‘Connoisseurs of Stone’: Everyday Sarsen Stone in Neolithic Britain by Katy A Whitaker, University of Reading
Sarsen stone boulders are familiar components of numerous British Neolithic megalithic monuments. Non-monumental uses of sarsen stone are, however, less well understood. This paper focuses on non-megalithic sarsen and its roles for communities, using case studies from three sites spanning the Neolithic in Wiltshire. Published data from Windmill Hill causewayed enclosure and analysis, using a new methodology, of recently excavated material from the West Kennet Avenue occupation site, and Marden henge enclosure are used to explore the varied ways in which sarsen was used.
Rather than being an expedient ‘mundane’ stone this analysis demonstrates that non-megalithic sarsen could be just as meaning-laden as other more ‘attractive’ (larger, exotic) material. Daily encounters with sarsen stone for different purposes and in varied quotidian contexts afforded it with values which likely contributed to its use in monumental contexts. The importance of attending to sarsen in its multiple forms and contexts is thus made clear.
The West Kennet Avenue occupation site
An occupation site pre-dating the West Kennet Avenue, Avebury, represented by a prolific artefact scatter, was identified during Keiller’s 1934 excavation of the northern third of the later Neolithic stone settings. At the east-facing foot of Waden Hill, the scatter extends over c. 70 m north–south roughly from Avenue stone pair 27 to 31 (the full east–west extent remains undefined).
In addition to characteristic tools such as chisel arrowheads, finely knapped scrapers, and serrated flakes, the predominantly Peterborough Ware pottery assemblage indicates that most of the material accumulated during the middle Neolithic (c. 3400–2900 bc). The ceramics and high proportion of tools among the unpatinated flint assemblage indicate the presence of an in situ artefact spread largely at the base of the subsoil resulting from settlement activity. Some tools, such as grouped scrapers, had been placed amongst the spread. Recent excavation by the Between the Monuments project (2013–15) extends understanding of the site including the nature of the artefact spread and various cut features. (See Figs 4 and 5. in the paper for details)
WHITAKER, K. (2022). ‘Connoisseurs of Stone’: Everyday Sarsen Stone in Neolithic Britain. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 88, 97-122. doi:10.1017/ppr.2022.9
Read More at https://doi.org/10.1017/ppr.2022.9 - Open Access / Creative Commons Paper
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