1.
Henge (film)
–
Henge is a 2012 Japanese horror film directed by Ohata Hajime. It was screened at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival and the San Diego Asian Film Festival, yoshiaki suddenly starts behaving strangely, which includes making strange jerking movements and howling. He and his wife, Keiko, go to Sakashita, a student from Yoshiakis medical school and he is unable to do anything to stop these occurrences. Yoshiaki begins to transform into something else, after his wife hears reports of murders happening, she wonders if her husband could be the one committing the murders. Henge is the debut of director Ohata Hajime. The director uses the limits of love as the films theme and he also described the film as simply being for entertainment. While the film did not receive any awards at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival, the film was advertised with a trailer that shows scenes of people in terror with driving, slashing music to go along with it. Mark Schilling, of The Japan Times said that the trailer is a work of art. Todd Brown, of Twitch Film, said, The trailer below gives a taste of what lies within Ohatas debut. Mark Schilling, writing for The Japan Times, said, By the end I felt like laughing, which was better than wondering if I’d ever sleep again
Henge (film)
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Film poster
2.
Thornborough Henges
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The Thornborough Henges are an unusual ancient monument complex that includes the three aligned henges that give the site its name. The complex is located near the village of Thornborough, close to the town of Masham in North Yorkshire, the complex includes many large ancient structures including a cursus, henges, burial grounds and settlements. They are thought to have part of a Neolithic and Bronze Age ritual landscape comparable with Salisbury Plain. This monument complex has been called The Stonehenge of the North and has described by English Heritage as the most important ancient site between Stonehenge and the Orkney Islands. This will ensure preservation of the complex for future generations The cursus is the oldest and largest ancient monument at Thornborough. It is almost a mile in extent and runs from Thornborough Village, under the central henge, cursuses are perhaps the most enigmatic of ancient monuments. They typically comprise two parallel ditches, the larger of which can be a mile or more in extent, typically, burial mounds and mortuary enclosures are found alongside cursus monuments indicating that they probably had a ceremonial function. The three henges are almost identical in size and composition, each having a diameter of approximately 240 metres, the henges are located around 550 m apart on an approximate northwest-southeast alignment, although there is a curious dogleg in the layout. Altogether, the monument extends for more than a mile, archaeological excavation of the central henge has taken place. It has been suggested that its banks were covered with locally mined gypsum, the resulting white sheen would have been striking and visible for miles around. A double alignment of pits, possibly evidence of a timber processional avenue, the dogleg in the layout appears to cause the layout of the henges to mirror the three stars of Orions Belt. The exact purpose of the henges is unclear though archaeological finds suggest that they served economic, the Northern henge is currently overgrown with trees but is one of the best preserved henges in Britain. The Central and Southern henges are in poorer condition although the banks of the henges are still quite prominent, to gain a full appreciation of the scale of the monument it is best viewed from the air. All three of the Thornborough henges and the strip of land connecting them are Scheduled Ancient Monuments. However, the land is owned and there is no official public access. Despite this, the site does have a stream of visitors throughout the year. Since 2004 there has been an opportunity for access to the central henge. On 1 May 2005 this event was attended by around 150 people from across the north of England, extensive quarrying has destroyed much of the monuments setting to the north and west of the henges
Thornborough Henges
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The three
henges of the Thornborough Henges complex
Thornborough Henges
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The May King and Queen, Thornborough Central Henge, Beltaine 2005
3.
Neolithic
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It ended when metal tools became widespread. The Neolithic is a progression of behavioral and cultural characteristics and changes, including the use of wild and domestic crops, the beginning of the Neolithic culture is considered to be in the Levant about 10, 200–8800 BC. It developed directly from the Epipaleolithic Natufian culture in the region, whose people pioneered the use of wild cereals, which then evolved into true farming. The Natufian period was between 12,000 and 10,200 BC, and the so-called proto-Neolithic is now included in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic between 10,200 and 8800 BC. By 10, 200–8800 BC, farming communities arose in the Levant and spread to Asia Minor, North Africa, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. Early Neolithic farming was limited to a range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included einkorn wheat, millet and spelt, and the keeping of dogs, sheep. By about 6900–6400 BC, it included domesticated cattle and pigs, the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, not all of these cultural elements characteristic of the Neolithic appeared everywhere in the same order, the earliest farming societies in the Near East did not use pottery. Early Japanese societies and other East Asian cultures used pottery before developing agriculture, unlike the Paleolithic, when more than one human species existed, only one human species reached the Neolithic. The term Neolithic derives from the Greek νέος néos, new and λίθος líthos, stone, the term was invented by Sir John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system. In the Middle East, cultures identified as Neolithic began appearing in the 10th millennium BC, early development occurred in the Levant and from there spread eastwards and westwards. Neolithic cultures are attested in southeastern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia by around 8000 BC. The total excavated area is more than 1,200 square yards, the Neolithic 1 period began roughly 10,000 years ago in the Levant. A temple area in southeastern Turkey at Göbekli Tepe dated around 9500 BC may be regarded as the beginning of the period. This site was developed by nomadic tribes, evidenced by the lack of permanent housing in the vicinity. At least seven stone circles, covering 25 acres, contain limestone pillars carved with animals, insects, Stone tools were used by perhaps as many as hundreds of people to create the pillars, which might have supported roofs. Other early PPNA sites dating to around 9500–9000 BC have been found in Jericho, Israel, Gilgal in the Jordan Valley, the start of Neolithic 1 overlaps the Tahunian and Heavy Neolithic periods to some degree. The major advance of Neolithic 1 was true farming, in the proto-Neolithic Natufian cultures, wild cereals were harvested, and perhaps early seed selection and re-seeding occurred. The grain was ground into flour, emmer wheat was domesticated, and animals were herded and domesticated
Neolithic
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An array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools. Neolithic stone artifacts are by definition polished and, except for specialty items, not chipped.
Neolithic
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Algerian cave paintings depicting hunting scenes
Neolithic
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Female figure from
Tumba Madžari,
Republic of Macedonia
Neolithic
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Skara Brae, Scotland. Evidence of home furnishings (shelves)
4.
Circular rampart
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The period during which these structures appeared stretches from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages. The key feature of a rampart is the embankment forming the primary means of the defensive fortification. It can be constructed in ways, as a simple earth embankment, as a wood. Circular ramparts usually have a moat or ditch in front of them, often several concentric rings were built, which produced a more effective defensive position against attackers. The interior of such sites often shows evidence of such as halls, barns. They are often hidden in woods and discovered by aerial photography, archaeological profiles through the defences and excavations of the interior enable analysis of the period the site was occupied, the pottery used and the type of food consumed
Circular rampart
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Artist's impression of the circular rampart of Burg, near
Celle, Germany
Circular rampart
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Varbola ruins in
Estonia
Circular rampart
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External view of the Burg site
Circular rampart
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Top of the rampart at Burg
5.
Stone circle
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A stone circle is a monument of standing stones arranged in a circle. Such monuments have been constructed in parts of the world throughout history for many different reasons. Outside of Europe, stone circles have also erected, such as the 6300~6900 BCE Atlit Yam in Israel and 3000~4000 BCE Gilgal Refaim nearby. Another prehistoric stone circle tradition occurred in southern Scandinavia during the Iron Age, the size and number of the stones varies from example to example, and the circle shape can be an ellipse. All experts agree that stone circles are of date. Radiocarbon dating has produced a range of dates at different sites. This is at least partly due to an inadequacy of materials suitable for radiocarbon dating that can be obtained from the sites. The diversity of radiocarbon evidence may also suggest that stone circles were constructed over a long period. It is often not clear when building started, a further obstacle to dating is that there are generally no other archaeological artifacts associated with the stone circles. Traditional archaeological artifacts, such as pottery sherds, bones, etc. are not often found at the sites, the sites display no evidence of human dwelling, and rarely encompass graves. This suggests that stone circles were constructed for ceremonies and were in use on ceremonial occasions only, the type of ceremonies is entirely unknown. The crudeness and variety of the stones excludes the possibility that they had astronomical observation purposes of any precision, sometimes a stone circle is found in association with a burial pit or burial chamber, but the great majority of these monuments have no such association. A stone circle is a different entity from a henge. That suggests religious context, the details of which are still obscure, during the Middle Neolithic stone circles began to appear in coastal and lowland areas towards the north of the United Kingdom. The Langdale axe industry in the Lake District appears to have been an important early centre for circle building, many had closely set stones, perhaps similar to the earth banks of henges, others were made from unfounded boulders rather than standing stones. By the later Neolithic, stone circle construction had attained a greater precision, rather than being limited to coastal areas, they began to move inland and their builders grew more ambitious, producing examples of up to 400 m diameter in the case of the Outer Circle at Avebury. Most circles, however, measured around 25 m in diameter, designs became more complex, with double and triple ring designs appearing along with significant regional variation. These monuments are often classed separately as concentric stone circles, by 1500 BC stone circle construction had all but ceased
Stone circle
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Swinside stone circle, in the
Lake District, England.
