Browsing by Author "Burley, Paul D"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Identification of Karst Features in the Portsdown Chalk Fm. from Aerial Photography, Dorset, UK
    (2020-01-14) Hammer, Morena N; Burley, Paul D; Mooers, Howard D
    Cranborne Chase in south central England contains extensive archaeological evidence supporting a large Neolithic population from approximately 3600-3440 BC. Little to no data exists recording the environment that the Neolithic people were living in and how they influenced the landscape through cultivation and related impacts. Typical data archives that would be used for paleoenvironmental reconstruction, such as lakes or peat fens, do not exist in Cranborne Chase because of the well-drained karst landscape. However, during the summer of 2018 a significant drought enhanced the identification of karst features. These features were mapped with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and aerial photography to assist in the identification of potential paleoenvironmental and archeological archives.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Myth as True History: Medicine Wheels and Landmarks as Boundary Markers of the Lakota World
    (2016) Burley, Paul D
    This investigation examines physical, spatial and temporal characteristics of Native American medicine wheels located on the Northern Great Plains of the Unites States. Direct evidence for date and purpose of construction and use of medicine wheels is limited. As architectural symbols of native science, the structures are understood to be metaphors for native knowledge and creative participation with the natural world in both theory and practice, serving as bridges between the inner and outer realities. However, reasons for the respective location, meaning of architectural design, date of construction, and identification of people who constructed each medicine wheel generally remain unknown. An exception is Cloud Peak medicine wheel located on the west flank of the high point of the Bighorn mountain range in Wyoming, and shown to have been constructed by the Lakota tribe no earlier than about 1700 AD. Documented Lakota migration onto the Great Plains beginning during the early 17th century was reviewed to trace the timeframe and areal extent of the tribe's occupation of the region. Major regional and local physiographic features of the 2 Northern Great Plains were identified as they relate to Lakota traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). The tribe's history and culture, including mythology, cosmology, were reviewed from ethnographic records and documents addressing tribal history and sacred lifeway. Field observations were made of medicine wheel sites and physiographic features on the Northern Great Plains and adjoining regions of known import to the Lakota and other tribes which occupied the region during late prehistory. Observations and measurements of Cloud Peak medicine wheel, the Jennings site in east central South Dakota and additional archaeological sites of significance on the Northern Great Plains, and proximal relationships between those sites and major topographic and hydrogeologic features of the region suggest these features share common spatial, cosmographic and mythological relationships with the spiritual center of the Lakota world at Bear Butte, South Dakota. Based on locations of Cloud Peak medicine wheel and the Jennings site, physiographic and ecological characteristics of those locations and two additional sites of archaeological significance, and ethnographic records of Oceti Sakowin and Lakota TEK it is concluded these features compose primary elements of an Earth-scale sacred hoop delineating the physical boundaries of the traditional Lakota world. This sacred hoop was conceived, designed and built to include most of the Northern Great Plains region and traditional territory of the Lakota in particular. The hoop is interpreted to have been constructed soon after Lakota occupation of the Northern Great Plains by the late 18th century.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Recognizing spatial and temporal relationships between Neolithic earthen monuments, Earth, and sky at Cranborne Chase, Southern Britain
    (2023-01) Burley, Paul D
    Cranborne Chase in southern England is a well-known area of Neolithic archaeology including numerous long barrows, the largest and longest cursus in Britain, and many other structures. This multi-disciplinary geoarchaeological research project reviews local and regional geologic and paleoenvironmental characteristics of Cranborne Chase and the adjoining South Hampshire Lowlands, with specific interest in the physiographic setting of Early- to Mid-Neolithic earthen long barrows and the Dorset Cursus. Locations, forms and architectural features of the earthen monuments are analyzed with regard to local and regional geologic, geomorphic, pedologic, topographic, paleoenvironmental, and astronomical conditions for the period of monument construction c. 3800 to 3200 BC. Cultural development in southern Britain c. the 4th millennium is reviewed in tandem with descriptions of natural physiographic and paleoenvironmental conditions that are unique to Cranborne Chase and the lowland. Historical and ethnographical information provides analogies with respect to prehistoric cultural astronomy. Spatial and temporal relationships are identified between elements of the landscape, skyscape, and monuments. Results of this study demonstrate that spatial and temporal relationships between the earthen structures and elements of the surrounding landscape, seascape, and skyscape are key to recognizing and understanding the symbolism and signification expressed by the monumental architecture. The cultural expresses spatial and temporal unification by alignment between Earth and sky, and the living and the dead. In that way, the cultural landscape is related to a Neolithic cosmology emphasizing certain elements of the observable landscape and skyscape, and belief in an astral afterlife.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Revisiting the Megalithic Yard
    (2020-03-19) Mooers, Howard D; Burley, Paul D
    A long-standing question in British archaeology is whether a standard unit of linear measure was used by Neolithic architects and engineers in the construction of megalithic circles. Well-developed trade networks were established throughout the Near East into northern Europe by 4000 BC and commerce required standardized measure of trade goods. Well before this time, standardized linear measure was in use for surveying in the Tigris, Euphrates, and Nile agricultural regions. Growing evidence, such as the Folkton and Lavant chalk drums, suggest that Neolithic construction included standard measurements. We suggest that measurement standards were introduced in Britain with the immigration of Neolithic people about 4000 BC.