Rock art and ritual : interpreting the prehistoric landscapes of the North York Moors / Brian A. Smith and Alan A. Walker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Brian A.

Contributor:

Walker, Alan A.

George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Megalithic monuments--England--North York Moors.

Megalithic monuments.

Petroglyphs--England--North York Moors.

Petroglyphs.

England--North York Moors.

Physical Description:

160 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), portrait, maps (some color) ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Stroud : Tempus, 2008.

Summary:

Following a devastating fire in 2003, an area of moorland above Robin Hood’s Bay on the North Yorshire coast was laid bare, revealing a fascinating and previously unrecorded landscape. Brain Smith and Alan Walker have spent hundreds of hours locating and plotting the newly exposed features – with particular regard to the many curiously marked prehistoric stones.

This engaging book represents the first major interpretative work on both the recently discovered and already known prehistoric rock motifs within this area. It follows the authors in a fascinating series of archeological detective stories, studying the clues through which an insight into prehistoric life can be reached. In a collection of multidisciplinary studies the authors presents their innovative interpretations of the carvings, as well as offering new insights into the astronomical and calendrical associations that can be assigned to the marked stones of the North York Moors.

Contents:

Part 1 The Foundation Stones

Chapter 1 Ghosts of prehistoric pathways 15

Chapter 2 Rock motifs and glaciers 24

Chapter 3 Flint on a flatbed 30

Part 2 The Cosmos Emerges

Chapter 4 The Brow Moor monument 37

Chapter 5 The Wainstones: Prehistoric link between sky and earth 53

Part 3 Adventures In Archaeoastronomy

Chapter 6 The pointers 76

Chapter 7 The counters 93

Part 4 The Bigger Picture

Chapter 8 Ritual landscapes and rebirth 1: The 'No Cairns Corridor' 108

Chapter 9 Ritual landscapes and rebirth 2: The sacred hills 117

Chapter 10 Summary and conclusion 142.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

ISBN:

9780752446349

0752446347

OCLC:

280353088