Catholme complex

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The Catholme Complex (also called Catholme Ceremonial Complex or Catholme Woodhenge ) is located at the confluence of the River Trent with the small River Mease and the River Tame near Alrewas , in southeast Staffordshire in England .

During aerial explorations in the 1960s and 1970s, structures in the ground were discovered that were interpreted as a prehistoric ceremonial complex . Investigations with geophysical methods such as ground radar , ground resistance measurement and geomagnetic prospection followed . The collection of monuments in the area known as the “ritual landscape” was unusual - some are morphologically unique and have no direct parallels among the finds from the Neolithic period. The archaeological interpretation was therefore limited. The main complex covered a relatively small area between the railway line and the A38 motorway north of the confluence. Agriculture has now wiped out all traces.

A Timber Circle surrounded by an approximately 16.0 m wide ring trench , of which 12 rows with up to five post holes radiating out over a diameter of almost 60 m, is called the Sunburst Monument . A second monument is 150 m to the southeast. It consists of five concentric post hole rings with 39 posts in each ring and an outer diameter of about 50.0 m, which enclose a central area of ​​over 20.0 m in diameter. The post pits date between Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age (2880 and 2410 B.C. ) The memorial shows similarities with the henges of Durrington Walls in Wiltshire and Mount Pleasant (Henge) in Dorset or with The Sanctuary in Avebury - all late Neolithic or Chalcolithic structures from about 2600 to 2200 BC Chr.

The traces of an at least 110 m long west-east oriented course lie about 130 m to the west. He is pointing towards the Sunburst Monument. Only its 45 m wide western end has been preserved. To the east, aerial photographs of the islands in the branching alluvial landscape of the rivers in Fatholme and Borough Holme have identified two possible henge monuments .

Individual evidence

  1. Jump up ↑ Henry P. Chapman, Mark Hewson, Margaret S. Watters, Lawrence Barfield, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Gordon Cook, Rowena Gale, Pam Grinter, Derek Hamilton, Rob Ixer, Peter Marshall, Wendy Smith & Ann Woodward: The Catholme Ceremonial Complex, Staffordshire, UK . Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 76, pp. 135-163, 2010, p. 135 (introduction)
  2. Jump up ↑ Henry P. Chapman, Mark Hewson, Margaret S. Watters, Lawrence Barfield, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Gordon Cook, Rowena Gale, Pam Grinter, Derek Hamilton, Rob Ixer, Peter Marshall, Wendy Smith & Ann Woodward: The Catholme Ceremonial Complex, Staffordshire, UK . Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 76, pp. 135-163, 2010, p. 140

literature

  • Henry P. Chapman, Mark Hewson, Margaret S. Watters, Lawrence Barfield, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Gordon Cook, Rowena Gale, Pam Grinter, Derek Hamilton, Rob Ixer, Peter Marshall, Wendy Smith & Ann Woodward: The Catholme Ceremonial Complex, Staffordshire , UK . Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 76, pp. 135-163, 2010 doi : 10.1017 / S0079497X00000487

Web links

Coordinates: 52 ° 44 ′ 51.3 "  N , 1 ° 42 ′ 49"  W.