Stone circle
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Bryn Cader Faner,
North Wales.
Stone circle
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Easter Aquhorthies recumbent stone circle near
Inverurie,
Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Stone circle
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Dunnideer recumbent stone circle near
Insch,
Aberdeenshire, Scotland
6.
Timber circle
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In archaeology, timber circles are circular arrangements of wooden posts interpreted as being either complexes of freestanding totem poles or as the supports for large circular buildings. Timber circles in the British Isles date to the late Neolithic, the posts themselves have long since disappeared and the sites are identified from the circles of postholes that they stood in. Aerial photography and geophysical survey have led to the discovery of increasing numbers of the features, often a postpipe survives in the posthole fill aiding diagnosis. They are usually more than 20 metres, and up to 60 metres, in diameter, wider gaps between the posts are thought to have served as entrance routes. The builders replaced the posts as they decomposed and in some cases stone circles were adopted instead during later phases and they appear either alone or in the context of other monuments, namely henges, such as that at Woodhenge and henge enclosures such as those at Durrington Walls. The only excavated examples of timber circles that stood alone from other features are Seahenge and Arminghall in Norfolk, animal bone and domestic waste found at many timber circle sites implies some form of temporary habitation and seasonal feasting. They were built on ground and would have been very conspicuous. Isolated burials have been found at sites but not enough to suggest a strong funerary purpose. These have also interpreted to serve ritual purposes, probably having to do with the control of calendrical information. The Cahokia Woodhenge was rebuilt at least five times in its history, each iteration being of slightly different diameter. Each episode is numbered from Woodhenge I to Woodhenge V. Woodhenge III was 410 feet in diameter, a reproduction of the Woodhenge III was constructed in 1985, with the posts being placed in the original post pit holes discovered by archaeologists. The Mound 72 Woodhenge was located several feet to the southeast of Woodhenge III. It was 412 feet and also had 48 posts, but unlike the other woodhenge at Cahokia, at a later date the posts were removed and the summer sunrise mound was enlarged and turned into a ridgetop mound, now known by archaeologists as Mound 72. The Moorehead Circle was discovered in 2005 during magnetic surveys of the Fort Ancient site, the woodhenge is three concentric circles, with the outer circle having an estimated 200 posts and being approximately 60 metres in diameter
Timber circle
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Reconstructed Woodhenge, facing northwards
Timber circle
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The reconstructed Cahokia Woodhenge III, aligned from the center post to the equinox sunrise position
7.
Avebury
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Avebury is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles, around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, in southwest England. One of the best known sites in Britain, it contains the largest stone circle in Europe. It is both a tourist attraction and a place of importance to contemporary pagans. Its original purpose is unknown, although archaeologists believe that it was most likely used for some form of ritual or ceremony, the Avebury monument is a part of a larger prehistoric landscape containing several older monuments nearby, including West Kennet Long Barrow and Silbury Hill. By the Iron Age, the site had effectively abandoned. During the Early Middle Ages, a village first began to be built around the monument, in the Late Medieval and Early Modern periods, local people destroyed many of the standing stones around the henge, both for religious and practical reasons. The antiquarians John Aubrey and William Stukeley, however, took an interest in Avebury during the 17th century, archaeological investigation followed in the 20th century, led primarily by Alexander Keiller, who oversaw a project which reconstructed much of the monument. Avebury is owned and managed by the National Trust, at grid reference SU10266996, Avebury is respectively about 6 and 7 miles from the modern towns of Marlborough and Calne. Avebury lies in an area of chalkland in the Upper Kennet Valley which forms the catchment for the River Kennet and supports local springs and seasonal watercourses. The monument stands slightly above the landscape, sitting on a low chalk ridge 160 m above sea level, to the east are the Marlborough Downs. It is now listed as part of the Stonehenge, Avebury, the monuments are preserved as part of a Neolithic and Bronze Age landscape for the information they provide regarding prehistoric peoples relationship with the landscape. Radiocarbon dating and analysis of pollen in buried soils have shown that the environment of lowland Britain changed around 4250–4000 BCE. The change to an environment from damp, heavy soils and expanses of dense forest was mostly brought about by farmers, probably through the use of slash. Environmental factors may also have made a contribution, different species of snail live in specific habitats, so the presence of a certain species indicates what the area was like at a particular point in time. The history of the site before the construction of the henge is uncertain, evidence of activity in the region before the 4th millennium BCE is limited, suggesting that there was little human occupation. During this era, those living in Britain were hunter-gatherers, often moving around the landscape in small familial or tribal groups in search of food. The archaeologists Mark Gillings and Joshua Pollard suggested the possibility that Avebury first gained some sort of significance during the Late Mesolithic period. As evidence, they highlighted the existence of a posthole near to the southern entrance that would have once supported a large wooden post
Avebury
–
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Avebury
Avebury
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Avebury Henge and village
8.
Stanton Drew stone circles
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The Stanton Drew stone circles are just outside the village of Stanton Drew in the English county of Somerset. The largest stone circle is the Great Circle,113 metres in diameter, the date of construction is not known but is thought to be between 3000 and 2000 BCE which places it in the Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age. It was made a monument in 1982. The Great Circle was surrounded by a ditch and is accompanied by smaller stone circles to the north east, there is also a group of three stones, known as The Cove, in the garden of the local pub. Slightly further from the Great Circle is a stone, known as Hautvilles Quoit. Some of the stones are still vertical, but the majority are now recumbent, the stone circles have been studied since John Aubreys visit in 1664 with some excavations of the site in the 18th century. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries geophysical surveys have confirmed the size of the circles and identified additional pits. The Cove has been shown to be one thousand years older than the stone circles. A variety of myths and legends about the stone circles have been recorded, the most famous feature is the Great Circle, the second largest stone circle in Britain. The stone circle is 113 metres in diameter and probably consisted of 30 stones and it was recorded by both John Aubrey in 1664 and William Stukeley in 1776. The Great Circle probably was surrounded by the ditch of a henge, the North East Circle is 30 metres in diameter and probably consisted of 10 or more stones, of which 8 survive today. The South West Circle is 43 metres in diameter, and has 12 stones surviving today, an avenue extends to the northeast of the Great Circle towards the River Chew and a second avenue meets it from the north eastern stone circle. A standing stone called Hautvilles Quoit lies across the river to the north on an alignment with the centres of the Great Circle and it is a large stone close to Hautville Quoit Farm, recumbent since at least the mid 17th century but assumed to have originally been upright. Described by Stukeley in 1723 as being 13 feet long, it is now half that length. Stukeley also referred to the presence of a second stone, further to the west is a cove of two standing stones with a recumbent slab between them, which can be found in the garden of the Druids Arms public house. All are of different heights, the stone to the north east being 4.4 metres the south western 3.1 metres, the stones of The Cove are mineralogically different from those in the nearby stone circles. A long barrow burial chamber has been found under the stones of The Cove and it is thought that this predates the erection of the stones by approximately a thousand years. In 1740 the site was surveyed and mapped by architect, freemason and antiquarian John Wood, the Elder and he suggested the layout was based on the Pythagorean planetary system, and thought it was used as the Druids University
Stanton Drew stone circles
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Stanton Drew stone circles
Stanton Drew stone circles
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The antiquarians
John Aubrey and
William Stukeley both visited the stone circles at Stanton Drew
Stanton Drew stone circles
Stanton Drew stone circles
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Standing Stone at Stanton Drew
9.
