De-henging the henge : a biographical approach to Scotland's henge monuments
Henges are circular earthwork monuments built from the 32nd-17th centuries BC throughout the British Isles. Seen as a discrete monument âtypeâ since the early 1930s, they comprise a morphologically-varied group of sites. Excavations of henges have demonstrated them to be multi-phase sites which were repeatedly returned to, reused and rebuilt over thousands of years. The earthworks so often seen as the defining feature of henge sites are increasingly recognised as a âlateâ addition to existing sites which were already long-established as significant places in the landscape. The key aim of this thesis is to âde-hengeâ henges, removing the focus from the final morphology of monuments to instead consider how henge sites were used and transformed throughout their lives. It reinterprets henge sites in Scotland, a previously neglected corpus of sites, using a biographical approach to understand the significance of the transformations effected at henge sites over time, and consider aspects of both tradition/continuity, and change/innovation over time. Henge sites are interpreted as places of commemoration where people encountered, mediated and re-negotiated their pasts and present. The research explores
Younger, Rebecca Kirsty
CC Archaeology
De-henging the henge : a biographical approach to Scotland's henge monuments. Henges are circular earthwork monuments built from the 32nd-17th centuries BC throughout the British Isles. Seen as a discrete monument âtypeâ since the early 1930s, they comprise a morphologically-varied group of sites. Excavations of henges have demonstrated them to be multi-phase sites which were repeatedly returned to, reused and rebuilt over thousands of years. The earthworks so often seen as the defining feature of henge sites are increasingly recognised as a âlateâ addition to existing sites which were already long-established as significant places in the landscape. The key aim of this thesis is to âde-hengeâ henges, removing the focus from the final morphology of monuments to instead consider how henge sites were used and transformed throughout their lives. It reinterprets henge sites in Scotland, a previously neglected corpus of sites, using a biographical approach to understand the significance of the transformations effected at henge sites over time, and consider aspects of both tradition/continuity, and change/innovation over time. Henge sites are interpreted as places of commemoration where people encountered, mediated and re-negotiated their pasts and present. The research explores
henge biographical scotland henge monument circular earthwork monument build century throughout british_isles discrete monument type since comprise morphologically varied group site excavations demonstrate multi phase site repeatedly return reuse rebuilt earthwork often_see define_feature henge sit increasingly recognise late addition exist site already long_established significant place_landscape key aim henge remove focus final morphology monument instead consider henge site use transform throughout_life reinterprets henge site scotland previously_neglect corpus site use biographical significance transformation effect henge site time consider aspect tradition continuity_change innovation time henge site interpret place commemoration people encounter mediate negotiated past_present explores