Boscawen-ûn
Boscawen-ûn is a 3000 to 4000 year old stone circle from the Early to Middle Bronze Age . The stone setting is in the county of Cornwall in England and is one of the few with a central menhir . The condition of the complex is also unusual.
location
Boscawen-ûn is in south-west Cornwall north of St Buryan on the road from Penzance to Land's End . The stone setting is after five kilometers on the left, 300 m from the road. The position was obviously chosen carefully, because the stone circle of the Merry Maidens and the two menhirs of the Pipers are within sight . In addition, there is a rare view of the sea in this location. There are three more stone circles in the area
and several megalithic systems
including quoits :
construction
The stone circle consists of a roughly central menhir and 19 ring stones, including 18 made of gray granite and one made of light quartz , which describe an ellipse with axes of 24.9 m and 21.9 m. The position of the quartz stone in the southwest likely marks the direction of the full moon during the solstice . On the northeastern edge of the stone circle, two stones lie in the ground, one of which is said to have ax-shaped petroglyphs . Perhaps these engravings are related to the deforestation that was carried out to reclaim the land. These engravings would be the only ones of their kind in Britain . There is a wide gap in the west of the circle that suggests the lack of stones. However, as with the nearby Merry Maidens , this gap can also represent access. The central stone is 2.7 m long, but because of its clear inclination to the north-east, its tip is only 2.0 m above the ground. The incline and orientation of the central stone may have been intended. It is believed by some researchers that the main stone embodies the phallic masculine principle and the quartz stone embodies the feminine powers of the ring.
Origin of name
Boscawen-ûn is a Cornish name derived from the syllables bod (homestead) and scawen (old tree). The suffix ûn denotes an adjacent willow. Therefore the name translates as the willow from the homestead by the old tree .
history
Contrary to popular belief, stone circles like that of Boscawen-ûn were not built by the Celts , but much earlier in the Bronze Age. Research assumes, however, that Boscawen-ûn was an important meeting place for druids in the Iron Age . In any case, a well-known association of bards (Cornish Gorsedd ) comes from this area, because in the Welsh Triads from the 6th century AD, the Gorsedd of Boskawen of Dumnonia is referred to as one of the three great Gorsedds of Poetry of the Island of Britain . Dumnonia was a kingdom in post-Roman Britain that probably included Cornwall . In 1928 Henry Jenner founded the Cornish Bards Association here in the stone circle of Boscawen-ûn as part of the revival of the Cornish language and culture and called it Gorsedh Kernow (Gorsedd of Cornwall).
In 1864 the area around the stone circle was scientifically researched for the first time. The excavation reports show that the central stone had its noticeable inclination even then. A wall that led through the complex was removed and a stone wall was built, which today still extensively surrounds the megalithic complex and is an early example of the preservation of archaeological monuments. Here was discovered near the stone circle a hill grave in which polls were. One of the first pictorial representations of the stone circle, made by John Thomas Blight when he was writing a book about the churches of Cornwall with notes on ancient monuments, dates from this period . He also drew a plan of the barrow and sketched one of the urns found.
literature
- John Barnatt: Prehistoric Cornwall: The Ceremonial Monuments . Turnstone Press Limited 1982, ISBN 0855001291 .
- Ian McNeil Cooke: Standing Stones of the Land's End . Cornwall: Men-an-Tol Studio 1998, ISBN 0951237195 .
- Aubrey Burl: The stone circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany . Yale University Press 2000, ISBN 0300083475 .
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c Peter Herring: Boscawen-ûn - An Archaeological Assessment , Historic Environment Service, Cornwall County Council 2000
- ^ John Thomas Blight: Churches of West Cornwall with notes of antiquities of the district , Parker & Co., London 1865
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 5 '23.47 " N , 5 ° 37' 9.44" W.