Ring of Brodgar
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The Ring of Brodgar is a Neolithic henge and stone circle about 6 miles north-east of Stromness on the Mainland, the largest island in Orkney, Scotland. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the Heart of Neolithic Orkney, the Ring of Brodgar is a Neolithic henge and stone circle in Orkney, Scotland. Most henges do not contain stone circles, Brodgar is a striking exception, the ring of stones stands on a small isthmus between the Lochs of Stenness and Harray. These are the northernmost examples of circle henges in Britain, the site has resisted attempts at scientific dating and the monuments age remains uncertain. It is generally thought to have been erected between 2500 BC and 2000 BC, and was, therefore, the last of the great Neolithic monuments built on the Ness, the results of the excavation are still preliminary. The stone circle is 104 metres in diameter, and the third largest in the British Isles, the ring originally comprised up to 60 stones, of which only 27 remained standing at the end of the 20th century. The tallest stones stand at the south and west of the ring, including the so-called Comet Stone to the south-east. The stones are set within a ditch up to 3 metres deep,9 metres wide and 380 metres in circumference that was carved out of the solid sandstone bedrock by the ancient residents. Technically, this ditch does not constitute a true henge as there is no sign of a bank of earth. The ditch appears to have created in sections, possibly by workforces from different parts of Orkney. The stones may have been an addition, maybe erected over a long period of time. Examination of the immediate environs reveals a concentration of ancient sites, within 2 square miles there are the two circle-henges, four chambered tombs, groups of standing stones, single stones, barrows, cairns, and mounds. The immediate area has yielded a number of flint arrowheads. Although its exact purpose is not known, the proximity of the Standing Stones of Stenness, the site is a scheduled ancient monument and has been recognized as part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site in 1999. The Heart of Neolithic Orkney was inscribed as a World Heritage site in December 1999, in addition to the Ring of Brodgar, the site includes Maeshowe, Skara Brae, the Standing Stones of Stenness and other nearby sites. W. L. Ongoing excavations by Orkney College at the nearby Ness of Brodgar site located roughly midway between the Ring and the Stones of Stenness have uncovered several buildings, both ritual and domestic, geophysics suggest there are likely to be more in the vicinity. Pottery, bones, stone tools and a polished stone mace head have also been discovered, perhaps the most important find is the remains of a large stone wall which may have been 100 metres long and up to 6 metres wide. It appears to traverse the entire peninsula the site is on, invaders from Scandinavia reached Orkney by the 9th century, bringing a complex theology that they imposed on the preexisting Orcadian monuments, at least according to local legend
Ring of Brodgar
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The ring with
Loch of Harray beyond
Ring of Brodgar
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The Ring of Brodgar
Ring of Brodgar
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Neolithic settlement at Brodgar, (August 2014)
Ring of Brodgar
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1823 woodcut, the Ring of Brodgar & surroundings
10.
Stonehenge
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Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England,2 miles west of Amesbury and 8 miles north of Salisbury. Stonehenges ring of standing stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the most dense complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, archaeologists believe it was constructed from 3000 BC to 2000 BC. The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the first bluestones were raised between 2400 and 2200 BC, although they may have been at the site as early as 3000 BC, one of the most famous landmarks in the UK, Stonehenge is regarded as a British cultural icon. It has been a legally protected Scheduled Ancient Monument since 1882 when legislation to protect historic monuments was first successfully introduced in Britain, the site and its surroundings were added to UNESCOs list of World Heritage Sites in 1986. Stonehenge is owned by the Crown and managed by English Heritage, Stonehenge could have been a burial ground from its earliest beginnings. Deposits containing human bone date from as early as 3000 BC, when the ditch and bank were first dug, William Stukeley in 1740 notes, Pendulous rocks are now called henges in Yorkshire. I doubt not, Stonehenge in Saxon signifies the hanging stones. Like Stonehenges trilithons, medieval gallows consisted of two uprights with a lintel joining them, rather than the inverted L-shape more familiar today, the henge portion has given its name to a class of monuments known as henges. Archaeologists define henges as earthworks consisting of a banked enclosure with an internal ditch. As often happens in archaeological terminology, this is a holdover from antiquarian use, Stonehenge evolved in several construction phases spanning at least 1500 years. There is evidence of construction on and around the monument that perhaps extends the landscapes time frame to 6500 years. The modern phasing most generally agreed to by archaeologists is detailed below, features mentioned in the text are numbered and shown on the plan, right. Archaeologists have found four, or possibly five, large Mesolithic postholes and these held pine posts around 0.75 metres in diameter, which were erected and eventually rotted in situ. Three of the posts were in an east-west alignment which may have had significance, no parallels are known from Britain at the time. A settlement that may have been contemporaneous with the posts has been found at Blick Mead, a reliable year round spring 1 mile from Stonehenge. Salisbury Plain was then still wooded but 4,000 years later, during the earlier Neolithic, people built an enclosure at Robin Hoods Ball. In approximately 3500 BC, a Stonehenge Cursus was built 700 metres north of the site as the first farmers began to clear the trees, a number of other adjacent stone and wooden structures and burial mounds, previously overlooked, may date as far back as 4000 BC. Charcoal from the ‘Blick Mead’ camp 2.4 kilometres from Stonehenge has been dated to 4000 BC and it stood in open grassland on a slightly sloping spot
Stonehenge
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Stonehenge in August 2014
Stonehenge
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Plan of Stonehenge in 2004. After Cleal et al. and Pitts. Italicised numbers in the text refer to the labels on this plan. Trilithon lintels omitted for clarity. Holes that no longer, or never, contained stones are shown as open circles. Stones visible today are shown coloured
Stonehenge
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Stonehenge 1. After Cleal et al.
11.
Wormy Hillock Henge
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Wormy hillock henge is a small henge in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument located in the Clashindarroch Forest and it is a low, circular bank 16.5 metres in diameter which almost surrounds a 6-metre wide platform in the centre. There is one gap in the bank at the southeast end of the henge, in 1891, James Macdonald, thinking that this mound was a round for sheep, excavated the mound. However, this did not bring any archaeological finds, according to legend, Wormy hillock henge was the location of a buried dragon or monster. In the legend, the dragon had been attacking villages in the neighbourhood, and they then half-buried its corpse and mounded dirt over it, making a mound. This legend is the source of the name of the mound, the henge is located to the south of the mound known as Wormy Hillock, on a haugh in a steep valley in the Clashindarroch Forest. The henge comprises a bank,16.5 metres in diameter. The bank itself ranges from 3 metres broad and 10 centimetres high up to 4 metres thick and 60 centimetres high, Wormy Hillock falls into the sub-category mini-henge or hengiform as it is less than 20m in diameter. The area enclosed by the bank is around 140 square metres, inside the bank is a small platform 6 metres in diameter surrounded by a 1 metre deep ditch crossed by several causeways. The southeastern one is related to the 1 metre wide hole in the bank at the same angular position. This site is similar to others in Dorchester, Oxon. There are two small pits on the bank, and they may be more recent than the rest of the mound. A large boulder is lying in the right below one of the pits. Currently, the site is overgrown by grass and heather. Neolithic Europe Scheduled Ancient Monument A picture of Wormy hillock henge showing the entrance through the bank
Wormy Hillock Henge
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A picture of the mound; the henge lies in the left half of the photo
12.
Durrington Walls
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Durrington Walls is the site of a large Neolithic settlement and later henge enclosure located in the Stonehenge World Heritage Site. It lies 2 miles north-east of Stonehenge in the parish of Durrington, between 2004 and 2006, excavations on the site by a team led by the University of Sheffield revealed seven houses. It has been suggested that the settlement may have originally had up to 1000 houses and perhaps 4,000 people, the period of settlement was probably short, between 15 and 45 years starting sometime between 2525 and 2470 BC. It may have been the largest village in northern Europe for a brief period, at 500 metres in diameter, the henge is the largest in Britain and recent evidence suggests that it was a complementary monument to Stonehenge. The name comes from the parish in which the site is located – Durrington, meaning the farm of doers people. What visibly remains of Durrington Walls today is the walls of the henge monument – in fact the remains of the inner slope of the bank. This now appears as a ridge surrounding a central basin, on the eastern side the separate ditch and bank are much more discernible although badly eroded by ploughing. Originally the ditch was some 5.5 metres deep,7 metres wide at its bottom and 18 metres wide at the top, the bank was in some areas 30 metres wide. There were two entrances through the bank and ditch – at the western and south eastern ends. There may also have been an entrance to the south and the north east, the henge enclosed several timber circles and smaller enclosures – not all of which have been excavated. Several Neolithic house floors have been next to and under the eastern bank of the henge. Their density suggests that there was a large village on the sloping river bank on this side. The henge sits on ground that slopes south east toward a bend in the River Avon. The south eastern entrance is roughly 60 metres from the riverbank, the henge has two roads passing through it – an old toll road, and a modern banked road constructed in 1967. In the past military barracks were constructed at the eastern end of the henge. The land on the side of the toll road is owned by the National Trust. Although there is evidence of some early Neolithic activity at the site, at some point c.2600 BC, a large timber circle was constructed. It is now known as the Southern Circle, the circle was oriented southeast towards the sunrise on the midwinter solstice and consisted of four large concentric circles of postholes, which would have held extremely large standing timbers
Durrington Walls
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Durrington Walls, seen from
Woodhenge.
Durrington Walls
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Durrington Walls seen from Woodhenge
Durrington Walls
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Sunrise at the Durrington Walls reconstruction, which was produced for a special episode of
Time Team that first aired in 2005.
13.
