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Skyscapes, Landscapes, and the drama of Proto-Indo-European myth
Abstract and Figures
Following the work of Larsson and Kristiansen’s ‘The Rise of Bronze Age Society’ (2005) that utilised Indo-European myth to shed light on the iconography of Bronze Age Scandinavian art, this thesis postulates a similar relationship between Proto-Indo-European mythology and the ceremonial sites of the British Neolithic, arguing both, at root, share a derivation from astronomical imagery, which suggests the ’skyscape’ was as important to the builders of these monuments as the ‘landscape’, if not more so.
The mythological material utilised in this study is reconstructed using extant comparative Indo-European literature and is based on comparative linguistic reconstructions, while the archaeological data is taken from 55 sites (50 henges or associated circular timber structures, and 5 passage graves). The hypothesis that such structures are oriented on astronomical events is tested, with specific case studies explored in detail (Stonehenge, Avebury henge, the Sanctuary, Woodhenge, Thornborough, Bryn Celli Ddu, Barclodiad y Gawres and Yeavering). The analysis demonstrates a concentration of alignments on the rising and setting of certain stars within the Milky Way (those of Cassiopeia and Crux) on or around the Winter Solstice, on the rising and setting of Orion, and with the rising of the sun as it crosses the Milky Way around the start of May. These alignments often utilise local landscape features such as hills (or artificial mounds) and rivers and are linked to ritual deposition of cattle remains – all facets that can be explained in terms of the Proto-Indo-European cosmology reconstructed within this thesis, which, it is argued, is ultimately of Neolithic Near Eastern pedigree.
This thesis not only provides evidence of a Neolithic ‘shaping mythology’ that Richard Bradley in his ‘On the Significance of Monuments’ (1998) suggested might lie behind the form and function of ritual sites, but also suggests that astronomical symbolism (especially concerning the Milky Way) was at the heart of both this Neolithic myth and the rituals performed at such sites.
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The Milky Way and the Goddess of the Henges - a forum piece I wrote for the journal of Skyscape Archaeology.
A myth asserts that at sunrise on the summer solstice ‘something’ came to the Calanais Stones’ central ring heralded by the cuckoo’s call. This paper investigates which of the three celestial objects easily visible at sunrise, the Sun, Moon and Venus, might be referred to. The stones have no obvious orientation with the Sun and, while a ‘window’ of the midsummer full-moons could be seen over the stone ring, complex lunar orbits preclude any precise alignments including the lunar standstill positions. Several widespread European goddesses of fertility and sovereignty were associated with both Venus and the cuckoo, astronomically symbolised by the Pleiades in northern Europe. The east -row of the Calanais Stones is aligned with crossover events of Venus. Three crossover events occurred during the period of the east row construction suggested by radiocarbon dating. The azimuth of the rising Pleiades coincided with the Venus crossover of 1677 and 1674 BC. The ‘something’ was ‘bright, shining, holy’ in Brittonic, gwen, while Gwener is the planet Venus. The appearance of the Sun and Venus at sunrise on the summer solstice might represent a divine wedding. This is believed to be the first European prehistoric monument demonstrated to be purposely aligned with Venus.
Two projects – “Mapping the Sun” and “Reading the Hurlers” – have shone new light on the multiple stone circle complex, The Hurlers, on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, in southwest Britain. In 2013, excavation revealed a stone “pavement” between the central and northern circles: this inter-circle link had first been discovered in 1938 but had then been re-covered. Work in 2016 discovered a solitary fallen (once standing) stone which lay 100 m to the north of The Hurlers complex. Geological studies of the standing stones accompanied by astronomical surveys have prompted new insights into the make-up of this monument, its landscape setting and astronomical significance. Astronomical observations of this major Bronze Age landscape reveal a design with significant alignments between key monuments and near and distant landmarks. Additional astronomical links suggest a number of interesting phenomena which would be experienced at the site, particularly surrounding the materiality of the inter-circle link.
