km south-south-east of Milfield was located; this was subsequently included by Atkinson (1949-50,64-5; 1951, 105-6) in his list of henges. It was recorded as a class II monument, and the presence of a pair of roughly parallel ditches ( a 'droveway') passing through the site was noted. Further aerial survey work revealed that this site was one of several in the area around Milfield. In 1971 McCord and Jobey published further sites of henge type at West Akeld Steads, Ewart Park, East Marleyknowe and Milfield North (1971, 123-4), bringing the total of hengiform sites to five, and recording the full known extent of the 'droveway'. The remaining sites were located by St Joseph and McCord but not published; they were noticed by the present author (among others) in the course of examination of all air photographs of the area, and appear on the plots of air photographs in the archives of the Northern Air Photography Committee, held in the Department of Archaeology, University of Newcastle upon Tyne ( . The full extent of the complex may not yet be known, but it certainly stretches at least 5 km from north to south, and 4 km from east to west, including hengiform monuments, pit alignments, standing stones, isolated pits and linear features. Some of these sites have been mentioned by .

Between Worlds: Understanding Ritual Cave Use in Later Prehistory, 2019

Recent research has led to a resurgence of academic interest in caves, in particular the place of these enigmatic sites in the worldviews of later prehistoric communities. Many caves were used not only for daily subsistence practices, but as arenas for ritual, ceremony and performance. The recurrent use of caves as the arenas for such performances tells us much about their role in the cosmology of later prehistoric communities. Caves represent a very particular type of archaeological site and thus require specific approaches to their recording, interpretation and presentation. This is especially true when studying the ritual use of caves, during which the more intangible and experiential aspects of these environments are likely to have been fundamental to the practices taking place within them. Theoretical frameworks must include consideration of the agency of these ‘natural’ places, for example, and the interplay between environment, taphonomy and human activity. Meanwhile, the development and increasing use of innovative technologies, such as 3D laser-scanning and acoustic modelling, is providing new and exciting ways of capturing the experiential qualities of these enigmatic sites and allowing not only for more nuanced understandings of the role of caves in prehistoric ritual, but also for more effective communication of cave archaeology to academic and public audiences alike. This edited volume draws together papers presented at the 20th annual conference of the European Association of Archaeologists, and additional contributions from outside of Europe, showcasing the application of cutting-edge theoretical frameworks, methodologies and audio-visual techniques in a variety of cave environments from around the globe. The title aims to reflect caves as liminal places- places that were literally ‘between worlds’; the world of the living and the dead, of above and below, of dark and light. It also serves to recognise caves as specific kinds of archaeological site which require the combination of a broad range of theoretical and recording methods. The volume is organised into two complementary parts. The first concerns the theoretical considerations that must be borne in mind when working in dynamic subterranean environments; concepts such as agency and liminality, and the particular taphonomic phenomena which play an active role in the human use of these spaces. The second part of the volume showcases new digital methods of recording, interpreting and presenting cave archaeology. Digital capture and presentation technologies are on the rise in all aspects of archaeology, but are particularly effective and have some of the greatest potential in cave archaeology. Though traditionally seen as part of the spectrum of more scientific methods of analysis, the qualitative aspects of digital capture technologies are in fact unlocking the more experiential aspects of cave use, particularly in relation to ritual activity.

2015

For archaeological interest you are spoilt for choice in the Thornborough landscape of North Yorkshire. Apart from its three impressive henges, there is a long cursus, groups of round barrows, oval and rectangular enclosures and a double pit alignment. It is a landscape that was used in prehistory from the Mesolithic to the Bronze Age and thus it is a daunting task to establish chronology, motivations for use and changes in ideology and then produce a coherent synthesis. Yet this is what Harding has done, with contributions from his colleagues. The Thornborough Research Report is based on the results of two field projects at the Neolithic and Bronze Age monument complex which set out a scenario for a new interpretation of this impressive site. The main focus visually is the line of three massive henges which together represent one of the largest earthmoving episodes in the late Neolithic period in Britain. These double-entranced henges were enclosed by double-ditches and associated with an earlier cursus. Their systematic investigation took place over a long ten-year period and the report charts Thornborough's growth from a relatively modest fourth millennium monument into what Harding (p. 2) suggests is a "regional 'hub'". Located on a shelf of Permian limestone and marl between the Vale of Mowbray to the east and the Pennine hills to the west, the landscape is topographically different from its surrounding areas. It is bounded by river ways to the south and wetlands to the north and is also close to thick beds of gypsum, a resource which was found to be