| N E W S F E E D S >>> |
|
Monuments and Water: |
| Conclusion The purpose of this paper was to examine the relationship between the Camster chambered cairns and one of the dominant natural elements in Caithness, water. I have suggested that the Camster burn may have played a significant role in the creation of the monumental landscape through its involvement in the human routines of movement within and between the different ecoloical zones. I have also tried to show that the symbolic significance of this locale probably extends back into the Mesolithic period, when communities understood their place in the world in terms of their movement around the landscape. In the Neolithic a new sense of being was established, and people began to transform and domesticate the natural world that they inhabited. However, it would seem that the builders of the Camster cairns were drawing on features of ancestral significance, features that had perhaps been fundamental to the cosmologies of the hunter-gatherer populations, and were consequently imbued with geneaological power. The creation of permanent architecture at this locale prevented the power from being lost (Tilley 1994). Natural elements are an established and fundamental part of the cosmologies of many traditional cultures (Bradley 2000), and recognition of this will, I believe, enable us to gain a greater understanding of how and why Neolithic monumental landscapes were established. In Caithness, in particular, I feel that water, in its many forms, dominated the daily routines of both Mesolithic and Neolithic populations, providing both natural resources and most importantly a symbolic metaphor for life itself. |
References Bradley R. 1993 Altering the Earth. Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Monograph Series number 8, Edinburgh Bradley R. 1998a Ruined Buildings, ruined stones: enclosures, tombs and natural places in the Neolithic of south-west England. World Archaeology, 30 (1): 13-22 Bradley R. 1998b The Significance of Monuments. On the Shaping of human experience in Neolithic and Bronze Age Europe. Routledge, London and New York Bradley R. 2000 An Archaeology of Natural Places. Routledge, London and New York Carmichael D, Hubert J, Reeves B & Schanche A (eds) 1994 Sacred Sites, Sacred Places. Routledge, London and New York Cooney G. 1994 Sacred and secular Neolithic landscapes in Ireland, in Carmichael D et al (eds) Sacred Sites, Sacred Places, Routledge, London and New York Cooney G. 2000 Landscapes of Neolithic Ireland. Routledge, London and New York Darvill T. 1997 Neolithic Landscapes: Identity and definition. In P. Topping (ed) Neolithic Landscapes, Oxbow Monograph 86, Oxford Edmonds M. 1999a Ancestral Geographies of the Neolithic. Landscape, Monuments and Memory. Routledge, London and New York Edmonds M. 1999b Inhabiting Neolithic Landscapes. Quaternary Proceedings No. 7, 485-492 Govinda A.1992 The Way of the White Clouds, Rider, London, Sydney, Auckland, Johannesburg Phillips T. forthcoming Landscapes of the Living, Landscapes of the Dead: The location and micro-topography of the Chambered Cairns of Northern Scotland, British Archaeological Reports Monograph Richards C. 1992 Doorways into another world: the Orkney-Cromarty chambered tombs, in Sharples N & Sheridan A Vessels for the Ancestors, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh Richards C. 1996 Henges and Water: Towards an Elemental Understanding of Monumentality and Landscape in Late Neolithic Britain, Journal of Material Culture, 1:3 Sharples N. & Sheridan A. 1992 Vessels for the Ancestors, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh Tilley C. 1994 A Phenomenology of Landscape, Berg, Oxford/Providence USA Tilley C. 1996 The Power of rocks: topography and monument construction on Bodmin Moor, World Archaeology 28(2): 161-176 Tilley C. 2000 Nature, Culture, Clitter: Distinguishing between cultural and geomorphological landscapes; the case of Hilltop Tors in south-west England, Journal of Material Culture 5(2), 197-224 Thomas J. 1991 Understanding the Neolithic, Routledge, London and New York Topping P. 1997 (ed) Neolithic Landscapes, Oxbow Monograph 86, Oxford |