Northern Earth Glossary

Glossary of Terms

A

ARCHAEO-ASTRONOMY

A.k.a. astro-archaeology. The study of how ancient peoples practised astronomy.

ARCHAIC HEAD

A carved face or head with rudimentary features, occurring from prehistory to recent times. Often inaccurately termed 'Celtic head'. See John Billingsley, 'The Myth of the Celtic Head', NE 56.

B

BARROW

A burial mound. Long barrows include chambered and unchambered tombs and date from the neolithic (New Stone Age). Round barrows are usually Bronze Age, but occasionally Roman, British, Anglo-Saxon or Viking. Round barrow varieties include bowl, bell and disc barrows.

The long barrow, as the name suggests, is an elongated roughly rectangular structure and may contain many burial chambers. Examples of long barrows are West Kennet Long Barrow , Waylands Smithy and Belas Knap. Long barrows appear to have been in constant use with burials being added over a period of centuries, the old bones being moved around to accommodate the new interment. It is thought that bones may even have been removed for ritual use, particularly the skulls and leg bones.

Round barrows are much more common than long barrows and can be seen littered around sites like Stonehenge and Avebury. Round barrows typically contain fewer burials than long barrows, maybe a single burial or two or three individuals. There are many types of round barrow but a typical example would be a roughly hemispherical mound formed by piling the earth up at the centre of a circular ditch. Building material varies according to location, if there was only a thin top soil then the mound might have been formed by piling boulders into a similar structure. These stone burial mounds are often referred to as cairns. Another type of round barrow is the pond barrow formed by digging the earth out from the centre of the site and piling it up in a bank around the site. The central area would then be used for burial.

BERM

A narrow strip or ledge, especially as found between a ditch and the base of a parapet in a fortification.

BROCH

A circular dry-stone tower, found exclusively in Scotland and dating from the Iron Age. Probably used as a refuge.

Typically they had one, small, easily blocked and defended entrance leading to a circular "courtyard" within. The walls were double skinned, providing small rooms and storage areas between the inner and outer walls. Steps were also built in the gap between the walls providing access to upper wooden platforms. They were not standard living quarters, people would take refuge in the broch when a raiding party was sighted, possibly taking some of their valuable live stock with them.

BRONZE AGE

The label used to describe the period of prehistory between around 2000 BC and 700 BC, named in this way due to the emergence of bronze smelting and working skills. Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin. The Bronze Age falls between the Neolithic and the Iron Age, and like all labels of this kind must be treated as a rough guide only. The periods tend to cross over; bronze implements will have been in use in some areas during the latter stages of the Neolithic and vice versa.

C

CAIRN

A mound of stones, often but not always covering a burial site.

CAIRN CIRCLE

'Stone circle' formed by the kerbstones of a now-vanished tumulus or cairn.

CHALYBEATE

impregnated with iron salts

CHAMBERED TOMB

Megalithic tomb usually for multiple burials. Varieties include passage graves, gallery graves, portal dolmens.

COVE

A setting of three stones in a "U" shaped formation. Examples can be seen at Stanton Drew, Avebury and Arbor Low.

CROMLECH

Archaeologically obsolete term for a megalithic chambered tomb.

CROP CIRCLE

Geometric patterns usually found in fields of cereal crops. They are now generally thought to be of human origin. Alternative theories range from plasma vortices to UFOs.

CRYSTALS

Attractive rock formations of natural or psychological power that should on no account be buried at ancient sites. People who advocate this do not know the problems they cause archaeologically and otherwise, and are advocating wilful vandalism on a par to lighting fires, writing graffiti, etc., within a sacred area.

CUP AND RING

Markings carved into rocks and stone, consisting of a depression (cup) surrounded by concentric circles (rings). Thought to date from the neolithic. Other less common motifs include spirals and rosettes.

CURSUS

An avenue formed by straight stretches of parallel earthen banks and ditches. The longest, in Dorset, extends nearly 10 km. Found only in Britain.

D

DOLMEN

A megalithic chambered tomb, with a large flat stone laid on upright ones.

DOWSING

Searching for underground items, particularly water, using a dowsing rod held in the hands, which reacts by moving when the item is passed. Rods include forked twigs, L-shaped strips of metal and more sophisticated tools with delicate balance. Recently, energy dowsing has become popular, but is still generally regarded as unproven.

E

EARTH LIGHT

Ball of light released into the atmosphere, formed by geological pressure along fault lines.

F

FOGOU

A subterranean passage made of stone. Use unclear. A.k.a. souterrain.

FORTEAN

Relating to extraordinary natural or social events which shouldn't happen in a rational universe.

G

GALLERY GRAVE

Type of chambered tomb where the burial chamber resembles a long subterranean passage.

H

HENGE

A prehistoric circular earthwork characterised by a non-defensive arrangement of a ditch inside the bank.

HOLY WELL

A well or spring venerated as having special properties or at which saints or deities/spirits were worshipped. Named wells are not necessarily holy wells.

HUMMADRUZ

Mysterious buzzing or humming sound, without a discernible point of origin, occasionally heard in rural areas. See John Billingsley, 'Sites & Sounds', NE 70 & 71.

I

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J

K

L

LANDSCAPE GEOMETRY

Geometric shapes emerging from the inter-relationship of sacred sites over large areas. Not generally accepted today.

LEY

A straight line 'on' the landscape, linking sites of ancient significance, proposed by Alfred Watkins in the 1920s as ancient trackways. The popular imagination supposes they may be lines of some force or energy, but experimentation and other kinds of investigation have not demonstrated this. Current thinking is that they are 'spirit lines', ethereal or symbolic trackways across the land for spiritual travel in shamanic cultures, etc.

