The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca
The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca
The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca
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<strong>The</strong> Lateglacial colonization <strong>of</strong> <strong>Britain</strong><br />
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soon after death. In one <strong>ca</strong>se, the incisions made on the inside <strong>of</strong> the chin leave no doubt that the<br />
tongue was removed, before the jaw was detached <strong>from</strong> the rest <strong>of</strong> the head.<br />
While today such activities would be considered ma<strong>ca</strong>bre, none <strong>of</strong> these practices is necessarily<br />
interpretable as pro<strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>ca</strong>nnibalism. Examples <strong>of</strong> two-stage burial practices and secondary<br />
reburial are not uncommon in the prehistoric record. Indeed, the evidence <strong>from</strong> Gough’s Cave<br />
merely suggests that the corpses were deliberately skinned and the insides removed, prior to the<br />
bodies being dismembered and the remains thereafter perhaps <strong>ca</strong>refully placed in hide sacks<br />
around the edges <strong>of</strong> the <strong>ca</strong>ve. Equally valid is the view that since food was plentiful at the time <strong>of</strong><br />
occupation, there was little need to supplement the diet with human meat. On the other hand, the<br />
evidence does not rule out the possibility <strong>of</strong> ritual consumption <strong>of</strong> the s<strong>of</strong>ter human tissues, as a<br />
mark <strong>of</strong> respect to the dead, a practice known ethnographi<strong>ca</strong>lly amongst tribes in Papua New<br />
Guinea. <strong>An</strong> interesting twist to this interpretation is that some <strong>of</strong> the post-cranial human remains<br />
at Gough’s Cave are burnt and are highly fragmented, suggesting further smashing and perhaps<br />
cooking. Ultimately, the verdict remains an open one. <strong>The</strong> only certain means <strong>of</strong> identifying<br />
<strong>ca</strong>nnibalism would be a piece <strong>of</strong> human bone in a human coprolite!<br />
Art<br />
Despite recurring claims <strong>of</strong> Palaeolithic <strong>ca</strong>ve wall art in <strong>Britain</strong>, none has so far proved genuine.<br />
Nevertheless, the existence <strong>of</strong> Upper Palaeolithic engravings at the <strong>ca</strong>ve <strong>of</strong> Gouy, near Rouen<br />
(Normandy), less than 160 km <strong>from</strong> the Sussex coast, suggests that <strong>Britain</strong> was well within range<br />
<strong>of</strong> the <strong>ca</strong>ve artists. Gouy Cave is especially interesting be<strong>ca</strong>use it is in Senonian (Cretaceous)<br />
chalk, similar to geologi<strong>ca</strong>l formations found in southern <strong>Britain</strong> and normally considered<br />
unsuitable for the preservation <strong>of</strong> fragile art. Engravings on the s<strong>of</strong>t chalk walls <strong>of</strong> horses, bovids,<br />
a pig or badger, birds, sexual symbols and stylized figures were made before the natural infilling<br />
<strong>of</strong> the site, which is dated by bone debris to 12,050±130 BP (GifA-92346).<br />
Examples <strong>of</strong> mobiliary (portable) art objects are known <strong>from</strong> several Creswellian lo<strong>ca</strong>lities.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se include non-figurative abstract engravings on stone, bone and ivory <strong>from</strong> Gough’s Cave,<br />
Robin Hood Cave, Pin Hole and, possibly, Mother Grundy’s Parlour (Creswell Crags, Derbyshire).<br />
Church Hole has a unique example <strong>of</strong> a notched bone pendant. Regularly spaced groups<br />
<strong>of</strong> deli<strong>ca</strong>te incisions on hare tibia awls and on a section <strong>of</strong> bovid rib <strong>from</strong> Gough’s Cave<br />
Figure 2.6 A horse’s head engraved on a rib fragment <strong>from</strong> Robin Hood Cave (Creswell Crags,<br />
Derbyshire).<br />
Source: Courtesy <strong>of</strong> the British Museum