absolute dating methods
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Anglo-Saxon
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B01=Michael J Allen
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=HDD
Category=NKDS
Cerne Giant
COP=United Kingdom
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
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excavation results
geoarchaeological interpretation
land-use history
Language_English
Long Man of Wilmington
PA=Available
Price_€20 to €50
PS=Active
softlaunch
stratigraphic finds
the National Trust
Uffington White Horse
Product details
- ISBN 9781914427374
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 15 Aug 2024
- Publisher: Oxbow Books
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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The date of the Cerne Giant has long been a matter for debate, as exemplified by a public and televised debate of March 1996, published as The Cerne Giant: An Antiquity on Trial (1999, Oxbow Books). Excavations were conducted in 2020 by the National Trust in the centenary year of its ownership of the Giant. The excavations were limited and targeted in extent and scope, the aim was to date the actual construction of the iconic figure by absolute dating methods (OSL). As the 1999 publication explained, the jury was still out – with advocates for a prehistoric origin, one connected to the period of the Civil War or a more modern one. In the event, the dates were a complete surprise, falling within the Anglo-Saxon period.
The research has provided an accurate, scientifically verified date for the Cerne Giant. These unexpected results, together with the land-use history and ominous ‘disappearance’ of the Giant for six centuries, provide the platform for reconsideration and new discussion and debate.
Part 1 deals with new research: the historical background and aims, the excavation results, stratigraphic finds, geoarchaeological interpretation, land-use history (environmental/land snails), and discussion. Part 2 is the wider discussion and implications derived from the results and places the Giant in his local and Saxon context. Part 3 begins with summaries of the other two excavated hill figures (the Long Man of Wilmington and the Uffington White Horse) followed by a series of essays from leading archaeologists, historians and experts in early medieval iconography.
