Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Nice book in great condition. Pages in excellent condition. No notes or highlighting. See images. Fantastic book.

About the book >.>.> Stone circles and henges are amongst the most common ceremonial monuments of the third and second millennia BC and as such are of importance in elucidating aspects of the beliefs and social organisation of this period. They have been a source of heated debate over recent years because of theories put forward by Thom (1954 et seq.) on geometry and metrology and his revival of ideas on astronomical alignment which were in vogue around the turn of the century and advocated by such researchers as Lewis (1883 1892) Lockyer (1906) and Somerville (1912). This controversy has provoked new research into stone circles as the ideas of Thom at first sight at least threatened to revolutionise prehistorians preconceptions on the nature of neolithic and bronze age society. There has been a constant stream of contributions both for and against these ideas which started in the 1950’s and continues today. It was not until 1976 when Buri published Stone Circles of the British Isles that a comprehensive review of stone circles was attempted. This work established their range of variability and the nature of deposits within them. A wide span of dates was suggested and several regional sub-types identified. This work provides a foundation on which subsequent regional studies can be built. Recently further work on the taxonomy and distribution of sites has quantified many of the variables and defined criteria from which analyses such as that presented here can be based (Barnatt 1987a 19896). This monograph presents the results of detailed research in the Peak District and includes a corpus of all known sites which summarises known data on cach and a discussion of their interpretation. The work was undertaken as part of two separate research projects and draws from both. The first was the general analyses of stone circles noted above (Barnatt 1987a 1989b). This allows the Peak District sites to be placed in a national context. The other was a comprehensive survey of prehistoric remains on the East Moors one of the best preserved bronze age landscapes in Britain (Barnan 1986 1987b). The stone circles here are of particular importance as they provide the most extensive group of Embanked Stone Circles known and because they can be studied in relation to the fields and cairnfields with which they are associated. (LL)