Orientation Of Prehistoric Monuments In Britain A Reassessment

Author : Alistair Marshall
Publisher : Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
ISBN 13 : 1789697069
Total Pages : 704 pages
Book Rating : 4.63/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Orientation of Prehistoric Monuments in Britain: A Reassessment written by Alistair Marshall and published by Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2021-07-08 with total page 704 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reassesses major axial alignment at many megalithic ritual and funerary monuments (Neolithic to Bronze Age) in Britain and Ireland, not in terms of abstract astronomical concerns, but as an expression of repeated seasonal propitiation involving community, agrarian economy and ancestry in an attempt to mitigate variable environmental conditions.

Author : Richard Hayman
Publisher : Bloomsbury Academic
ISBN 13 : 9781852855666
Total Pages : 354 pages
Book Rating : 4.65/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Riddles in Stone written by Richard Hayman and published by Bloomsbury Academic. This book was released on 2007-01-15 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who built Avebury and Stonehenge? Why and when were more than 600 stone circles, and thousands of barrows and cairns, erected in prehistoric Britain? What were they used for and what do they tell us about the beliefs and culture of their builders? Riddles in Stone is a history of the extraordinary variety of answers that have been given to these questions, by amateurs and professionals, archaeologists and astronomers, mystics and systems theorists. While modern excavation and radiocarbon dating has undoubtedly advanced our knowledge of the sequence and date of the monuments, their purpose and meaning is still hotly debated. Indeed no previous century has changed its mind so often as the twentieth - or provided such a welter of differing opinions. Each theory has as much to say about its own time as it has about prehistory. The stones have been used to enhance the authority of the Bible, to endorse the civilizing mission of the British Empire - and to argue that the Ancient Britons could work a computer. In a reaction to modern industrial society, they have been credited with spiritual powers and natural energies. Even the views of modern archaeologists often seem to reflect the latest academic fad, rather than a lasting solution. Riddles in Stone is an entertaining and instructive account of a debate on a subject of endless fascination.

Author : Chris Scarre
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134482191
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.91/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Monuments and Landscape in Atlantic Europe written by Chris Scarre and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-07-08 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Atlantic Europe is the zone par excellence of megalithic monuments, which encompass a wide range of earthen and stone constructions from inpressive stone circles to modest chambered tombs. A single basic concept lies behind this volume - that the intrinsic qualities encountered within the diverse landscapes pf Atlantic Europe both informed the settings chosen for the monuments and played a role in determining their form and visual appearance. Monuments and Landscape in Atlantic Europe goes significantly beyond the limits of existing debate by inviting archaeologists from different countries with the Atlantic zone (including Britain, France, Ireland, Spain and Sweden) to examine the relationship between landscape features and prehistoric monuments in their specialist regions. By placing the issue within a broader regional and intellectual context, the authors illustrate the diversity of current archaeological ideas and approaches converging around this central theme.

Author : Clive Ruggles
Publisher : Liverpool University Press
ISBN 13 : 1835532713
Total Pages : 243 pages
Book Rating : 4.13/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Stonehenge written by Clive Ruggles and published by Liverpool University Press. This book was released on 2024-04-03 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stonehenge is one of the most famous ancient monuments in the world and its solar alignment is one of its most important features. Yet although archaeologists have learned a huge amount about this iconic monument and its development, a sense of mystery continues about its purpose. This helps fuel numerous theories and common misconceptions, particularly concerning its relationship to the sky and the heavenly bodies. A desire to cut through this confusion was the inspiration for this book, and it fills a gaping hole in the existing literature. The book provides both an introduction to Stonehenge and its landscape and an introduction to archaeoastronomy—the study of how ancient peoples understood phenomena in the sky, and what role the sky played in their cultures. Archaeoastronomy is a specialism critical to explaining the relationship of Stonehenge and nearby monuments to the heavens, but interpreting archaeoastronomical evidence has often proved highly controversial in the past. Stonehenge: Sighting the Sun explains why. It makes clear which ideas about Stonehenge are generally accepted and which are not, with clear graphics to explain complicated concepts. This beautifully illustrated book shines new light on this most famous of ancient monuments, and is the first in-depth study of this fascinating topic suitable both for specialists and for anyone with a general interest.

