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‘Past ritual and present heritage in Wessex
landscapes’Landscaping Change Conference
Death, Memory and Landscape Panel 30:03:16
John Robb
Independent scholar and former Lecturer in Geography, BSU.
‘Ritual landscape’; from academic concept to grand day out?
• Monuments and natural features,
• Cumulative,
• Commemorative.
Source: Author’s lecture slide, based on Robb (1998) p. 162.Robb (1998); Parker Pearson & Ramilisonina (1998) Pryor, (2004); Parker Pearson et al. (2008); Parker Pearson (2012)
3
How far has this idea been incorporated into modern heritage experiences?What has changed since 1998?
• New extensive empirical techniques
• Ethnographic parallels
• Phenomenology
Source: Author’s lecture slide, (2004).
Barrett, Bradley and Green, (1991); Exon et al. (2000); Bradley (2000); Tilley (1994)
3
A new focus on movement
• Procession, pilgrimage and learning from the landscape as text,
• Prehistoric landscapers, having their say and making sense of their ancestors’ inscriptions,
• Modern movement through ritual landscapes can ‘see’ cumulated messages from the deep past (Tilley).
Lawson (2007); Harding (2012); Tilley (2008); Leary and Kador (2016)
West Kennet Avenue, Avebury. Source: Author (2005).
3
• Subtle phasing in monument construction (e.g. earliest Silbury Hill),
• Group collaboration or competition; a ‘project’ rather than focussed on a ‘finished’ monument,
• Linkages sought with older sites,
• The raising of stones seems to have ‘closed’ projects.
The Sanctuary, Avebury. Source: Author (2005)
Green (2000); Gillings et al. (2000); Pitts (2000); Bradley (2002; 2007); Chadwick and Gibson (2013).
Memory: new perspectives
4
A river runs through it…• Parker Pearson and Ramilisonina’s
integrated conception links different sites,
• Three phases: the evolution and hardening of the monuments,
• Were the monuments ‘plugged in’ to pre-existing networks of solar and river alignments?
• Importance of river movement: first people with ash or bones, later just the spirits?
Parker Pearson and Ramilisonina (1998a, 1998b); Parker Pearson et al. (2008); Pryor (2012); Parker Pearson (2012).
Domain of the Ancestors, Phase III. Source: author’s sketch adapted from Parker Pearson (2008: 163) and Pryor (2012: 245). 4
Avebury and Stonehenge: how far has the ritual landscape concept been incorporated into the construction of modern visitors’ experiences?
• Thirty years since Unesco inscription,
• Separated, 30 Km apart, though interaction in prehistory is becoming clear,
• Should Marden be in or out?
Parker Pearson (2012: 300); Simmonds and Thomas (2015).
Wiltshire location map. Source: Author’s sketch, based on Simmonds and Thomas (2015: 296)3
Spatial parsimony
The current WHS boundaries at both Avebury and Stonehenge have ‘...little significance in archaeological or visual terms’.(Simmonds and Thomas, 2015: p. 15)
Avebury ritual landscape defined. Source: Author’s lecture slide, based on Robb (1998) p. 162, and sketched from Simmonds and Thomas, 2015: p.308 .
1
Planning for a landscape experience?‘For the first time in over a century, it has become rewarding to seek out Stonehenge in the landscape that gave it birth’ (Pitts, 2014, 18).
1
Land ownership, access and conservation.
• 50% of monuments in the combined WHS have statutory protection… (Plan, p. 97)
• There are 1 118 in combined WHS, (Plan, p. 18)
• Stonehenge: cultivation affects 33% monuments, Avebury: 37% (Plan, pp. 107-8),
• The ‘vast majority’ managed by private land owners with incentives from agri-environment schemes. (Plan, p. 98).
‘Plan’ = Simmonds and Thomas (2015) Land ownership and the Stonehenge landscape. Source: author’s sketch based on Simmonds and Thomas (2015: 300 and 301)
4
Tunnel to topophilia?• The A303 is recognised as a major
barrier to modern phenomenologies,
• National Trust open access is limited mostly to the northern half of the ‘site’,
• Rights of way are not aligned with the ritual landscape, though some progress made.
Access to the Stonehenge landscape. Source: author’s sketch based on Simmonds and Thomas (2015: 300 and 301)
Simmonds and Thomas (2015)
Robin Hood’s Ball
Barrow cluster
(schematic)
3
• NT estate based on ‘Keillerland’ –the legacies of Alexander Keiller,
• ‘Core and periphery’ reflects the focus on the Great Henge and West Kennet Avenue,
• Recent acquisition of Waden Hill a major expansion on the Avenue alignment.
Simmonds and Thomas (2015) Land ownership and the Avebury landscape. Source: author’s sketch based on Simmonds and Thomas (2015: 311 and 312)
National Trust open land expanded at Avebury
3
Where can we go?• Inclusion of East Kennet long
barrow remains isolated from access,
• Main roads are intrusive and dangerous at Avebury too,
• The needs of the disabled visitor remain a challenge even at the key sites,
• The rivers need their own interpretation.
Land ownership and the Avebury landscape. Source: author’s sketch based on Simmonds and Thomas (2015: 311 and 312)Simmonds and Thomas (2015)
4
Conclusions• awareness of the ritual landscape as an integrated whole,
• spatial fragmentation and the initial reliance on modern boundary markers is recognized,
• ‘underbounding’ of the two spaces has been addressed by extensions, but no vision of an optimum ‘boundedness’,
• managerial strategies working to promote wider movement,
• natural features require inclusion in the landscape as represented now.
5
‘Past ritual and present heritage in Wessex landscapes’. John Robb
For the list of references and full discussion see the formal paper, copies available.