The date and context of a stone row: Cut Hill, Dartmoor, south-west England

Abstract

The beginning of monolithic monumentality in Europe is of outstanding significance and its accurate dating a consummation devoutly to be wished. In this case study from England, the researchers had the good fortune to find monoliths stratified above and below by peat and so were able to give them a bracketed radiocarbon date and an environmental context. The results show that the stones, belonging to a linear alignment of eight others, were erected in a clearing of heathland in the fourth millennium BC. The date raises the possibility of a Neolithic appearance for this type of stone row in south-west Britain and Britanny.

Mapping landscape-scale peatland degradation using airborne lidar and multispectral data

“…Dartmoor contains the largest expanse of upland blanket bog in the south of England [315 km 2 of the 945 km 2 national park area is mapped as peat (Gatis et al 2019)]. The peat deposits on Dartmoor are estimated to extend to depths greater than 7 m (Fyfe and Greeves 2010;Newman 2010;Parry et al 2012;Fyfe et al 2014) and overlie predominantly granitic bedrock (Gatis et al 2019). Dartmoor's blanket bog ecosystems are the primary reason for the designation of Dartmoor's Special Area of Conservation (SAC).…”

Bronze Age landscape dynamics: spatially detailed pollen analysis from a ceremonial complex

“…Although the samples are contiguous each represents an average of around 100 years' pollen accumulation. Fyfe and Greeves (2010) work on an earlier, Neolithic, stone row on Cut Hill (Dartmoor, southwest England) suggested construction in a clearing in a largely wooded landscape, and might offer parallels to the setting of the White Ladder stone row. However, the Cut Hill monument was probably some 800e1000 years older, and is much larger and more 'monumental' in character.…”