Mount Pleasant Henge
–
Mount Pleasant henge is a Neolithic henge enclosure in the English county of Dorset. It lies southeast of Dorchester in the parish of West Stafford. It still partially survives as an earthwork, rather like other superhenge sites such as Durrington Walls much of the earthworks have been ploughed or weathered away and it was not rediscovered until Stuart Piggott visited the area in 1936. On finding the site they diagnosed it as a henge as its bank was outside its ditch, the enclosure is egg-shaped, measuring 370 m along its long axis and dates to 2878-2470 cal BC. A geophysical survey in 1969 identified entrances to the henge enclosure, excavation in the 1960s revealed little material in the henge ditch though some fragments of grooved ware and childrens skeletons were found. The inner enclosure however contained large numbers of postholes, the holes were arranged in five concentric rings with a cross-shaped layout of aisles leading into the centre. Within the aisles were further holes interpreted as being for stones and this inner feature was similar to timber circle features at The Sanctuary and Woodhenge. A narrow,2 m deep trench was also found running around the inside of the larger henge. Consisting of large oak timbers placed at 50 cm intervals it would have served as a barrier to the middle of the site. Evidence that the posts that had stood in the trench were burnt was also seen. The excavator, Geoffrey Wainwright estimated that 1600 timbers had stood in the trench, two entrances were found in the palisade, each only 1m wide. The timber enclosure was built around 500 years after the henge enclosure. The henge enclosure is the site for the Mount Pleasant Period of the later Neolithic. The Megalithic Portal, Mount Pleasant - Henge in England in Dorset
Mount Pleasant Henge
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Mount Pleasant Henge, visible as a white
cropmark. Conquer Barrow is in the background
14.
Wiltshire
–
Wiltshire is a county in South West England with an area of 3,485 km2. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, the county town was originally Wilton, after which the county is named, but Wiltshire Council is now based in the new county town of Trowbridge. Wiltshire is characterised by its high downland and wide valleys, Salisbury Plain is noted for being the location of the Stonehenge and Avebury stone circles and other ancient landmarks, and as a training area for the British Army. The city of Salisbury is notable for its mediaeval cathedral, important country houses open to the public include Longleat, near Warminster, and the National Trusts Stourhead, near Mere. The county, in the 9th century written as Wiltunscir, later Wiltonshire, is named after the county town of Wilton. Wiltshire is notable for its pre-Roman archaeology, the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age people that occupied southern Britain built settlements on the hills and downland that cover Wiltshire. Stonehenge and Avebury are perhaps the most famous Neolithic sites in the UK, in the 6th and 7th centuries Wiltshire was at the western edge of Saxon Britain, as Cranborne Chase and the Somerset Levels prevented the advance to the west. The Battle of Bedwyn was fought in 675 between Escuin, a West Saxon nobleman who had seized the throne of Queen Saxburga, in 878 the Danes invaded the county. Following the Norman Conquest, large areas of the country came into the possession of the crown, at the time of the Domesday Survey the industry of Wiltshire was largely agricultural,390 mills are mentioned, and vineyards at Tollard and Lacock. In the 17th century English Civil War Wiltshire was largely Parliamentarian, the Battle of Roundway Down, a Royalist victory, was fought near Devizes. The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry currently lives on as Y Squadron, based in Swindon, around 1800 the Kennet and Avon Canal was built through Wiltshire, providing a route for transporting cargoes from Bristol to London until the development of the Great Western Railway. Information on the 261 civil parishes of Wiltshire is available on the Wiltshire Community History website, run by the Libraries and this site includes maps, demographic data, historic and modern pictures and short histories. The local nickname for Wiltshire natives is moonrakers and this originated from a story of smugglers who managed to foil the local Excise men by hiding their alcohol, possibly French brandy in barrels or kegs, in a village pond. The officials took them for simple yokels or mad and left them alone, many villages claim the tale for their own village pond, but the story is most commonly linked with The Crammer in Devizes. Two-thirds of Wiltshire, a rural county, lies on chalk. This chalk is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group, the largest area of chalk in Wiltshire is Salisbury Plain, which is used mainly for arable agriculture and by the British Army as training ranges. The highest point in the county is the Tan Hill–Milk Hill ridge in the Pewsey Vale, just to the north of Salisbury Plain, the chalk uplands run northeast into West Berkshire in the Marlborough Downs ridge, and southwest into Dorset as Cranborne Chase. Cranborne Chase, which straddles the border, has, like Salisbury Plain, yielded much Stone Age, the Marlborough Downs are part of the North Wessex Downs AONB, a 1,730 km2 conservation area
Wiltshire
Wiltshire
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Wiltshire shown within England
Wiltshire
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Stonehenge
Wiltshire
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Cherhill White Horse, east of Calne
15.
British Museum
–
The British Museum is dedicated to human history, art and culture, and is located in the Bloomsbury area of London. The British Museum was established in 1753, largely based on the collections of the physician, the museum first opened to the public on 15 January 1759, in Montagu House, on the site of the current building. Although today principally a museum of art objects and antiquities. Its foundations lie in the will of the Irish-born British physician, on 7 June 1753, King George II gave his formal assent to the Act of Parliament which established the British Museum. They were joined in 1757 by the Old Royal Library, now the Royal manuscripts, together these four foundation collections included many of the most treasured books now in the British Library including the Lindisfarne Gospels and the sole surviving copy of Beowulf. The British Museum was the first of a new kind of museum – national, belonging to neither church nor king, freely open to the public, sloanes collection, while including a vast miscellany of objects, tended to reflect his scientific interests. The addition of the Cotton and Harley manuscripts introduced a literary, the body of trustees decided on a converted 17th-century mansion, Montagu House, as a location for the museum, which it bought from the Montagu family for £20,000. The Trustees rejected Buckingham House, on the now occupied by Buckingham Palace, on the grounds of cost. With the acquisition of Montagu House the first exhibition galleries and reading room for scholars opened on 15 January 1759. During the few years after its foundation the British Museum received several gifts, including the Thomason Collection of Civil War Tracts. A list of donations to the Museum, dated 31 January 1784, in the early 19th century the foundations for the extensive collection of sculpture began to be laid and Greek, Roman and Egyptian artefacts dominated the antiquities displays. Gifts and purchases from Henry Salt, British consul general in Egypt, beginning with the Colossal bust of Ramesses II in 1818, many Greek sculptures followed, notably the first purpose-built exhibition space, the Charles Towneley collection, much of it Roman Sculpture, in 1805. In 1816 these masterpieces of art, were acquired by The British Museum by Act of Parliament. The collections were supplemented by the Bassae frieze from Phigaleia, Greece in 1815, the Ancient Near Eastern collection also had its beginnings in 1825 with the purchase of Assyrian and Babylonian antiquities from the widow of Claudius James Rich. The neoclassical architect, Sir Robert Smirke, was asked to draw up plans for an extension to the Museum. For the reception of the Royal Library, and a Picture Gallery over it, and put forward plans for todays quadrangular building, much of which can be seen today. The dilapidated Old Montagu House was demolished and work on the Kings Library Gallery began in 1823, the extension, the East Wing, was completed by 1831. The Museum became a site as Sir Robert Smirkes grand neo-classical building gradually arose
British Museum
–
British Museum
British Museum
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The centre of the museum was redeveloped in 2001 to become the
Great Court, surrounding the original
Reading Room.
British Museum
–
Sir
Hans Sloane
British Museum
–
Montagu House, c. 1715
16.
Bronze Age
–
The Bronze Age is a historical period characterized by the use of bronze, proto-writing, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the principal period of the three-age Stone-Bronze-Iron system, as proposed in modern times by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen. An ancient civilization is defined to be in the Bronze Age either by smelting its own copper and alloying with tin, arsenic, or other metals, or by trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Copper-tin ores are rare, as reflected in the fact there were no tin bronzes in Western Asia before trading in bronze began in the third millennium BC. Worldwide, the Bronze Age generally followed the Neolithic period, with the Chalcolithic serving as a transition, although the Iron Age generally followed the Bronze Age, in some areas, the Iron Age intruded directly on the Neolithic. Bronze Age cultures differed in their development of the first writing, according to archaeological evidence, cultures in Mesopotamia and Egypt developed the earliest viable writing systems. The overall period is characterized by use of bronze, though the place and time of the introduction. Human-made tin bronze technology requires set production techniques, tin must be mined and smelted separately, then added to molten copper to make bronze alloy. The Bronze Age was a time of use of metals. The dating of the foil has been disputed, the Bronze Age in the ancient Near East began with the rise of Sumer in the 4th millennium BC. Societies in the region laid the foundations for astronomy and mathematics, the usual tripartite division into an Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age is not used. Instead, a division based on art-historical and historical characteristics is more common. The cities of the Ancient Near East housed several tens of thousands of people, ur in the Middle Bronze Age and Babylon in the Late Bronze Age similarly had large populations. The earliest mention of Babylonia appears on a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 23rd century BC, the Amorite dynasty established the city-state of Babylon in the 19th century BC. Over 100 years later, it took over the other city-states. Babylonia adopted the written Semitic Akkadian language for official use, by that time, the Sumerian language was no longer spoken, but was still in religious use. Elam was an ancient civilization located to the east of Mesopotamia, in the Old Elamite period, Elam consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered in Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered in Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Its culture played a role in the Gutian Empire and especially during the Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded it
Bronze Age
–
Chalcolithic copper mine in
Timna Valley,
Negev Desert,
Israel.
