Roman-Period Activity at Prehistoric Ritual Monuments in Britain and in the Armorican Peninsula

Abstract

This paper is about the archaeology of superstition, a subject often neglected, although archaeologists frequently write about religion. The paper distinguishes between ritual and superstition, and explores the Roman material evidence in detail. It is argued that the evidence fOT Roman Period activity at prehistoric ritual monuments in Britain and Armorica is invariably reduced to anecdotal significance, obscuring important relationships. It is argued that prehistoric ritual monuments were perceived in different ways in Roman Britain and the Armorican peninsula. In Armvrica they were used as religious sites throughout the Roman period and in the immediate post-Roman centuries were often Christianised; in Roman Britain they were construed in a superstitious rather than religious fashion, and formed no part of OTganised paganism.

Remembering and Forgetting in the Roman Provinces

“…Comparative evidence for interaction with prehistoric monuments ha s been found on many other sites in the north-western provinces (e.g. Dark 1993;Holtorf 1998;Vermeulen and Bougeois 2000).…”

“…Dark 1993;Ferris and Smith 1995;Bradley 2002: 116-119). Thus at the Romano-Celtic temples at Essarts (Horne and King 1980: 407-8), La Mare-du-Puits (ibid.…”

“…Field 1965; Robertson 1970) and a series of more thematic papers (e.g. Adkins and Adkins 1985;Bradley 1986;Dark 1993 ;Ferris and Smith (995) there are now two monographs on the topic (e.g. Alcock 2002; Mayo r 2000).…”

“…In our search for evidence of Roman period attitudes to the past, we can also look for prehistoric objects apparently curated on Roman sites (Adkins and Adkins 1985 ;Bradley 1986;Dark 1993;Ferris and Smith 1995). But whi Ie this material is fascinating, issues of source criticism have to be addressed.…”

Prehistoric Landscapes of the Ouse Valley and Their Use in the Late Iron Age and Romano-British Period

“…-religious veneration -respect for the dead -superstition, and fear of the dead, of ancient monuments, or of the unknown ; these subjects have been addressed for the Romano-British period by Dark (1993) and for the Anglo-Saxon period by Semple (1998) -the fact that monuments were thought to give some magical protection; perhaps their original purpose was forgotten , and it was no longer reali sed that they were burial mounds (Vermeulen and Bourgeois 2000: 158) -ritual resistance to Roman domination by native groups (Williams 1998a: 77) -legi timation of the elite by demonstrating links with past traditions and supernatural entities (Bradley 1987) -ancestral cults -reclaiming territorial rights.…”