Neolithic Pilgrimage? Rivers, mobility and monumentality in the land between Avebury and Stonehenge: The Vale of Pewsey project

新石器时代的朝圣？

• 批准号: AH/M008304/1
• 负责人: Jim Leary
• 金额: $ 25.55万
• 依托单位: University of Reading
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2015 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FM008304%2F1
• 关键词: Neolithic; Pilgrimage; Rivers; mobility; monumentality

The Late Neolithic period represents a key stage in our human history sitting as it does on the threshold between the Stone Age and Bronze Age. At this time a suite of cultural and ideological changes swept through Britain, including the introduction of the first metalwork. These cultural developments also involved the rapid construction of enormous ceremonial monuments, indicating a period of intense religiosity. Nowhere in the British Isles is this more evident today than within the Wessex landscape, with the construction of the major monuments at Avebury, Stonehenge and Silbury Hill.This project will take a new perspective on understanding the prehistoric landscape of the Wessex region, pioneering a holistic approach that uses connectivity and mobility as central themes, challenging archaeology's traditional focus upon place (Leary 2014; Kador & Leary in prep). The project will consider Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age monuments as nodes in a ceremonial and pilgrimage nexus. It will focus on the sacred importance of water and the use of rivers as route-ways linking ritual and ceremonial architecture. It appraises these monuments as interrelated through their connections to the river, representing a linked chain of cult centres that people journeyed to, and therefore takes the river valley and associated monuments as a single entity for study. This contrasts with the dominant views of the area that focus on just Stonehenge (for example Darvill and Wainwright 2009) or the interaction and duality between Stonehenge and Durrington Walls (such as Parker Pearson and Ramilisonina 1998 or Parker Pearson 2012), and moves interpretation on from discussions of centralised social polities and fixed notions of power.The project, led by the University of Reading in collaboration with the Wiltshire Museum and English Heritage, will examine the internationally important prehistoric landscape between Avebury and Stonehenge, linking for the first time the spatially separate components of the same World Heritage Site. The work will focus on the upper reaches of the River Avon in the Vale of Pewsey where recent aerial photographic work has mapped a plethora of prehistoric monuments and ceremonial sites. These include Marden henge - a large Neolithic complex with extraordinary internal features, including a now demolished huge mound, an internal henge, and a unique recently discovered Neolithic ritual building with associated evidence of feasting.The project will take place over three fieldwork seasons (2015 to 2017), followed by a full programme of analysis, archiving and publication (2018 to 2019). It will comprise investigations on various nested scales. These will include detailed, targeted, open area excavations aimed at understanding activities undertaken within and between the monuments, and a programme of test pitting to discern linkages between them and the River Avon. A programme of coring, test pitting and fieldwalking along the river and in the wider landscape will investigate the environmental history of the Vale, testing hypotheses of natural and human environmental disturbance in areas where monument complexes developed.The project will form part of the University of Reading's field school, a credit-bearing undergraduate module; the running and infrastructure for which will be funded separately by the University. Summary assessment reports will be produced at the end of each season and the Integrated Archaeological Database will be made available via the project website. The major academic output for the project will be a substantial monograph. A synthesis of the work will be published in the Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society. Other outputs will include regular updates on the project website, including fieldwork summaries, blogs, site diaries, and finds reports. There will also be an annual exhibition in the Wiltshire Museum, and a public symposium on the archaeology of the Vale of Pewsey.

新石器时代晚期代表了人类历史上的一个关键阶段，因为它位于石器时代和青铜时代之间的门槛上。在这个时候，一系列的文化和意识形态的变化席卷英国，包括第一个金属制品的引入。这些文化的发展还包括巨大的仪式纪念碑的迅速建造，表明了一个强烈的宗教信仰时期。在不列颠群岛，这一点在今天的威塞克斯景观中表现得最为明显，埃夫伯里、巨石阵和锡尔伯里山的主要纪念碑都在建造中。该项目将从一个新的角度来理解威塞克斯地区的史前景观，开创一种以连通性和流动性为中心主题的整体方法，挑战考古学对地方的传统关注（Leary 2014; Kador & Leary in prep）。该项目将把新石器时代晚期和青铜时代早期的纪念碑作为仪式和朝圣关系的节点。它将侧重于水的神圣重要性和河流作为连接仪式和仪式建筑的路线的使用。它认为这些古迹通过与河流的联系相互关联，代表了人们前往的一系列邪教中心，因此将河谷和相关古迹作为一个单一的实体进行研究。这与该地区的主要观点形成鲜明对比，这些观点只关注巨石阵（例如Darvill和温赖特2009）或巨石阵和杜灵顿墙之间的相互作用和二元性（如帕克皮尔森和Ramilisonina 1998或帕克皮尔森2012），并移动解释从讨论集中的社会政治和固定的概念的权力。该项目，由阅读大学牵头，与威尔特郡博物馆和英国遗产合作，将研究埃夫伯里和巨石阵之间具有国际重要意义的史前景观，首次将同一世界遗产的空间分离部分联系起来。这项工作将集中在埃文河上游的佩西谷，最近的航空摄影工作已经绘制了大量的史前纪念碑和仪式遗址。这些项目包括马尔登巨石阵--一个具有非凡内部特征的新石器时代大型建筑群，包括一个现已拆除的巨大土墩，一个内部巨石阵，以及一个独特的新石器时代仪式建筑，并有相关的宴会证据。该项目将在三个实地考察季节（2015年至2017年）进行，随后是一个完整的分析，存档和出版计划（2018年至2019年）。它将包括各种嵌套规模的调查。这将包括详细的、有针对性的、开放的区域挖掘，目的是了解在纪念碑内和纪念碑之间进行的活动，以及一个测试坑蚀方案，以查明纪念碑与埃文河之间的联系。沿着河流和更广阔的景观进行取芯，测试坑和野外行走的计划将调查淡水河谷的环境历史，在纪念碑复合体开发的地区测试自然和人类环境干扰的假设。该项目将成为阅读大学野外学校的一部分，这是一个学分制本科模块;其运行和基础设施将由大学单独资助。每个季度结束时将编写简要评估报告，综合考古数据库将通过项目网站提供。该项目的主要学术产出将是一本内容丰富的专著。这项工作的综合将发表在《史前社会学报》上。其他产出将包括定期更新项目网站，包括实地工作摘要、博客、现场日志和调查结果报告。威尔特郡博物馆还将举办年度展览，以及关于佩西谷考古学的公共研讨会。

项目成果

Valley of the henges. Exploring Neolithic landscapes in the Pewsey Vale

巨石阵谷。

• 发表时间: 2016
• 作者: J. Leary