Bronze Age
–
Diffusion of metallurgy in
Europe and
Asia Minor. The darkest areas are the oldest.
Bronze Age
–
A
Shang Dynasty two-handled bronze gefuding gui (1600–1046 BC).
Bronze Age
–
Spring and Autumn Period pu bronze vessel with interlaced
dragon design (722–481 BC)
17.
Burial
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Burial or interment is the ritual act of placing a dead person or animal, sometimes with objects, into the ground. This is accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objects in it, humans have been burying their dead for at least 100,000 years. Burial is often seen as indicating respect for the dead, sometimes objects or grave goods are buried with the body, which may be dressed in fancy or ceremonial garb. Depending on the culture, the way the body is positioned may have great significance, the location of the burial may be determined taking into account concerns surrounding health and sanitation, religious concerns, and cultural practices. Some cultures keep the close to provide guidance to the living. Some religions consecrate special ground to bury the dead, and some families build private family cemeteries, most modern cultures document the location of graves with headstones, which may be inscribed with information and tributes to the deceased. However, some people are buried in anonymous or secret graves for various reasons, sometimes multiple bodies are buried in a single grave either by choice, due to space concerns, or in the case of mass graves as a way to deal with many bodies at once. Alternatives to burial may include cremation, burial at sea, promession, cryopreservation, some human cultures may bury the remains of beloved animals. Humans are not the species which bury their dead, the practice has been observed in chimpanzees, elephants. Evidence suggests that the Neanderthals were the first human species to practice burial behavior and intentionally bury their dead, doing so in shallow graves along with stone tools, exemplary sites include Shanidar in Iraq, Kebara Cave in Israel and Krapina in Croatia. Some scholars, however, argue that these bodies may have been disposed of for secular reasons, the earliest undisputed human burial dates back 100,000 years. Human skeletal remains stained with red ochre were discovered in the Skhul cave at Qafzeh, a variety of grave goods were present at the site, including the mandible of a wild boar in the arms of one of the skeletons. Prehistoric cemeteries are referred to by the neutral term grave field. After death, a body will decay, Burial is not necessarily a public health requirement. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the WHO advises that only corpses carrying an infectious disease strictly require burial, human burial practices are the manifestation of the human desire to demonstrate respect for the dead. Cultures vary in their mode of respect, some reasons follow, Respect for the physical remains. If left lying on top of the ground, scavengers may eat the corpse, in Tibet, Sky burials return the remains to the cycle of life and acknowledge the body as food, a core tenet of some Buddhist practices. Burial can be seen as an attempt to bring closure to the deceaseds family, psychologists in some Western Judeo-Christian quarters, as well as the US funeral industry, claim that by interring a body away from plain view the pain of losing a loved one can be lessened
Burial
–
Underwater
funeral in
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea from an edition with drawings by
Alphonse de Neuville and
Édouard Riou
Burial
–
Reconstruction of the
Mesolithic tomb of two women from
Téviec,
Brittany.
Burial
–
A naturally
mummified body in the
British Museum.
Burial
–
A
Muslim cemetery in
Sahara, all graves point across the desert placed at right angles to
Mecca
18.
Arbor Low
–
Arbor Low is a Neolithic henge monument in the Peak District, Derbyshire, England. Arbor Low is in the White Peak area of the Peak District, the site is private property, accessible through the courtesy of the owner, and is managed by the Peak District National Park Authority. As of February 2017, a fee of £1 per adult is requested by the landowner. Children can enter free of charge, Arbor Low consists of about 50 large limestone blocks, quarried from a local site, which form an egg-shaped circle, with monoliths at the entrances, and possibly a portal stone at the south entrance. There is also a pit at the north entrance, which possibly contained a stone. Some of the stones are broken, some of these fragments may originally have been joined together, the stones range from 1.6 to 2.1 metres tall, with the monoliths being between 2.6 and 2.9 metres. In the centre lie seven smaller blocks, which form a cove, one stone is partially upright, the rest are all lying down. Although it is stated that the stones have never stood upright. The stones are surrounded by an earthen bank, approximately 90 by 85 metres at the outside edges and 2 metres high, with an interior ditch being about 2 m deep. There are two causeway entrances breaching both the bank and ditch, the north-west one is 9 metres wide, and the south-south-east one is 6 metres wide, within the bank lies an inner platform 52 by 40 metres in area. Few henge monuments in the British Isles are as well preserved, Arbor Low was one of the first ancient monuments to be given statutory protection, in the 1880s. Small monoliths engraved VR and GR still stand around the henge, human skeletal remains were discovered close to the central cove within the circle during excavations between 1901 and 1902. A large Bronze Age round cairn or barrow was later, to the east of the henge. It was excavated in 1845 and found to contain a cremation burial, Arbor Low is part of a larger complex, and is linked by an earth ridge to the earlier Neolithic oval barrow of Gib Hill 320m away. The bank and ditch of the henge, as well as its two entrances, were established in the Late Neolithic period, with the stones added later. The site seems to have been in use until into the Bronze Age, both the earthworks and the stoneworks are probably later than the nearby Gib Hill. The Bull Ring Arbor Low, A Guide to the Monuments, the ‘Harbour’ and Barrows at Arbour-Lows. Journal of the Derbyshire Archaeological and Natural History Society,33, arnold-Bemrose, H. H. Geological notes on Arbor Low
Arbor Low
–
Arbor Low
19.
Derbyshire
–
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire, in 2003 the Ordnance Survey placed Church Flatts Farm at Coton in the Elms as the furthest point from the sea in Great Britain. The city of Derby is a unitary authority area, but remains part of the county of Derbyshire. The non-metropolitan county contains 30 towns with between 10,000 and 100,000 inhabitants, there is a large amount of sparsely populated agricultural upland, 75% of the population live in 25% of the area. Further occupation came with the Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic periods of the Stone Age when Mesolithic hunter gatherers roamed the hilly tundra, evidence of these nomadic tribes has been found in limestone caves located on the Nottinghamshire border. Deposits left in the date the occupancy at around 12,000 to 7,000 BCE. Burial mounds of Neolithic settlers are also situated throughout the county and these chambered tombs were designed for collective burial and are mostly located in the central Derbyshire region. There are tombs at Minninglow and Five Wells that date back to between 2000 and 2500 BCE, three miles west of Youlgreave lies the Neolithic henge monument of Arbor Low, which has been dated to 2500 BCE. It is not until the Bronze Age that real signs of agriculture, in the moors of the Peak District signs of clearance, arable fields and hut circles were discovered after archaeological investigation. However this area and another settlement at Swarkestone are all that have been found, during the Roman invasion the invaders were attracted to Derbyshire because of the lead ore in the limestone hills of the area. They settled throughout the county with forts built near Brough in the Hope Valley, later they settled around Buxton, famed for its warm springs, and set up a fort near modern-day Derby in an area now known as Little Chester. Several kings of Mercia are buried in the Repton area, following the Norman Conquest, much of the county was subject to the forest laws. To the northwest was the Forest of High Peak under the custodianship of William Peverel, the rest of the county was bestowed upon Henry de Ferrers, a part of it becoming Duffield Frith. In time the area was given to the Duchy of Lancaster. Meanwhile, the Forest of East Derbyshire covered the county to the east of the River Derwent from the reign of Henry II to that of Edward I. The main rivers in the county are the River Derwent and the River Dove which both join the River Trent in the south. The varied landscapes within Derbyshires have been formed mainly as a consequence of the underlying geology, the oldest rocks occur in the northern, more upland half of the county, and are mostly of Carboniferous age, comprising limestones, gritstones, sandstones and shales. In its north-east corner to the east of Bolsover there are also Magnesian Limestone rocks of Permian age, across both regions can be found drift deposits of Quaternary age – mainly terrace and river gravel deposits and boulder clays
Derbyshire
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The henge monument at
Arbor Low
Derbyshire
Derbyshire
–
Map of Derbyshire boundaries with Peak District also shown. Black = modern Geographic boundary, Red = Vice-county boundary (VC57) where this differs from modern; Dotted Blue = Peak District boundary
Derbyshire
–
The rugged moorland edge of the southern Pennines at Kinder Downfall
20.