Farming was first introduced to southeastern Europe in the mid-7th millennium BCE - brought by migrants from Anatolia who settled in the region before spreading throughout Europe. However, the dynamics of the interaction between the first farmers and the indigenous hunter-gatherers remain poorly understood because of the near absence of ancient DNA from the region. We report new genome-wide ancient DNA data from 204 individuals-65 Paleolithic and Mesolithic, 93 Neolithic, and 46 Copper, Bronze and Iron Age-who lived in southeastern Europe and surrounding regions between about 12,000 and 500 BCE. We document that the hunter-gatherer populations of southeastern Europe, the Baltic, and the North Pontic Steppe were distinctive from those of western Europe, with a West-East cline of ancestry. We show that the people who brought farming to Europe were not part of a single population, as early farmers from southern Greece are not descended from the Neolithic population of northwestern Anatolia that was ancest
Before the new Greek cosmological system was developed, many ancient cultures had pictured the Milky Way as a vertical axis or tree, which was seen as a route leading into the heavens of a layered universe. This model began to change from about the sixth century BC, when the image of a spherical earth and geocentric universe became increasingly widespread among the educated people of Greece. The new model, standardised by Ptolemy during the second century AD, visualised a universe comprised of eight concentric crystalline spheres surrounding a fixed earth. By the Middle Ages, the Ptolemaic system had become the established picture of the cosmos in Europe and the Islamic world. Losing its old vertical image, the Milky Way was now pictured as a circular band surrounding the spherical earth. Now known as the Milky Circle, it kept something of its earlier religious significance in the pagan world. In Rome it was visualised as a post-mortem place of purification, located below the sphere of the moon. With the establishment of traditional Christianity, the Milky Way’s position became unclear. It had always been a scientific puzzle to thinkers trying to analyse its substance and define its place in the Ptolemaic universe, and its true nature remained unresolved. In one of its most intriguing identities, originated by the thirteenth century astrologer Michael Scot, it migrated to the sphere of the fixed stars where it became a mysterious, living constellation, known as the Daemon Meridianus.
This engaging volume for the general reader explores how individuals and societies remember, forget and commemorate events of the past. The collection of eight essays takes an interdisciplinary approach to address the relationships between individual experience and collective memory, with leading experts from the arts and sciences. We might expect scientists to be concerned with studying just the mental and physical processes involved in remembering, and humanities scholars to be interested in the products of memory, such as books, statues and music. This collection exposes the falseness of such a dichotomy, illustrating the insights into memory which can be gained by juxtaposing the complementary perspectives of specialists venturing beyond the normal boundaries of their disciplines. The authors come from backgrounds as diverse as psychoanalysis, creative writing, neuroscience, social history and medicine.
The Keys of Middle-Earth uniquely introduces the reader to the world of Medieval Literature through the fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien. Using key episodes in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, readers are taken back to the works of Old, Middle English and Old Norse literature that so influenced Tolkien. The original texts are presented with helpful new translations to help the reader approach the medieval poems and tales, and introductory essays draw on recent scholarship and Tolkien's own unpublished notes. Presenting a new era of Tolkien studies, this book will be of use to students (and teachers) of Medieval/Old English literature and general readers interested in the origins of Tolkien's most widely-known works. © Stuart D. Lee and Elizabeth Solopova 2005. All rights reserved.
In 2013 a small-scale excavation was carried at Hendraburnick ‘Quoit’, which is located north Cornwall. The project was undertaken to establish whether the site was a ruined megalith and to obtain dating for the cup-marks which had been recorded at the site. The excavation revealed that the ‘quoit’ was a large propped ‘axe-shaped’ stone that had been set upon a low platform of slates, and that a second fallen standing stone was located at the eastern end of the site. Subsequently, the site appears to have become the focus for the smashing of quartz blocks, as well as for the deposition of mostly fragmented artefacts. Two samples were submitted for radiocarbon dating which produced Late Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age determinations. During the fieldwork it became apparent that the rock art was far more extensive than had been thought, and that it was most evident when viewed in low sunlight from the south east or by moonlight. It is suggested that the smashed vein quartz may have been used during night time rituals. Photogrammetric recording revealed the site to be the most decorated stone in southern Britain and suggests that rather than being pre-planned, the art accreted over time.