Suchergebnisse

Peer reviewed ; This paper presents a study of free-standing Bronze Age megalithic monuments across western Scotland: Argyll, Lochaber, Kintyre, and the isles of Mull, Coll and Tiree. The original project was designed to unearth the locational choices of their builders, the reasons for these choices, and what they reveal about the belief systems of these societies. Using statistical analyses and 2D and 3D GIS, it will be demonstrated that vision is the main force behind locational decisions. The GIS analyses revealed that the builders chose a particular horizon shape, defined by qualities of distance, direction and relative apparent height as viewed from the monument (altitude). Significantly, approximately half the sites have the same locational variables as all the sites considered on the isles of Coll and Tiree (labelled 'classic sites': Higginbottom et al. in J Archaeol Method Theory 22:584–645, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-013-9182-7), while the other half are the topographical reverse ('reverse sites'), where the major 'astronomical show' differs due to the topographical differences between the site types. It is relevant to note that landscapes that block views of particular major astronomical phenomena in the south are significantly more common at reverse sites than at classic sites. Specific results pertaining to individual areas will also be highlighted. It will be seen that the interplay between the astronomy and the topographical choices of the builders at each site highlights possible cosmological ideologies that can be observed and that were shared across western Scotland. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement SHoW No 800236.

Dragos Gheorghiu and Vincent Paladino (eds.). ; This paper contains a summary of many of the ideas that I have had, discussed or encountered about standing stones over the years and much of which has been published or are in press. In particular, this includes the possible anthropomorphic connotations and roles that standing stones might have played in the communities that built them. It begins with a very short review of some of the inter-pretations on standing stones known to date, firstly the oldest known standing stones, or their first appearances in some regions and then those of Britain, followed by a discussion of the author's re-search results that incorporate standing stones connection to Nature. The chapter finishes with the ideas on the place that standing stones had within societies within Scotland, namely as active indi-viduals of their communities. ; This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement Spin-NANO No 676108". ; No

This paper investigates the dolmen landscapes of Neolithic communities found within Costa da Morte (Coast of Death), Galicia. Its goal is to uncover whether or not the megalithic monuments of a particular and coherent area of the south-eastern side of the Atlantic Façade are situated in relation to complex locational variables. In particular, in this paper, we explore the entirety of their surrounding topography. For the very first time, we were able to demonstrate that very specific natural landscapes surrounding the dolmens of this region in Iberia were likely selectively drawn upon, expanding our understanding of the Neolithic of this area and the people's relationship with their natural world. ; This work has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation 399 programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement SHoW No 800236. ; No