Salisbury Plain
–
Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in central southern England covering 300 square miles. It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies within the county of Wiltshire, the plain is famous for its rich archaeology, including Stonehenge, one of Englands best known landmarks. Additionally the plain has arable land, and a few areas of beech trees. Its highest point is Easton Hill, the boundaries of Salisbury Plain have never been truly defined, and there is some difference of opinion as to its exact area. The river valleys surrounding it, and other downs and plains beyond them loosely define its boundaries, to the north the scarp of the downs overlooks the Vale of Pewsey, and to the north west the Bristol Avon. The River Wylye runs along the south west, and the Bourne runs to the east, the Hampshire Avon runs through the eastern half of the plain and to the south the plain peters out as the river valleys close together before meeting at Salisbury. From here the Avon continues south to the English Channel at Christchurch, the Hampshire Downs and the Berkshire Downs are chalk downland to the east and north of Salisbury Plain, and the Dorset Downs is to the south west. In the west and north west the geology is mainly of the clays and limestones of the Blackmore Vale, the A303 road runs along the southern area of the plain, while the A345 and the A360 cut across the centre. Salisbury Plain is famous for its history and archaeology, in the Neolithic period Stone Age man began to settle on the plain, most likely centred around the causewayed enclosure of Robin Hoods Ball. Large long barrows like White Barrow and other earthworks were built across the plain, by 2500 BC areas around Durrington Walls and Stonehenge had become a focus for building, and the southern part of the plain continued to be settled into the Bronze Age. Roman roads are visible features, probably serving a settlement near Old Sarum, villas are sparse, however, and Anglo-Saxon place names suggest that the plain was mostly a grain-producing imperial estate. In the 6th century Anglo-Saxon incomers built planned settlements in the valleys surrounded by strip lynchets, the cathedral is evidence of the prosperity the wool and cloth trade brought to the area. In the mid-19th century the wool and cloth industry began to decline, leading to a decline in the population and change in use from sheep farming to agriculture. Wiltshire became one of the poorest counties in England during this period of decline, there are a number of chalk carvings on the plain, of which the most famous is the Westbury White Horse. The Kennet and Avon Canal was constructed to the north of the plain, in 1896, George Kemp and Guglielmo Marconi experimented with wireless telegraphy on Salisbury Plain, and achieved good results over a distance of 1.75 miles. Media related to Army Training Estate Salisbury Plain at Wikimedia Commons The military training area covers roughly half of the plain, the army first conducted exercises on the plain in 1898. From that time, the Ministry of Defence bought up large areas of land until the Second World War, the MoD now own 150 square miles of land, making it the largest military training area in the United Kingdom. Of this, around 39 square miles are permanently closed to the public, as of 2016, the largest camps and barracks are at Larkhill, Bulford, Tidworth, Trenchard Lines and Warminster
Salisbury Plain
–
Stonehenge, the most famous antiquity on Salisbury Plain
Salisbury Plain
–
On Walbury Hill, a typical Salisbury Plain landscape
Salisbury Plain
–
Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain
Salisbury Plain
–
Military use makes some areas of the plain inaccessible to the public.
21.
Knowlton Circles
–
Knowlton Circles are a complex of henges and earthworks in Knowlton, Dorset, England. The henge enclosing Knowlton Church is the best known and best preserved, the Knowlton Circles are a cluster of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments near Knowlton. There are four enclosures, three are of normal form, Church Henge, Knowlton North and Knowlton South. Church Henge is the best preserved of these monuments and encloses the ruins of Knowlton Church, nearby is the large round barrow known as Great Barrow and a number of other round barrows are also focused on the area. Church Henge is the best preserved of the three henges at Knowlton and it is an oval enclosure surrounded by a ditch and earthwork bank. The enclosure is orientated roughly northeast to southwest and measures 106 metres by 94 metres, the enclosing ditch is 10 metres wide and up to 1 metre deep. The outer banks are 10 metres in width and stand up to 1.75 metres high and they consist of a series of straight lengths linked by rounded corners. Three gaps are present in the bank, to the southwest, east and northeast. It unclear which of the gaps are original, although the east entrance is likely to be original, whereas the west entrance was altered at a later date, Knowlton church stands in the middle of the henge, and symbolises the transition from pagan to Christian worship. Early Christian activity at Knowlton is indicated by a mid-to-late Anglo-Saxon inhumation cemetery which was discovered to the east of Church Henge in 1958, excavations located sixteen burials within chalk-cut graves, some aligned east-west. The earliest parts of the church are the 12th century chancel and nave, in the 18th century the roof fell in and the church was abandoned. Knowlton North is a small henge to the northwest of Church Henge and it has largely been destroyed by ploughing. The site is visible as cropmarks, although its original form is uncertain. It appears to be an oval enclosure comprising a ditch with external bank. There is an entrance on the southeast side. Knowlton South is the southernmost of the henges and is also the largest and it still partially survives as an earthwork though it has suffered from ploughing and parts are better visible as cropmarks. The henge is now bisected by the Cranborne to Wimborne road, the maximum diameter of the henge is around 250 metres. The enclosure is defined by a ditch and outer bank separated by a berm and it appears to have been constructed as a series of straight lengths linked by shorter curving lengths
Knowlton Circles
–
Church Henge
Knowlton Circles
–
Great Barrow viewed from Church Henge
22.
Dorset
–
Dorset /ˈdɔːrsᵻt/ is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the county, which is governed by Dorset County Council. Covering an area of 2,653 square kilometres, Dorset borders Devon to the west, Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north-east, the county town is Dorchester which is in the south. After the reorganisation of government in 1974 the countys border was extended eastward to incorporate the Hampshire towns of Bournemouth. Around half of the lives in the South East Dorset conurbation. The county has a history of human settlement stretching back to the Neolithic era. The Romans conquered Dorsets indigenous Celtic tribe, and during the early Middle Ages, the first recorded Viking raid on the British Isles occurred in Dorset during the eighth century, and the Black Death entered England at Melcombe Regis in 1348. During the Second World War, Dorset was heavily involved in the preparations for the invasion of Normandy, the former was the sailing venue in the 2012 Summer Olympics, and both have clubs or hire venues for sailing, Cornish pilot gig rowing, sea kayaking and powerboating. Dorset has a varied landscape featuring broad elevated chalk downs, steep limestone ridges, over half the county is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Three-quarters of its coastline is part of the Jurassic Coast Natural World Heritage Site due to its geological and it features notable landforms such as Lulworth Cove, the Isle of Portland, Chesil Beach and Durdle Door. Agriculture was traditionally the major industry of Dorset but is now in decline, there are no motorways in Dorset but a network of A roads cross the county and two railway main lines connect to London. Dorset has ports at Poole, Weymouth and Portland, and an international airport, the county has a variety of museums, theatres and festivals, and is host to one of Europes largest outdoor shows. It is the birthplace of Thomas Hardy, who used the county as the setting of his novels. Dorset derives its name from the county town of Dorchester, the Romans established the settlement in the 1st century and named it Durnovaria which was a Latinised version of a Common Brittonic word possibly meaning place with fist-sized pebbles. It is first mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in AD845 and in the 10th century the countys archaic name, the first human visitors to Dorset were Mesolithic hunters, from around 8000 BC. The first permanent Neolithic settlers appeared around 3000 BC and were responsible for the creation of the Dorset Cursus, from 2800 BC onwards Bronze Age farmers cleared Dorsets woodlands for agricultural use and Dorsets high chalk hills provided a location for numerous round barrows. During the Iron Age, the British tribe known as the Durotriges established a series of forts across the county—most notably Maiden Castle which is one of the largest in Europe. The Romans arrived in Dorset during their conquest of Britain in AD43, Maiden Castle was captured by a Roman legion under the command of Vespasian, and the Roman settlement of Durnovaria was established nearby
Dorset
Dorset
–
Dorset shown within England
Dorset
–
Corfe Castle, captured and destroyed by
Cromwell's army in 1646
Dorset
–
Durdle Door, a
natural arch near
Lulworth Cove
23.
