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Reading between the lines: The Neolithic cursus monuments of Scotland

字里行间：苏格兰新石器时代的咒语纪念碑

基本信息

批准号：
AH/H007121/1
负责人：
Kenneth Brophy
金额：
$ 3.58万
依托单位：
University of Glasgow
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2010
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2010 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FH007121%2F1
关键词：
Reading between lines Neolithic cursus

项目摘要

The outcome of my research proposal will be a book, 'Reading between the lines: the Neolithic cursus monuments of Scotland'. This volume will offer a wide-ranging and up-to-date synthesis of a diverse group of prehistoric monuments found across lowland Scotland. Cursus monuments are generally dated to the early Neolithic (the 4th millennium BC) and take the form of large rectangular enclosures. Although typically recorded as earthwork monuments across the British Isles (with an internal bank and external ditch), there are at least 20 cursus monuments in Scotland that were defined by a pair of parallel rows of timber posts. These large rectangular enclosures range from as little as 60m in length to over 2km, and in width from 25m to around 100m. Despite the scale of these monuments, only one is still visible within the landscape (the remarkable Cleaven Dyke in Perth and Kinross); the remainder have been recorded as cropmarks in arable fields. Earthworks were gradually ploughed flat, while timber posts would have collapsed or decayed in prehistory. Yet these monuments must have been amongst the most spectacular elements of the early Neolithic landscape, and by far the largest structures ever built in Scotland until after 3000BC. A number of theories have been developed to explain the role of such monuments, ranging from ceremonial avenues or pathways, to monuments associated with death. What seems clear is that they would have required substantial labour, time and resources to construct, and were often in what we would imagine to be good farming land, which may have been sacrificed to make way for these monumental enclosures.The proposed period of research leave will allow this book to be completed. Much of the book has been written already; study leave is required to complete some writing and check or revise the overall text. When completed, it is expected that this will be the standard reference book on this topic within Scotland, but also of interest to Neolithic specialists across northern Europe. The volume, then, will bring together a wide range of sites that morphologically appear to be cursus monuments, and a detailed synthesis of cropmark and excavation evidence will be carried out. The context of these discoveries will also be discussed; until aerial reconnaissance started in earnest in Scotland in 1976, for instance, only one cursus monument had been positively identified. Yet since then, around 50 have been discovered or identified. One of the key aspects of this book will be a detailed analysis of cropmark evidence with reference to what we know from excavations. This approach will allow the development and construction of these monuments to be considered. It is clear that cursus monuments did not exist in isolation, or spring from nowhere. The use of cursus locations before monument construction and the enduring presence of these sites in the landscape after abandonment will therefore be explored. Contemporary and ancillary monuments and land-use will be considered, as well as topographic location (many sites seem to have been chosen to exploit topography for instance, or to be close to rivers).The outcome of this research will be a completed volume that places the cursus monuments of Scotland into their archaeological, landscape and social context. Possible roles and meanings of cursus monuments will be explored, with reference to their gradual construction and relationship with other monument and structural forms of the early Neolithic. Ultimately, the book will conclude that these were monumental articulations of everyday concerns in early Neolithic society whose construction drew together early farming communities in large-scale 'projects'. 'Reading between the lines' will offer an authoritative narrative of early Neolithic Scotland drawn from these invisible, but giant, monuments.

我的研究计划的成果将是一本书，“阅读字里行间：苏格兰新石器时代的cursus纪念碑”。这卷将提供一个广泛的和最新的综合史前古迹发现的不同群体横跨低地苏格兰。Cursus纪念碑通常可以追溯到新石器时代早期（公元前4000年），并采取大型矩形围栏的形式。虽然不列颠群岛上通常被记录为有内岸和外沟的纪念碑，但苏格兰至少有20座纪念碑是由一对平行的木柱组成的。这些大型矩形围栏的长度从60米到2公里以上，宽度从25米到100米左右。尽管这些纪念碑的规模，只有一个是仍然可见的景观（显着的Cleaven堤在珀斯和金罗斯）;其余已被记录为作物标记在耕地。土方工程逐渐被犁平，而木桩在史前可能已经倒塌或腐烂。然而，这些纪念碑一定是新石器时代早期景观中最壮观的元素之一，也是迄今为止苏格兰有史以来最大的建筑，直到公元前3000年之后。人们提出了许多理论来解释这些纪念碑的作用，从仪式性的大道或小径到与死亡有关的纪念碑。显然，这些建筑需要大量的劳动力、时间和资源来建造，而且通常位于我们想象中的良田，可能是为了给这些纪念性的围墙让路而牺牲的，建议的研究假期将使本书得以完成。本书的大部分内容已经写好了;需要请学习假来完成一些写作和检查或修改整体文本。完成后，预计这将是苏格兰境内关于这一主题的标准参考书，但也会引起整个北方欧洲新石器时代专家的兴趣。该卷，然后，将汇集了广泛的网站，形态似乎是cursus古迹，并详细综合作物标记和挖掘证据将进行。这些发现的背景也将被讨论;直到1976年在苏格兰开始认真进行空中侦察，例如，只有一个cursus纪念碑被确定。然而，从那时起，大约有50个被发现或确定。这本书的一个关键方面将是一个详细的分析cropmark证据参考我们所知道的挖掘。这种做法将使这些纪念碑的开发和建设得到考虑。很明显，cursus纪念碑并不是孤立存在的，也不是凭空出现的。因此，将探讨在建造纪念碑之前使用cursus地点以及在废弃后这些地点在景观中的持久存在。当代和辅助纪念碑和土地使用将被考虑，以及地形位置（许多网站似乎已经选择利用地形，例如，或靠近河流）。这项研究的结果将是一个完整的卷，将苏格兰的cursus纪念碑放置到他们的考古，景观和社会背景。本课程将探讨新石器时代早期古建筑的可能角色与意义，并探讨古建筑与其他古建筑的关系。最终，这本书将得出结论，这些都是新石器时代早期社会日常关注的不朽表达，其建设吸引了早期农业社区的大规模“项目”。“字里行间的阅读”将提供一个权威的叙述早期新石器时代的苏格兰从这些无形的，但巨大的，纪念碑。