Author : E. C. Krupp
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 0429725000
Total Pages : 350 pages
Book Rating : 4.05/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Archaeoastronomy And The Roots Of Science written by E. C. Krupp and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-04-08 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Archaeoastronomy is a rapidly developing interdisciplinary inquiry into the minds of our prehistoric and ancient ancestors, one that attempts to reconstruct the ways in which early peoples made use of the sky and its significance to them. Astronomy appears to be a fundamental component of culture, making the scope of archaeoastronomy worldwide. Thi

Author : Richard Bradley
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134641176
Total Pages : 193 pages
Book Rating : 4.78/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Past in the Past: the Re-use of Ancient Monuments written by Richard Bradley and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-11-15 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Author : David H. Kelley
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 1441976248
Total Pages : 622 pages
Book Rating : 4.46/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Exploring Ancient Skies written by David H. Kelley and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2011-02-16 with total page 622 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploring Ancient Skies brings together the methods of archaeology and the insights of modern astronomy to explore the science of astronomy as it was practiced in various cultures prior to the invention of the telescope. The book reviews an enormous and growing body of literature on the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, the Far East, and the New World (particularly Mesoamerica), putting the ancient astronomical materials into their archaeological and cultural contexts. The authors begin with an overview of the field and proceed to essential aspects of naked-eye astronomy, followed by an examination of specific cultures. The book concludes by taking into account the purposes of ancient astronomy: astrology, navigation, calendar regulation, and (not least) the understanding of our place and role in the universe. Skies are recreated to display critical events as they would have appeared to ancient observers--events such as the supernova of 1054 A.D., the "lion horoscope," and the Star of Bethlehem. Exploring Ancient Skies provides a comprehensive overview of the relationships between astronomy and other areas of human investigation. It will be useful as a reference for scholars and as a text for students in both astronomy and archaeology, and will be of compelling interest to readers who seek a broad understanding of our collective intellectual history.

Author : Richard Bradley
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134744838
Total Pages : 193 pages
Book Rating : 4.31/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Significance of Monuments written by Richard Bradley and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Neolithic period, when agriculture began and many monuments - including Stonehenge - were constructed, is an era fraught with paradoxes and ambiguities. Starting in the Mesolithic and carrying his analysis through to the Late Bronze Age, Richard Bradley sheds light on this complex period and the changing consciousness of these prehistoric peoples. The Significance of Monuments studies the importance of monuments tracing their history from their first creation over six thousand years later. Part One discusses how monuments first developed and their role in developing a new sense of time and space among the inhabitants of prehistoric Europe. Other features of the prehistoric landscape - such as mounds and enclosures - across Continental Europe are also examined. Part Two studies how such monuments were modified and reinterpreted to suit the changing needs of society through a series of detailed case studies. The Significance of Monuments is an indispensable text for all students of European prehistory. It is also an enlightening read for professional archaeologists and all those interested in this fascinating period.

Author : Mike Parker Pearson
Publisher : The Experiment
ISBN 13 : 1615190791
Total Pages : 434 pages
Book Rating : 4.99/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Stonehenge written by Mike Parker Pearson and published by The Experiment. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An archeologist who participated in a seven-year excavation at the historic monument describes recent findings that correct previously-held notions about the site, including the dating and significance of the structure as well as how the builders lived.

Author : Francis Pryor
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1681777037
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.30/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Stonehenge: The Story of a Sacred Landscape written by Francis Pryor and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2018-02-06 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An illustrated, evocative narrative of the nature and history of Stonehenge that places the enigmatic stone megaliths in a wider cultural context. Perched on the chalk uplands of Salisbury Plain, the megaliths of Stonehenge offer one of the most recognizable outlines of any ancient structure. Its purpose—place of worship, sacrificial arena, giant calendar—is unknown, but its story is one of the most extraordinary of any of the world's prehistoric monuments. Constructed in several phases over a period of some 1500 years, beginning in 3000 BC, Stonehenge's key elements are its “bluestones,” transported from West Wales by unexplained means, and its sarsen stones quarried from the nearby Marlborough Downs. Francis Pryor delivers a rigorous account of the nature and history of Stonehenge, but also places the enigmatic monument in a wider cultural context, bringing acute insight into how antiquarians, scholars, writers, artists–and even neopagans—have interpreted the mystery over the centuries.