LIMINAL

Relating to boundaries, of space, dimension or experience. Vital concept in folklore and religious studies.

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M

MARKSTONE

Alfred Watkins suggested large stones may have been placed to delineate the path of a ley.

MEGALITH

A large stone, especially one deliberately sited in prehistory.

MEGALITHIC

Built of large stones. The term is thus not limited to any specific time period, culture or geographical area.

MENHIR

A tall standing stone.

MESOLITHIC

Middle Stone Age (c.8300-5000 BCE)

N

NEOLITHIC

New Stone Age (c.5000-2500 BCE). This period is characterised by the use of stone weapons and tools (flint arrow heads and axe heads being typical examples) and saw the introduction of agriculture and the domestication of animals. These were revolutionary developments and led to large population increases.

NODE

A place where a number of alignments meet. See Gordon Harris, 'Ubiquitous Nodes', NE 57.

O

OGHAM

Celtic alphabet of twenty characters formed by lines marked either side of a base line.

OMPHALOS

From the Greek, meaning navel or centre. The sacred centre of a given geographical area, marked by stones, mounds, crosses, etc.

OUTLIER

A standing stone set apart from the main formation of a stone circle, sometimes in an astronomically significant direction (for example midsummer's sunrise). Sometimes they mark the "entrance" to a stone circle. Examples are the Heel Stone at Stonehenge and the King Stone at the Rollright Stones.

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P

PALAEOLITHIC

Old Stone Age (up to c.8300 BCE)

PASSAGE GRAVE

Type of chambered tomb where a passage connects with one or more stone chambers in the centre of a mound.

PEGOMANCY

The use of the waters of a spring or well as an aid to divination. See Mike Haigh, 'Pegomancy in Northern Britain', NE 70.

PERISTALITH

A circle of large stones built around the base of a mound or cairn. If the mound material is removed, the residual peristalith may be mistaken for a free-standing stone circle. See cairn circle.

PHENOMENOLOGY

A method of enquiry developed by Husserl to study the structure of consciousness, increasingly seen as having relevance to human monuments in the landscape.

Q

QUERN

A simple device consisting of two rough stones between which grain could be ground, either by rubbing or rotating the upper stone against the lower. Fine examples of querns can be seen in situ at Chysauster ancient settlement in Cornwall.

QUOIT

A stone burial chamber, similar to a dolmen.

R

RIDGEWAY

The Great Ridgeway is a prehistoric pathway running predominantly over high ground from The Wash to Axmouth in Devon. There is a proliferation of ancient sites along the Ridgeway including Avebury ,Wayland's Smithy, the Uffington White Horse and Barbury Castle.

RING CAIRN

Small sacred area formed by a circular embankment of heaped small rocks. Most common in the Derbyshire Peak District.

ROLLING SUN

A landscape event where the sun is seen, when viewed from a certain site, to rise up or set down along the slope of a distant mountain. See Michael Viner. 'The Magic of the Rolling Mayo Sun', NE 63; Kay Anderson, 'Notes From The North', NE 71.

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S

SADDLE

Geographers' term for a piece of land between two ridges. Proposed along with the geosyncline as a possible element in British sacred landscapes. See John Billingsley, 'The Saddle - A Sacred Landscape?', NE 57.

SACRED LANDSCAPE

A.k.a. ritual landscape. Areas containing a number of prehistoric monuments, presumptively holding a religious or ritual meaning to the monument builders.

SARSEN

A tertiary sandstone boulder, typically found in Witshire. Also refers to standing stones made of this material, as at Stonehenge and Avebury. Known as "greyweathers" when found in situ.

SEPA

Segmented Embanked Pit Alignment. An alignment of paired pits, the soil from which is piled up to form two banks. See Mike Haigh, 'The Case of the Segmented Embanked Pit Alignments', NE 60.

SHAMAN

Specifically, a mediator between the human and spirit worlds in Siberian cultures. Now extended to include similar roles in other archaic cultures. Frequently degraded in turn-of-millennium usage to include anyone who experiences trance or astral travel! Plural is not 'shamen'...

SOUTERRAIN

See fogou.

SPIRIT LINE

Projection on to the landscape of the 'long straight tunnel' experience commonly recorded in trance states or near-death experiences.

STONE CIRCLE

A ring of stones, sometimes at a henge. Distinct from a cairn circle, which is not a stone circle proper.

T

TERRESTRIAL ZODIAC

A coherent set of zodiacal or quasi-zodiacal symbols outlines by features of the landscape. Generally not thought to be human-made, their empirical existence is strongly questioned.

TOR

A prominent hilltop, usually rocky.

TRILITHON

A trilithon is an arrangement of three stones, two uprights with a lintel placed at their top in a kind of inverted "U" shape. Anyone who is familiar with a picture of Stonehenge will have seen a trilithon. Derived from the Greek, "tri" - three, "lith" - stone.

TUMULUS

A term found commonly on Ordnance Survey maps, meaning 'mound' or 'barrow' (Plural, tumuli).

U

UFO

Unidentified Flying Object - nowadays generally accepted as meaning of alien origin, but strictly referring to any airborne anomalous light. See earth light.

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V

W

WELL DRESSING

A custom, prevalent in Derbyshire, in which village wells are decorated, often highly ornately, with natural objects such as flower petals.

X

TOP

Y

Z

The list was updated in February 1998 with suggestions from members of the Stones mailing list and with information from the Ancient Sites Directory.

Offprints of articles cited are available from the editors of Northern Earth at £1.00 to cover costs.

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