Alterity, Otherness and Nomad Geometries: New Trajectories for the Interpretation of Late Neolithic Monuments

Authors: Gillings, M.

Journal: Cambridge Archaeological Journal

Volume: 33

Issue: 2

Pages: 325-348

eISSN: 1474-0540

ISSN: 0959-7743

DOI: 10.1017/S0959774322000348

Abstract:

This paper focuses upon alterity and how we can more fully embrace intimations of otherness in our dealings with prehistoric monuments. Taking as its inspiration recent attempts to explain such structures, and the landscapes of which they were part, it makes two arguments. First, that while ethnographic analogies offer a vital point of departure for thinking through the possibilities raised by alterity and otherness, we may well have been overlooking a rich set of data - derived from careful excavation and painstaking metrical analyses - that has been sitting in front of us for a very long time. Second, despite over a decade of sustained critical debate, we seem remarkably timid when it comes to seeing where these data might take us. Through the lens of two Late Neolithic stone circles from southern Britain (one big, one small), research into measurement units and alignments is allied with recent excavation and survey data in order to explore ideas of hybridity, nomad-geometry and the arresting/manipulation of time and motion. Placing these glimpses of alterity front and centre, they are then used to establish new starting-points for the interpretation of these structures.

https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/37499/

Source: Scopus

Alterity, Otherness and Nomad Geometries: New Trajectories for the Interpretation of Late Neolithic Monuments

Authors: Gillings, M.

Journal: CAMBRIDGE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL

Volume: 33

Issue: 2

Pages: 325-348

eISSN: 1474-0540

ISSN: 0959-7743

DOI: 10.1017/S0959774322000348

https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/37499/

Source: Web of Science (Lite)

Alterity, otherness and nomad geometries: new trajectories for the interpretation of Late Neolithic monuments.

Authors: Gillings, M.

Journal: Cambridge Archaeological Journal

Volume: 33

Issue: 2

Pages: 325-348

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

ISSN: 0959-7743

DOI: 10.1017/S0959774322000348

Abstract:

This paper focuses upon the alterity and how we can more fully embrace intimations of otherness in our dealings with prehistoric monuments. Taking as its inspiration recent attempts to explain such structures, and the landscapes of which they were part, it makes two arguments. First, that whilst ethnographic analogies offer a vital point of departure for thinking through the possibilities raised by alterity and otherness, we may well have been over-looking a rich set of data – derived from careful excavation and painstaking metrical analyses - that has been sitting in front of us for a very long time. Second, despite over a decade of sustained critical debate, we seem remarkably timid when it comes to seeing where this data might take us. Through the lens of two Late Neolithic Stone Circles from southern Britain (one big; one small), research into measurement units and alignments is allied with recent excavation and survey data in order to explore ideas of hybridity, nomad-geometry and the arresting/manipulation of time and motion. Placing these glimpses of alterity front and centre, they are then used to establish new starting points for the interpretation of these structures.

https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/37499/

Source: Manual

Alterity, otherness and nomad geometries: new trajectories for the interpretation of Late Neolithic monuments.

Authors: Gillings, M.

Journal: Cambridge Archaeological Journal

Volume: 33

Issue: 2

Pages: 325-348

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

ISSN: 0959-7743

Abstract:

This paper focuses upon the alterity and how we can more fully embrace intimations of otherness in our dealings with prehistoric monuments. Taking as its inspiration recent attempts to explain such structures, and the landscapes of which they were part, it makes two arguments. First, that whilst ethnographic analogies offer a vital point of departure for thinking through the possibilities raised by alterity and otherness, we may well have been over-looking a rich set of data – derived from careful excavation and painstaking metrical analyses - that has been sitting in front of us for a very long time. Second, despite over a decade of sustained critical debate, we seem remarkably timid when it comes to seeing where this data might take us. Through the lens of two Late Neolithic Stone Circles from southern Britain (one big; one small), research into measurement units and alignments is allied with recent excavation and survey data in order to explore ideas of hybridity, nomad-geometry and the arresting/manipulation of time and motion. Placing these glimpses of alterity front and centre, they are then used to establish new starting points for the interpretation of these structures.

https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/37499/

Source: BURO EPrints