| One-Day Symposium at Winchester
School of Art, A one-day symposium at Winchester School of Art co-hosted by the Centre for Fine Print Research, UWE, Bristol & Winchester School of Art Library, University of Southampton. Friday 13th July 2007 |
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A walking tour of Six Sacred Sites
Angela Peagram, (curator) and Glenn Boulter, (artist).
Where we played Manhunt
‘Census’ is the result of a series of workshops we carried out with South Wonston school children, encouraging them to consider the importance of the long barrows situated in their village.
We turned down several other better-preserved and more immediately impressive sites in favour of the small patch of overgrown land where the only indication of its significance is an information board. Surrounded by a modern housing estate, one would be forgiven for passing it by without a second thought. Indeed, many of the participants in this project were unaware of its existence despite having lived in the area for most of their lives.
I thought it was just a patch of grass.
South Wonston long barrow, part of a cemetery of three Neolithic (approx 3000-2400 BC) long barrows and two Bronze Age (approx. 2000-1000 BC) round barrows, was built by Southern England’s earliest farmers. Long barrows are simply huge earth-covered mounds piled over human remains that have no entrances. The barrow in question is Neolithic and was around 97m across and probably about 3m at its highest point. We have of course, no idea why barrows were created; the time and effort to make them were considerable so we must assume they were of major importance to their community. They would have been visible from afar and thus made a statement which would have been understood by other communities. Forming part of a settlement comprising of family groups, they were surrounded by cultivated fields producing principally wheat, with cattle, sheep and pigs nearby. In the wider area, red deer and wild boar would be hunted and the rivers provided fish and wild fowl. Although this barrow has not been excavated and indeed is now completely flattened, other settlements of this period have produced flint tools such as scrapers, knives and awls. We know that these people traded for commodities such as salt from coastal regions, and stone axes from North and Western Britain have been found in the area.
Faced with a lack of tangible evidence from which to develop a worthwhile and relevant programme of activities for the children, we began to look at how the site is used in the everyday lives of the local residents. Many of the children were aware of the site only as a place where they could play or take a shortcut.
Hide-and-seek.
Children cannot take our word for what is there no more than they can accept the speculation of archaeologists. Without the opportunity for them to see with their own eyes the message would have lacked the firsthand experience crucial to understanding. In this way it differs from most sites that are traditionally considered sacred, for example churches, temples and tombs. Even pagan sites such as Stonehenge retain a strong physical presence in keeping with their continued status as a sacred place. The long barrows also lack a community who are bound to it by their personal or religious beliefs, however this does not mean that its original inhabitants were entirely without a sense of spirituality.
Whilst we can have little specific idea of how our early ancestors felt towards religion or gods, we do know that their environment meant everything to them. They were highly dependent on the sun for their day-to-day lives, making it easy for us to believe that they might have revered it, as well as holding a deep respect for the earth upon which they stood. In a constantly changing world their survival was governed by the weather, natural forces and humanity itself. They had to work hard to keep their communities going and must have suffered many setbacks and disappointments in both their personal and agricultural lives, much as we do today. They were much closer to their environment than we are now and it’s highly likely that their sense of commonality and continuity was more heightened than ours. Despite their relatively humble surroundings and artefacts, our early ancestors were knowledgeable about their environment and made much use of local plants. Still to be found on the site is Sainfoin (French for wholesome hay), a chalk-loving leguminous plant long used as dried fodder and believed to increase milk yield. The nettles which abound were used until the end of the 19th century to make fine but strong fabrics, and in Denmark cremated bones were found in a Bronze Age grave, wrapped in nettle cloth.
If you were under the ground you wouldn’t want to be disturbed.
The eventual form of the project was decided upon following a series of enlightening discussions with Julia Sandison of the Society for Winchester Archaeology and Local History (WARG) in which she pointed out, in amongst other things, the wealth of common and non-indigenous wild flowers on the barrow. Due to the fact that the site is considered historically important, it has not fallen foul of the bulldozer and has therefore flourished as a natural habitat. That these plants grow here and possibly always have grown here seems to embody the idea of change, growth and decay that is inseparable from organic life, whilst at the same time providing a self-renewing memorial to a period of time that is otherwise irretrievable.
They are like a more simple form of a pyramid, and nobody would knock one of those down.
From everything we know about these early ancestors we can be certain that they respected their environment and felt themselves to be part of the wider world even if they knew little about it.
The week of the workshops found us exploring the site with the groups of children who were asked to place one-metre square quadrants at random intervals along the barrow. The plants and miscellanea contained within the quadrants were recorded and later used as the raw material to produce the main body of the book. In this way the participants could engage with the site on the basis of what is there in addition to what we are told used to be there. All those involved were able to derive a better understanding of the barrow, its sanctity as relevant to us today and the benefits of preserving these places for future generations. In an age where rabid property speculation is in danger of spiralling out of control, the preservation of land is perhaps becoming a modest form of worship in its own right.
Glen Boulter and Chris Maxted
Downloads:
Angela Peagram Pdf document (viewable/downloadable/prinatable as acrobat pdf file)
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