Maumbury Rings
–
Maumbury Rings is a Neolithic henge in the south of Dorchester town in Dorset, England. It is a circular earthwork,85 metres in diameter, with a single bank. The monument is now an open space, and used for open-air concerts, festivals. Maumbury Rings is a roughly circular henge situated close to the centre of Dorchester and it has an internal diameter of around 50 metres. The bank has a width of 4 metres, and is around 5.6 metres high internally and 4.0 metres high externally. A bulge in the earthworks to the southwest marks the site of a gun emplacement built during the English Civil War, there is no trace of the original internal ditch. Maumbury Rings were excavated by Harold St George Gray from 1908–1913, the excavations showed that the site originated in the later Neolithic period. The excavations revealed an internal ditch which comprised a series of deep shafts cut into the chalk and these number up to 45, and were up to 11 metres deep. They contained various deposits including antler, animal and human bone, flints, a single Grooved ware pottery sherd was recovered from one pit, and a later Beaker sherd was recovered from the fill of another pit. The henge had an entrance on the northeast side. It is recorded that a stone was discovered during cultivation in 1849 to the west of the entrance. Around 2 km due east are the faint traces of a larger henge known as Mount Pleasant henge, in addition, when archaeologists were digging on the site of the Tudor Arcade/Waitrose development in the 1980s they discovered large timber postholes. The evidence suggests that they were part of a large Neolithic enclosure with a diameter of around 300 to 400 metres, red markings, denoting sites of some of the timber posts, can be seen in the car park of Waitrose. Maumbury Rings was remodelled in the Roman period when it was adapted for use as an amphitheatre for the use of the citizens of the nearby Roman town of Durnovaria, the banks were lowered by around 3 metres, with the material produced piled onto the banks. The interior was modified by the excavation of an oval, level floor. Chambers were cut into the bank to the south-west and one on side of the centre. Finds found during the excavations include an uninscribed British coin, Roman pottery, leg bones, coins, the amphitheatre may have been out of use by the mid-2nd century, although objects found on the arena floor and elsewhere suggest activity in the 4th century. Between 1642 and 1643 the henge was modified in response to the English Civil War, the site was used as an artillery fort by Parliament supporters in order to guard the southern approach to Dorchester
Maumbury Rings
–
Interior of Maumbury Rings viewed from southern end
Maumbury Rings
–
The northern entrance to the Rings.
Maumbury Rings
–
The western ramparts of the Ring.
Maumbury Rings
–
The secondary entrance, on the southern end.
24.
Amphitheatre
–
An amphitheatre or amphitheater /ˈæmfᵻˌθiːətər/ is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ἀμφιθέατρον, from ἀμφί, ancient Roman amphitheatres were oval or circular in plan, with seating tiers that surrounded the central performance area, like a modern open-air stadium. In contrast both ancient Greek and ancient Roman theatres were built in a semicircle, with tiered seating rising on one side of the performance area. In modern usage, amphitheatre is used to describe theatre-style stages with spectator seating on only one side, theatres in the round. Natural formations of similar shape are known as natural amphitheatres. Ancient Roman amphitheatres were major public venues, circular or oval in plan and they were used for events such as gladiator combats, chariot races, venationes and executions. About 230 Roman amphitheatres have been found across the area of the Roman Empire, the earliest Roman amphitheatres date from the middle of the 1st century BC, but most were built under Imperial rule, from the Augustan period onwards. Imperial amphitheatres were built throughout the Roman empire, the largest could accommodate 40, the most elaborate featured multi-storeyed, arcaded façades and were elaborately decorated with marble, stucco and statuary. After the end of games in the 5th century and of staged animal hunts in the 6th. Their materials were mined or recycled, some were razed, and others were converted into fortifications. A few continued as convenient open meeting places, in some of these, in modern usage, an amphitheatre is a circular, semicircular or curved, acoustically vibrant performance space, particularly one located outdoors. Small-scale amphitheatres can serve to host outdoor local community performances, notable modern amphitheatres include the Shoreline Amphitheatre and the Hollywood Bowl. The term amphitheatre is used for some indoor venues such as the Gibson Amphitheatre. The term amphitheatre can also be used to naturally occurring formations which would be ideal for this purpose. Arena Stadium Thingplatz List of Roman amphitheatres List of contemporary amphitheatres List of indoor arenas List of ancient Greek theatres Roman theatre Bomgardner, the Story of the Roman Amphitheatre
Amphitheatre
–
The
Colosseum in Rome, built c. 70 – 80 AD, is considered one of the greatest works of
architecture and
engineering.
Amphitheatre
–
Interior of the
Colosseum
Amphitheatre
–
Arles Amphitheatre, a
Roman arena in Arles, France, still in use today for bullfighting,
plays and summer
concerts.
Amphitheatre
–
The
Hollywood Bowl,
Hollywood,
California
25.
English Civil War
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The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists over, principally, the manner of Englands government. The war ended with the Parliamentarian victory at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, the monopoly of the Church of England on Christian worship in England ended with the victors consolidating the established Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. The term English Civil War appears most often in the singular form, the war in all these countries are known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Unlike other civil wars in England, which focused on who should rule, this war was more concerned with the manner in which the kingdoms of England, Scotland, the two sides had their geographical strongholds, such that minority elements were silenced or fled. The strongholds of the royalty included the countryside, the shires, on the other hand, all the cathedral cities sided with Parliament. All the industrial centers, the ports, and the advanced regions of southern and eastern England typically were parliamentary strongholds. Lacey Baldwin Smith says, the words populist, rich, at times there would be two groups of three lines allowing one group to reload while the other group arranged themselves and fired. Mixed in among the musketeers were pikemen carrying pikes that were between 12 feet and 18 feet long, whose purpose was to protect the musketeers from cavalry charges. The Royalist cavaliers skill and speed on horseback led to early victories. While the Parliamentarian cavalry were slower than the cavaliers, they were better disciplined. The Royalists had a tendency to chase down individual targets after the initial charge leaving their forces scattered and tired, Cromwells cavalry, on the other hand, trained to operate as a single unit, which led to many decisive victories. The English Civil War broke out fewer than forty years after the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, in spite of this, James personal extravagance meant he was perennially short of money and had to resort to extra-Parliamentary sources of income. Charles hoped to unite the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland into a new single kingdom, many English Parliamentarians had suspicions regarding such a move because they feared that setting up a new kingdom might destroy the old English traditions which had bound the English monarchy. As Charles shared his fathers position on the power of the crown, at the time, the Parliament of England did not have a large permanent role in the English system of government. Instead, Parliament functioned as an advisory committee and was summoned only if. Once summoned, a continued existence was at the kings pleasure. Yet in spite of this role, Parliament had, over the preceding centuries. Without question, for a monarch, Parliaments most indispensable power was its ability to tax revenues far in excess of all other sources of revenue at the Crowns disposal
English Civil War
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The victory of the
Parliamentarian New Model Army over the
Royalist Army at the
Battle of Naseby on 14 June 1645 marked the decisive turning point in the English Civil War.
English Civil War
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Charles I, painted by Van Dyck
English Civil War
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Henrietta Maria, painted by
Peter Lely, 1660
English Civil War
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Session of the Long Parliament
26.
Mayburgh Henge
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Mayburgh Henge is a large prehistoric monument in the county of Cumbria in northern England. The henge is in the care of English Heritage and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and it is 400 metres from King Arthurs Round Table Henge. The Ordnance Survey grid reference for Mayburgh Henge is NY51922845, the stone circles, henges, cairns and other standing stones in the area are often grouped at nodes of communication routes. The site consists of a circular bank possibly built using cobble stones from the rivers unlike other henge monuments. There is no evidence of a ditch at Mayburgh, the bank is up to 15 feet high, and 50 metres across its base with a diameter of around 383 feet. Contained within it is a single monolith 9 feet high, clare notes that the centre is slightly domed, and raises the possibility that the original site may have been a stone circle with four portal stones, with the bank being added later. The proximity to a river and spring also suggests ritualistic uses - an association between water and funerary monuments as at Durrington Walls and Stonehenge is possible and its proximity to a spring may be to do with birth of life and human life-cycle rituals. The use of significantly-coloured stones would have made the visual impact. awe inspiring, mayburghs alignment to the equinox sun also suggests a cosmological use similar to that of Long Meg. The Henge forms part of a selection of prehistoric and historic remains in the surrounding area, history and research on Mayburgh Henge, English Heritage The Megalithic Portal, Mayburgh Henge Modern Antiquarian Mayburgh and King Arthurs Round Table
Mayburgh Henge
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Mayburgh Henge, interior
Mayburgh Henge
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Central standing stone
27.
