Category: Dark Ages

The hero archetype and Lugh

Museum of Anatolian Civilizations Çatalhöyük Leopard reliefs all in 2019 01

At its core the “hero” is the figure who steps out of ordinary society, confronts chaos or a monster, and returns (or dies) having secured order for the group. In Jungian and comparative-myth terms it sits in the “warrior-champion” slot of the collective story-board; evolutionists would say it crystallises the survival value of decisive coalition leadership in small bands.

Great Roe Wood (Roe Wood) Enclosure – Woodhouse

Great Roe Wood - Sheffield - OS Series 1

Great Roe Wood (often simply called “Roe Wood”) sits on the Magnesian Limestone ridge that carries the Roman Rig between Sheffield and Doncaster, just northeast of the village of Woodhouse (OS grid SK 450 920). This ridge forms a natural corridor overlooking the Don valley, with shallow soils over limestone giving way to deeper alluvial gravels in the valley bottom.

Roman Rig Defensive Works

The Roman Rig is a defensive dyke built to defend against attack from the south. It runs from Sheffield, past Templeborough and carries on almost to Doncaster. If this is a Brigantian dyke it would certainly add weight to Websters definition of the Roman border in the period.

Black Dike – Coverdale

Black Dike - 1m LiDAR

Black Dike is the diminutive counterpart to the great Tor Dike, rising from its western arm and climbing to the watershed between Great and Little Whernside. Beginning at roughly SD 988 756—where Tor Dike cleaves the limestone scarp—the Black Dike pursues a steep, sinuous course uphill for nearly 0.6 km, finally spilling onto the ridge crest at about 675 m above sea level

Prehistoric mounds, cairns and boundary earthworks in Coverdale

Cairn atop Little Whernside

A gazetteer of probable prehistoric mounds, cairns and boundary earthworks in Coverdale. It is not complete and is still being researched.

Guide: Ritual/Ceremonial Mounds

Marlborough mound 20240518 looking southwards

These are raised platforms created first and foremost for cult, procession, assembly or conversion—not for fortification or routine boundary-making. They tend to be much more significant and monumental than other mounds and raised platforms. Some are the largest structures known of their type. In Britain, possibly the best known example is Silbury Hill in Wiltshire.

Guide: Barrows

royal kurgans barrow, interior

A barrow is a mound of earth and/or stones raised over a grave or group of graves. Used from the Neolithic through to the Iron Age (roughly 4000 BCE to 500 CE), barrows were often constructed to honour elite individuals, such as tribal leaders, warriors, or chieftains. They are frequently found singly or in cemeteries known as barrow fields.

Mote of Mark Hill Fort

Mote of Mark from sea shore path

The Mote of Mark is a defended hilltop overlooking the Urr estuary. It was the court or citadel of a powerful Dark Age chieftain, possibly one of the princes of Rheged. The site was occupied during the 6th century and appears to have been destroyed by fire in the 7th century.

Dunagoil Hillfort, (Isle of Bute, Argyll & Bute)

Dunagoil Hillfort

Dunagoil crowns a 30 m-high columnar-basalt promontory on the south-west coast of Bute, overlooking the Sound of Bute and the Cumbraes. Cliffs on the north and west form natural ramparts; only the gentle ESE saddle gives easy access.

Flats Hill – Carlton in Coverdale

Flats Hill Mound - Carlton-in-Coverdale - view from road

Flats Hill mound is approximately 30 meters in diameter and stands about 3.6 meters high. It has never been excavated, although a dry stone wall seems to have been started, and then stopped, partly over its top. It has been suggested as, and is listed as a probable barrow, with a presumably wide date, likely to be in the Bronze Age or Iron Age date range.

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