Ruined buildings, ruined stones: Enclosures, tombs and natural places in the Neolithic of south‐west England

Abstract

There seems to be a consistent relationship between the forms taken by rock outcrops in south‐west England and those of megalithic tombs. Such tombs are sometimes found close to walled enclosures which incorporate a number of these natural formations. At first sight it seems as if the tombs were built to imitate these distinctive features of the landscape, but there are problems with this interpretation, for megalithic tombs took a similar form in areas with a quite different topography. Perhaps the very distinction between buildings and natural features is inappropriate in studying societies which lacked a modern understanding of geology. It seems possible that certain rock outcrops were identified as ruined tombs or the remains of other buildings surviving from the ancestral past. They were incorporated into newer structures as they provided a source of social power.

Keywords:

• Neolithic
• tombs
• enclosures
• ancestors
• landscape
• geology