The Survey and Excavation of a Bronze Age Timber Circle at Holme-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, 1998–9

Brennand, M.; Taylor, Maisie; Ashwin, Trevor; Bayliss, Alex; Canti, Matt; French, Charles; Fryer, Val; Gale, Rowena; Green, F.M.L.; Groves, Cathy; Hall, Anthony; Linford, Neil; Murphy, Peter; Robinson, Mark; Wells, James M.; Williams, David F.

doi:10.1017/s0079497x00001250

Cited by 42 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…As shown in the example of Loose Howe, this is most probably a misinterpretation of how the coffins would have appeared to Bronze Age people. It is in fact much more probable that the coffins were redolent of enclosure within an oak tree, a symbolism that is, for example, shared with the broadly contemporary Holme‐next‐the‐Sea monument (Brennand and Taylor ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Loose Howe; A North Yorkshire Log Coffin Boat Burial(s) Revisited

Jones¹,

Brunning²,

Wilkin

2018

Oxford J Archaeology

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Summary In 1937 a large barrow in north‐east Yorkshire was excavated by Mrs H. W. and Dr F. Elgee. A primary deposit comprising a ‘canoe’‐shaped log coffin and what were described as two ‘log boats’ or ‘canoes’ was uncovered beneath the mound. The burial did not survive; however, the ‘canoe’‐shaped coffin was found to contain an Early Bronze Age Merthyr Mawr‐type dagger, flints and some hazelnuts. Subsequently, a cremation was inserted into the top of the mound. This was accompanied by a Camerton‐Snowshill‐type dagger, a stone battle axe, a copper alloy pin, an accessory vessel and fragments from a Collared Urn. As part of a log coffin radiocarbon‐dating project, one of the hazelnuts was radiocarbon‐dated to 2008–1772 cal BC (95.4%) and a fragment of cremated bone from the secondary burial was dated to 1890–1741 cal BC (93.2%). This paper discusses the dating results and reconsiders the interpretation of the log coffin as a boat.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This size blade is consistent with Early Bronze Age axes and is very similar in size to marks recorded on timbers at the Holme‐next‐the‐Sea monument that has been dendrochronologically dated to 2049 cal BC (see Brunning , figs. 5.2–5.4; Brennand and Taylor ).…”

Section: The Burial Sequencementioning

confidence: 99%

Loose Howe; A North Yorkshire Log Coffin Boat Burial(s) Revisited

Jones¹,

Brunning²,

Wilkin

2018

Oxford J Archaeology

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“…That active concerns with reversal and inversion had broader currency during the second millennium BC is strongly suggested by sites such as the Holme timber circle (Brennand et al . ). This opens up a very different reading of the Porlock Circle, where the surviving fabric hints at alternations between stones set upright and down – in effect two circles interwoven; this perhaps mediated by a third involving the larger sloping stones we now know were deliberately set in angled stoneholes (Fig.…”

Section: Sweating the Small Stuffmentioning

confidence: 97%

Betylmania? – Small Standing Stones and the Megaliths ofSouth‐WestBritain

Gillings

2015

Oxford J Archaeology

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SUMMARYThis paper calls attention to a previously neglected element of the broad repertoire of monumental megalithic structures that characterise the later 3 rd and 2 nd millennia BC across the British Isles -extremely small standing stones. Despite their frequency and the complex arrangements and associations they embody, these miniliths are rarely recorded in detail and frequently marginalised to a generic background. As a result they are largely absent from interpretative accounts. Drawing upon recent debates regarding materiality and monument form, alongside the results of excavations explicitly targeting tiny stone settings, the discussion argues that the phenomenon of raising and fixing small uprights was not only widespread and persistent, but sheds important light upon the beliefs and ideas driving monument construction during the later Neolithic and Bronze Ages.

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“…Dating to about 2000 BC, the arrangement of the site showed some evidence of an interest in sunrise at the Winter Solstice (Gibson 1994, 181-188). Rather more clear is the site at Holme-next-the-Sea (popularly known as 'Seahenge'), Norfolk, an exceptionally well-preserved timber circle (Brennand and Taylor 2003). It comprised an irregular ring of 56 large oak posts built in the spring or early summer of 2049 BC.…”

Section: Sarsen Architecture and The Stonehenge Ensemblementioning

confidence: 99%

Houses of the Holy: Architecture and Meaning in the Structure of Stonehenge, Wiltshire, UK

Darvill

2016

Time and Mind

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Stonehenge in central southern England is internationally known. Recent re-evaluations of its date and construction sequence provides an opportunity to review the meaning and purpose of key structural components. Here it is argued that the central stone structures did not have a single purpose but rather embody a series of symbolic representations. During the early third millennium this included a square-in-circle motif representing a sacred house or 'big house' edged by the five Sarsen Trilithons. During the late third millennium BC, as house styles changed, some of the stones were re-arranged to form a central oval setting that perpetuated the idea of a sacred dwelling. The Sarsen Circle may have embodied a time-reckoning system based on the lunar month. From about 2500 BC, more than 80 bluestones were brought to the site from sources in the Preseli Hills of west Wales about 220km distant. Initially arranged as a Double Circle they were variously rearranged at least four times over the following centuries. The diverse lithology of the bluestones reflects the landscape from which the stones derived so that the monument embodied a microcosm of the distant land. Associations with water and healing suggest one reason why Stonehenge became such a powerful place in prehistoric times. ARTICLE HISTORY

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The Survey and Excavation of a Bronze Age Timber Circle at Holme-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, 1998–9

Cited by 42 publications

References 52 publications

Loose Howe; A North Yorkshire Log Coffin Boat Burial(s) Revisited

Loose Howe; A North Yorkshire Log Coffin Boat Burial(s) Revisited

Betylmania? – Small Standing Stones and the Megaliths ofSouth‐WestBritain

Houses of the Holy: Architecture and Meaning in the Structure of Stonehenge, Wiltshire, UK

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