Ancient monuments in Great Britain

The history of the peoples of Britain go back a very long way, and indeed, this is particularly evident from the number of our cherished ancient monuments that am be found all over the British countryside.

Causewayed camps - these are some of the oldest remains in the English landscape, dating from around 3500 B.C. They consist of a series of from one to four concentric rings of banks and ditches enclosing an area up to 9 hectares. T he ditches are bridged by ramps of earth, or causeways, in several places, sometimes with corresponding gaps in the banks to form an obvious place of entry. In a masterful attempt at confusion, archaeologists have named these enclosures "camps", which they aren't.

What were they used for, then? Probably as a multi-purpose gathering place, combining the functions of livestock pen, trading centre, church, feasting area, and ceremonial arena.

Long barrows - these are Neolithic (New Stone Age) tombs which are roughly contemporary with the causewayed camps. There are two main types of long barrows: those made entirely of earth, called, earthen long barrows, and those made with a chamber of large stones, called megalithic or chambered long barrows. The main thing to remember about long barrows is that they were communal tombs, holding from one to fifty adults and children.

Passage graves - really another type of long barrow, these arc Neolithic tombs begun a few centuries after the barrows, consisting of a central chamber reached by a narrow, low passage, all of stones. Most passage graves are surmounted by a round mound of earth rather than a tapering barrow. I he best preserved is Bryncelli Ddu, in Gwynedd.

Stone circles - the French archaeologist Jean-Pierre Mohan in his book Le Monde des Megalithes described the unusual concentration of stone circles in the British Isles as follows: "British Isles megalith ism is outstanding in the abundance of standing stones and the variety of circular architectural complexes of which they formed a part...strikingly original, they have no equivalent elsewhere in Europe - strongly supporting the argument that the builders were independent.” Beginning as early as 3300 B.C. standing stones, often in the form of a circle or flattened oval, began to be erected around the British Isles. At least 900 of them still exist, though many more must have been destroyed in the march of 'progress'. The most famous, though not the most moving or impressive, is Stonehenge in Wiltshire.

Hill figures - here and there throughout England, usually on the slopes of the chalk hills of the south, are incised figures of huge proportions cut into the earth. Often visible for miles around, these hill figures give off an air of ancient sanctity. Many of the hill figures we see are recent copies, laid out in the past 150 years. Of the legitimate hill figures, the most famous are, unfortunately, of an indeterminate age. The Giant of Cerne Abbas, in Dorset, and the Long Man of Wilmington, in East Sussex, have defied the best efforts of archaeologists to date them. Conjecture ranges from the Iron Age to Saxon times. The White Horse of Uffington has recently been dated to 2000 B.C., a good millennium older than had been thought.

Henges - basically a simple bank and ditch enclosing an area of land. The bank is outside the ditch, so they would not have been defensive enclosures, but were more likely a form of religious and ceremonial gathering place. The henges are younger than causewayed camps, with the oldest built about 3300 B.C. The largest henges enclose up to 12 hectares. Some, though not all henges have stone circles within them, while othersshow remains of wooden rings. The first phase of Stonehcngc belongs to this class of monument, though it has now been overshadowed by the famous standing stones which were added at several later dates. Other henges to visit include Avebury, Durrington Walls, and Woodhenge, all in Wiltshire, and Arbor Low in Derbyshire.

Barrow mounds - these are the most numerous of the prehistoric monuments we are likely to encounter (there are over 6000 in the West Country alone). On Ordnance Survey maps these are often marked as "tumuli". Though most tumuli are Bronze Age, this burial form remained in use into the Iron Age and even reappeared in the Dark Ages. Barrows were a new form of tomb brought to England by the Beaker People around 2200 B.C.

Hill forts - dating from the Iron Age (approximately 700 B.C. to 50 A.D.) these hilltop enclosures are the youngest of the prehistoric remains to be seen. They are defensive structures enclosing high places with rings of ditches and banks. Often there were wooden or stone walls atop the banks as a further barrier. In some cases a series of concentric ditches and banks were built. The hill forts do not seem to have been places of permanent settlement, but may have been emergency assembly points for tribes, or the case of the smaller forts, even single families. There are thousands of hill forts throughout the British Isles in various stages of repair, though the most spectacular is without a doubt Maiden Castle in Dorset, while Uffington in Oxfordshire is well worth a visit.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-29