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/M008304/2
• 负责人: Jim Leary
• 金额: $ 6.66万
• 依托单位: University of York
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2018 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FM008304%2F2
• 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，它处于石器时代和青铜时代之间的门槛上。此时，一系列文化和意识形态变革席卷了英国，其中包括第一个金属制品的引入。这些文化的发展还涉及巨大仪式纪念碑的快速建造，表明了一个宗教狂热的时期。如今，在不列颠群岛的任何地方，这一点都比威塞克斯景观更明显，埃夫伯里、巨石阵和锡尔伯里山等主要纪念碑的建造。该项目将以新的视角来理解威塞克斯地区的史前景观，开创了以连通性和流动性为中心主题的整体方法，挑战考古学对地点的传统关注（Leary 2014；Kador & Leary 准备中）。该项目将把新石器时代晚期和青铜时代早期的纪念碑视为仪式和朝圣联系的节点。它将重点关注水的神圣重要性以及河流作为连接仪式和礼仪建筑的路线的使用。它认为这些纪念碑通过与河流的联系而相互关联，代表了人们前往的一系列崇拜中心，因此将河谷和相关纪念碑作为一个整体进行研究。这与该地区仅关注巨石阵（例如 Darvill 和 Wainwright 2009）或巨石阵和杜灵顿墙之间的相互作用和二元性（例如 Parker Pearson 和 Ramilisonina 1998 或 Parker Pearson 2012）的主流观点形成鲜明对比，并将解释转移到来自对集权社会政体和固定权力概念的讨论。该项目由雷丁大学与威尔特郡博物馆合作领导和英国遗产，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地的空间上独立的组成部分连接起来。这项工作将重点关注皮尤西谷的埃文河上游，最近的航空摄影工作已经绘制了那里大量的史前古迹和仪式场所的地图。其中包括马登巨石阵 - 一个具有非凡内部特征的大型新石器时代建筑群，包括现已拆除的巨大土丘、内部巨石阵以及最近发现的独特新石器时代仪式建筑，并具有相关的宴会证据。该项目将在三个实地考察季节（2015 年）进行至 2017 年），随后是完整的分析、归档和出版计划（2018 年至 2019 年）。它将包括对各种嵌套尺度的调查。这些将包括详细的、有针对性的开放区域挖掘，旨在了解纪念碑内部和之间进行的活动，以及一个测试坑计划，以辨别它们与埃文河之间的联系。沿着河流和更广阔的景观进行取芯、测试坑和实地行走的计划将调查淡水河谷的环境历史，测试纪念碑综合体开发地区自然和人类环境干扰的假设。该项目将成为牛津大学的一部分雷丁田野学校，本科生模块学分；其运行和基础设施将由大学单独资助。摘要评估报告将在每个季节结束时制作，综合考古数据库将通过项目网站提供。该项目的主要学术成果将是一本内容丰富的专着。该工作的综合报告将发表在《史前社会学报》上。其他产出将包括项目网站上的定期更新，包括实地工作摘要、博客、现场日记和发现报告。威尔特郡博物馆还将举办年度展览，以及皮尤西谷考古学公共研讨会。