Cumbria
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Cumbria is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbrias county town is Carlisle, in the north of the county, the county of Cumbria consists of six districts, and in 2008 had a population of just under half a million. Cumbria is one of the most sparsely populated counties in the United Kingdom, a large area of the south east of the county is within the Yorkshire Dales National Park while the east of the county fringes the North Pennines AONB. Much of Cumbria is mountainous, and it contains every peak in England over 3,000 feet above sea level, with Scafell Pike at 3,209 feet being the highest point of England. An upland, coastal, and rural area, Cumbrias history is characterised by invasions, migration, notable historic sites in Cumbria include Carlisle Castle, Furness Abbey, Hardknott Roman Fort, Brough Castle and Hadrians Wall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. D. Based on inscriptional evidence from the area, the Roman civitas of the Carvetii seems to have covered portions of Cumbria, the names Cumbria, Cymru, Cambria, and Cumberland are derived from the name these people gave themselves, *kombroges in Common Brittonic, which originally meant compatriots. In the Early Middle Ages, Cumberland formed the core of the Brittonic kingdom of Rheged, for the rest of the first millennium, Cumbria was contested by several entities who warred over the area, including the Brythonic Kingdom of Strathclyde and the Anglian kingdom of Northumbria. Most of modern-day Cumbria was a principality in the Kingdom of Scotland at the time of the Norman conquest of England in 1066, in 1092 Cumberland was invaded by William II and incorporated into England. There were at least three sieges of Carlisle fought between England and Scotland, and two sieges during the Jacobite risings. In particular, the west-coast towns of Workington, Millom and Barrow-in-Furness saw large iron and steel mills develop, Kendal, Keswick and Carlisle all became mill towns, with textiles, pencils and biscuits among the products manufactured in the region. Later, the childrens writer Beatrix Potter also wrote in the region and became a major landowner and its strategic authority is Cumbria County Council. Local papers The Westmorland Gazette and Cumberland and Westmorland Herald continue to use the name of their historic county, other publications, such as local government promotional material, describe the area as Cumbria, as do the Lake District National Park Authority and most visitors. Cumbria is the most northwesterly county of England, the northernmost and southernmost points in Cumbria are just west of Deadwater, Northumberland and South Walney respectively. Kirkby Stephen and St Bees Head are the most easterly and westerly points of the county, at 978 metres Scafell Pike is the highest point in Cumbria and in England. Windermere is the largest natural lake in England, the Lancaster Canal runs from Preston into South Cumbria and is partly in use. The Ulverston Canal which once reached to Morecambe Bay is maintained although it was closed in 1945, the Solway Coast and Arnside and Silverdale AONBs lie in the lowland areas of the county, to the north and south respectively. Cumbria is bordered by the English counties of Northumberland, County Durham, North Yorkshire, Lancashire, the boundaries are along the Irish Sea to Morecambe Bay in the west, and along the Pennines to the east
Cumbria
Cumbria
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Cumbria shown within England
Cumbria
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The
Castlerigg stone circle dates from the late
Neolithic age and was constructed by some of the earliest inhabitants of Cumbria
Cumbria
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The
Sellafield nuclear processing site near
Seascale employs around 10,000 people.
28.
Orkney
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Orkney /ˈɔːrkni/, also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of Great Britain. Orkney is 16 kilometres north of the coast of Caithness and comprises approximately 70 islands, the largest island Mainland is often referred to as the Mainland. It has an area of 523 square kilometres, making it the sixth-largest Scottish island, the largest settlement and administrative centre is Kirkwall. A form of the dates to the pre-Roman era and the islands have been inhabited for at least 8500 years, originally occupied by Mesolithic and Neolithic tribes. Orkney was invaded and forcibly annexed by Norway in 875 and settled by the Norse, the Scottish Parliament then re-annexed the earldom to the Scottish Crown in 1472, following the failed payment of a dowry for James IIIs bride Margaret of Denmark. Orkney contains some of the oldest and best-preserved Neolithic sites in Europe, Orkney is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, a constituency of the Scottish Parliament, a lieutenancy area, and a historic county. The local council is Orkney Islands Council, one of only three Councils in Scotland with a majority of elected members who are independents. In addition to the Mainland, most of the islands are in two groups, the North and South Isles, all of which have a geological base of Old Red Sandstone. The climate is mild and the soils are fertile, most of the land being farmed. Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy, the significant wind and marine energy resources are of growing importance, and the island generates more than its total yearly electricity demand using renewables. The local people are known as Orcadians and have a distinctive Orcadian dialect of Scots, there is an abundance of marine and avian wildlife. Pytheas of Massilia visited Britain – probably sometime between 322 and 285 BC – and described it as triangular in shape, with a northern tip called Orcas and this may have referred to Dunnet Head, from which Orkney is visible. Speakers of Old Irish referred to the islands as Insi Orc island of the pigs, the archipelago is known as Ynysoedd Erch in modern Welsh and Arcaibh in modern Scottish Gaelic, the -aibh representing a fossilized prepositional case ending. The Anglo-Saxon monk Bede refers to the islands as Orcades insulae in his seminal work Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Norwegian settlers arriving from the ninth century reinterpreted orc as the Old Norse orkn seal. The plural suffix -jar was later removed in English leaving the modern name Orkney, according to the Historia Norwegiæ, Orkney was named after an earl called Orkan. The Norse knew Mainland Orkney as Megenland Mainland or as Hrossey Horse Island, the island is sometimes referred to as Pomona, a name that stems from a sixteenth-century mistranslation by George Buchanan, which has rarely been used locally. A charred hazelnut shell, recovered in 2007 during excavations in Tankerness on the Mainland has been dated to 6820–6660 BC indicating the presence of Mesolithic nomadic tribes
Orkney
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Coat of arms
Orkney
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Flag
Orkney
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Blaeu's 1654 map of Orkney and Shetland. Map makers at this time continued to use the original Latin name "Orcades".
29.
Yorkshire
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Yorkshire, formally known as the County of York, is a historic county of Northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Due to its size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been undertaken over time by its subdivisions. Throughout these changes, Yorkshire has continued to be recognised as a geographical territory, Yorkshire has sometimes been nicknamed Gods Own County or Gods Own Country. Yorkshire Day, held on 1 August, is a celebration of the culture of Yorkshire. Yorkshire is now divided between different official regions, most of the county falls within Yorkshire and the Humber. The extreme northern part of the county falls within North East England, Small areas in the west of the historic county now form part of North West England, following boundary changes in 1974. Yorkshire or the County of York was so named as it is the shire of the city of York local /ˈjɔːk/ or Yorks Shire, York comes from the Viking name for the city, Jórvík. Shire is from Old English, scir meaning care or official charge, the shire suffix is locally pronounced /-ʃə/ shuh, or occasionally /-ʃiə/, a homophone of sheer. Early inhabitants of Yorkshire were Celts, who formed two tribes, the Brigantes and the Parisi. The Brigantes controlled territory which later became all of the North Riding of Yorkshire, the tribe controlled most of Northern England and more territory than any other Celtic tribe in England. That they had the Yorkshire area as their heartland is evident in that Isurium Brigantum was the town of their civitas under Roman rule. Six of the nine Brigantian poleis described by Claudius Ptolemaeus in the Geographia fall within the historic county, the Parisi, who controlled the area that would become the East Riding of Yorkshire, might have been related to the Parisii of Lutetia Parisiorum, Gaul. Their capital was at Petuaria, close to the Humber estuary, initially, this situation suited both the Romans and the Brigantes, who were known as the most militant tribe in Britain. Queen Cartimandua left her husband Venutius for his bearer, Vellocatus. Cartimandua, due to her relationship with the Romans, was able to keep control of the kingdom. At the second attempt, Venutius seized the kingdom, but the Romans, under general Petillius Cerialis, the fortified city of Eboracum was named as capital of Britannia Inferior and joint-capital of all Roman Britain. During the two years before the death of Emperor Septimius Severus, the Roman Empire was run from Eboracum by him, another emperor, Constantius Chlorus, died in Yorkshire during a visit in 306 AD. This saw his son Constantine the Great proclaimed emperor in the city, in the early 5th century, the Roman rule ceased with the withdrawal of the last active Roman troops
Yorkshire
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Statue of
Constantine I outside
York Minster.
Yorkshire
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Flag of Yorkshire
Yorkshire
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York Minster, western elevation
Yorkshire
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Yorkist king
Richard III grew up at
Middleham.
30.
Cursus
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Cursus monuments are Neolithic structures which represent some of the oldest prehistoric monumental structures of the British Isles. Relics found within them show that they were built between 3400 and 3000 BC and they range in length from 50 yards to almost 6 miles and the distance between the parallel earthworks can be up to 100 yards. Banks at the terminal ends enclose the cursus, over fifty have been identified via aerial photography while many others have doubtless been obliterated by farming and other subsequent landscaping activities. Examples include the four cursuses at Rudston in Yorkshire, that at Fornham All Saints in Suffolk, the Cleaven Dyke in Perthshire, a notable example is the Stonehenge Cursus, within sight of the more famous stone circle, on land belonging to The National Trusts Stonehenge Landscape. More recent studies have reassessed the original interpretation and argued that they were used for ceremonial competitions, anthropological parallels exist for this interpretation. Contemporary internal features are rare and it has been thought that the cursuses were used as processional routes. They are often aligned on and respect the position of pre-existing long barrows and bank barrows, the Dorset Cursus, the longest known example, crosses a river and three valleys along its course across Cranborne Chase and is close to the henge monuments at Knowlton. Larger scale modern ceremonial analogs might include the National Mall in Washington, avenue Cursus publicus Jim Champion, The Enigmatic Cursus, Megalithic Portal,23 April 2005, ed. A. Burnham C
Cursus
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Stonehenge Cursus, Wiltshire
Cursus
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Dorset Cursus terminal on Thickthorn Down, Dorset
