Places of Special Virtue: Megaliths in the Neolithic landscapes of Wales.

By Vicky Cummings and Alasdair Whittle.
Cardiff Studies in Archaeology
Oxbow Books 2004
ISBN 1 84217 108 9

Reviewed by Helen Evans

Introduction
The Chapters
Discussion

 Introduction

At a time when the regional diversity of the Neolithic is seeing a great deal of emphasis, this volume is a timely reminder that the existence of regional traditions can only be illustrated through detailed analysis and synthesis. Whilst many have taken a theoretical or grand narrative approach to discussing the existence of different 'Neolithics', few studies have actually confronted this material from the bottom up. Based on Vicki Cummings' PhD research, the volume incorporates case studies of megalithic structures from different areas of Wales into a theoretical discussion of the importance of landscape to Neolithic communities.

The volume is split into seven chapters, followed by an illustrated gazetteer of the hundred or so megaliths included in the study. Together with analysis of the landscape setting of each monument, the inventory contains the detailed descriptive syntheses and observations necessary for such a project, however, taking up around half of the volume, these don't make for casual reading.

 The Chapters

The first chapter outlines the need for regionally specific understandings of the Neolithic, and describes the history of archaeological investigation and interpretation of the Welsh monuments. Setting up the context for discussion of regional diversity, evidence for Neolithic occupation and axe production is briefly reviewed together with a discussion of the relationship between Wales, the Irish Seaboard and south western England. Although the Neolithic 'colonisation' of Wales was commonly implied by culture historical writers, given current ideas concerning the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition, it seems odd that Cummings and Whittle felt the need to discuss the likelihood of 'indigenous acculturation' in detail. However, stressing the variety of influences relating to different Neolithic 'beginnings' provides a context from which to understand the distinctiveness of monumental traditions in the areas under consideration.

The second chapter outlines a theoretical approach to understanding the experiential aspects of landscape, in particular the role of vision in the perception of place. Incorporating many ethnographic examples of the ways in which people use their senses to perceive spaces, places, and vistas, the discussion rehearses what are increasingly becoming conventional phenomenological approaches to 'seeing-in-the-landscape'. Whilst perhaps a little long winded, it strongly asserts that landscapes are lived in and acculturated, rather than being neutral backdrops or merely 'environments'. Operating at a multitude of geographical and social scales, memories, metaphors and myths associated with topographic features would have been instrumental in the creation and maintenance of cultural identity.

Having discussed the theoretical aspects of experiencing landscape, the third chapter focuses on the methodology of 'doing' landscape archaeology. A number of different ways of recording and representing the settings of monuments were utilised, including photographic panoramas, textual description and diagrammatic representations of views from individual monuments. The chapter includes a description of how GIS was used to create plots of viewsheds from monuments, together with a discussion of the problems and potentials of using electronic data, photographs and text to create a sense of place. This may be helpful to students new to undertaking fieldwork 'in the landscape', however in reality, much of this is a methodology of common sense.

Chapters four, five and six are case studies of the landscape settings of megaliths in south east, south west and north west Wales. Each chapter begins with a history of research and outlines the classification of monuments, together with descriptions of excavations and the availability of dating evidence. A series of sections then detail the ways that monuments reference different landscape features; Mountains and hills, rivers and streams, the sea, and localised stone outcrops. This is followed by a description of the ways that the micro-topographic settings of monuments have the effect of both concealing and promoting particular views of the landscape. The concluding section of each chapter returns to reassess previous classifications of these sites, and how their landscape settings may be illustrative of chronology and distinctive regional traditions.

The final chapter draws together a number of themes established in earlier sections, together with a consideration of the ways in which localised traditions articulated with those of the wider world. At one level the megaliths are interpreted as territorial markers, with the views they afford drawing on the surrounding landscape. Challenging criticisms leveled at earlier proponents of the importance of viewsheds, it is argued in some detail that trees would not necessarily have obscured views from these monuments. The potential seasonal, mythical and symbolic importance of elements of the natural world are then discussed with the use of ethnographic examples.

The second part of the chapter takes in a discussion of monumental architecture, including a critical analysis of past classification schema. The importance of escaping the confines of conventional terminology and typology is stressed, with the discussion concentrating instead on the aesthetic qualities and individual histories of these monuments. The narrative then moves to some of the ways that the architecture and setting of monuments drew not only on their immediate environs, but also on aspects of local and wider regional and inter regional traditions.

 Discussion

This volume does much to bring what are an enigmatic group of monuments into closer focus. Having been subject to a variety of classification schema in the past, the Welsh megaliths formed the focus for culture historical arguments relating to the diffusion of Neolithic cultures across and along the western seaboard. One of the main strengths of this work is that it clearly illustrates the articulation between local, regional and wider traditions of monument building in the Neolithic. Much is made of the theoretical and practical methodologies utilised, and although clearly outlined, they are a little overstated and make for disjointed reading. As with criticisms leveled at other authors working on similar material, the 'theoretical' and the 'actual' remain for the most part separate in that the themes drawn from ethnographic sources aren't really applied to the monuments and landscapes under consideration.

At a broader interpretative level, for me, the problem with the way these monuments were dealt with stems from the geographical scale of the original analysis. Although the existence of distinctive regional traditions was clearly established across different areas of Wales, there was little discussion of the places of these monuments within localised patterns of occupation. In other words, the social and spatial scales at which communities operated, and the conditions under which these monuments were constructed and used was overlooked in a narrative based largely on the abstractions of landscape perception. Although this was not the remit of the original analysis, it seems that an opportunity was lost. However, the methodological and theoretical approach to these monuments, and the interpretations derived, are an invaluable addition to the Welsh literature. Bringing analysis and discussion of these features into the 21st century, this timely volume provides the basis a solid approach to recording and understanding the landscape settings and aesthetic qualities of Neolithic monuments.

Helen Evans (biography)

Helen Evans is a PhD student at Sheffield's Department of Archaeology. After graduating from Sheffield in 1996, she undertook the MA in Landscape Archaeology. She has worked for several British archaeological field units, and after returning to Sheffield in 2000, is now in the final stages of completing a PhD on the prehistoric landscapes of Cumbria from the Later Mesolithic to the Bronze Age. She co-directs several archaeological field projects in Cumbria, and has served as an editor of Assemblage (Issues 6 and 7). Her research interests include landscape archaeology, the archaeology and history of Cumbria, and the Neolithic and Bronze Age of western Britain. She has recently provided input into English Heritage's Archaeological Regional Research Framework for the North West, which is available at
http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ARF
helen@bean.abelgratis.co.uk