Recognizing spatial and temporal relationships between Neolithic earthen monuments, Earth, and sky at Cranborne Chase, Southern Britain

Abstract

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.