Laporte Luc - The Megalithic Architectures of Europe

Published in the United Kingdom in 2016 by
OXBOW BOOKS
10 Hythe Bridge Street, Oxford OX1 2EW

and in the United States by
OXBOW BOOKS
1950 Lawrence Road, Havertown, PA 19083

Oxbow Books and the individual authors 2016

Hardback Edition: ISBN 978-1-78570-014-9
Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-78570-015-6
Kindle Edition: ISBN 978-1-78570-016-3
PDF Edition: ISBN 978-1-78570-017-0

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Laporte, Luc. | Scarre, Chris.

Title: The megalithic architectures of Europe / edited by Luc Laporte and Chris Scarre.

Description: Oxford : Oxbow Books, 2015. | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015033850| ISBN 9781785700149 (hardback) | ISBN 9781785700156 (digital)

Subjects: LCSH: Megalithic monuments--Europe. | Tombs--Europe. | Antiquities, Prehistoric--Europe. | Architecture, Prehistoric--Europe. | Neolithic period--Europe. | Europe--Antiquities. | Europe, Northern--Antiquities. | Europe, Western--Antiquities. | Excavations (Archaeology)--Europe, Northern. | Excavations (Archaeology)--Europe, Western.

Classification: LCC GN803 .M473 2015 | DDC 722--dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015033850

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Front cover: Chambered cairn of Cairnholy, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Photo: Chris Scarre

Contents

Luc Laporte & Chris Scarre

Leonardo Garca Sanjun and Jos Antonio Lozano Rodrguez

Luc Laporte

Noisette Bec Drelon

Florian Cousseau

Vicki Cummings and Colin Richards

Torben Dehn

Chris Scarre

Palle Eriksen and Niels H. Andersen

Jrgen Westphal

Ramn Fbregas Valcarce and Xos Ignacio Vilaseco Vzquez

Jose Antonio Linares Catela

Niels H. Andersen

Anne Birgitte Gebauer

Franziska Hage, Georg Schafferer and Martin Hinz

Primitiva Bueno Ramrez, Rosa Barroso Bermejo and Rodrigo de Balbn Behrmann

Leonor Rocha

Philippe Gouzin

Jean-Marc Large and Emmanuel Mens

Primitiva Bueno Ramrez, Rodrigo de Balbn Behrmann, Luc Laporte, Philippe Gouzin, Rosa Barroso Bermejo, Philippe Gouzin, Florian Cousseau, Antonio Hernanz Gismero and Mercedes Iriarte Cela

Martin Hinz and Wiebke Kirleis

Nicolas Cauwe

Luc Laporte and Primitiva Bueno Ramrez

Chris Scarre and Torben Dehn

Contributors

NIELS H. ANDERSEN
Moesgaard Museum, DK 8270 Hjbjerg, Denmark

RODRIGO DE BALBN BEHRMANN
Area de Prehistoria, Universidad de Alcal, Pza. San Diego, s/n - 28801, Alcal de Henares, Madrid, Spain

ROSA BARROSO BERMEJO
Area de Prehistoria, Universidad de Alcal, Pza. San Diego, s/n - 28801, Alcal de Henares, Madrid, Spain

NOISETTE BEC DRELON
Universit dAix-Marseille, CNRS-MCC, LAMPEA-UMR 7269, Aix-en-Provence, France

PRIMITIVA BUENO RAMREZ
Area de Prehistoria, Universidad de Alcal, Pza. San Diego, s/n - 28801, Alcal de Henares, Madrid, Spain

NICOLAS CAUWE
Muses royaux dArt et dHistoire, Parc du Cinquantenaire, 10, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium

MERCEDES IRIARTE CELA
Departamento de Ciencias y Tcnicas Fisicoqumicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional de Educacin a Distancia (UNED), Paseo Senda de Rey 9, 28040 Madrid, Spain

FLORIAN COUSSEAU
Universit de Rennes 1-CReAAH UMR6566, 263 Avenue du Gnral Leclerc, Campus de Beaulieu, 35042 RENNES CEDEX, France

VICKI CUMMINGS
School of Forensic and Investigative Science, University of Central Lancashire, Preston PR1 2HE, UK

TORBEN DEHN
Ancient Monuments, Danish Agency for Culture, H. C. Andersens Boulevard 2, DK 1553, Kbenhavn V, Denmark

PALLE ERIKSEN
Ringkbing-Skjern Museum, Herningvej 4, 6950 Ringkbing, Denmark

RAMN FBREGAS VALCARCE
Grupo de Estudos para a Prehistoria do NW Peninsular, Departamento de Historia I, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Facultade de Xeografa e Historia, Praza da Universidade, n 1, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain

LEONARDO GARCA SANJUN
Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueologa, Universidad de Sevilla, Mara de Padilla s/n, 41004, Sevilla, Spain

ANNE BIRGITTE GEBAUER
National Museum, Gammel Carlsbergvej 15, 1799 Kbenhavn V, Denmark

ANTONIO HERNANZ GISMERO
Departamento de Ciencias y Tcnicas Fisicoqumicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional de Educacin a Distancia (UNED), Paseo Senda de Rey 9, 28040 Madrid, Spain

PHILIPPE GOUZIN
29 rue de La Fontaine, 56420 Plaudren, France

FRANZISKA HAGE
Institut fr Ur- und Frhgeschichte Christian-Albrechts-Universitt, Johanna-Mestorf-Str. 2-6, 24118 Kiel, Germany

MARTIN HINZ
Institut fr Ur- und Frhgeschichte Christian-Albrechts-Universitt, Johanna-Mestorf-Str. 2-6, 24118 Kiel, Germany

WIEBKE KIRLEIS
Institut fr Ur- und Frhgeschichte Christian-Albrechts-Universitt, Johanna-Mestorf-Str. 2-6, 24118 Kiel, Germany

LUC LAPORTE
CNRS Laboratoire Archosciences, Universit de Rennes 1-CReAAH UMR6566, 263 Avenue du Gnral Leclerc, Campus de Beaulieu, 35042 RENNES CEDEX, France

JEAN-MARC LARGE
Archologue associ lUMR 6566 CReAHH, Universit de Rennes 1, Campus de Beaulieu, 35042 Rennes, France

JOS ANTONIO LINARES CATELA
Cota Cero Gestin del Patrimonio Histrico S.L., Calle Antonio Machado, 2, local 2A 21007, Huelva, Spain

JOS ANTONIO LOZANO RODRGUEZ
Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Universidad de Granada, Avenida de la Palmeras, 4, 18100 Armilla, Granada, Spain

EMMANUEL MENS
Archeo Atlantica, 19 rue du Vieux Moulin 44740 Batz-sur-Mer, France

COLIN RICHARDS
School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK

LEONOR ROCHA
Centre de Histria da Arte e Investigao Artstica, Universide da vora, Palcio do Vimioso, Largo Marqus de Marialva 8, 7000-809 vora Portugal

CHRIS SCARRE
Department of Archaeology, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK

GEORG SCHAFFERER
Rmisch-Germanische Kommission, Palmengartenstrae 1012, 0325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

XOS IGNACIO VILASECO VZQUEZ
Grupo de Estudos para a Prehistoria do NW Peninsular, Departamento de Historia I, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Facultade de Xeografa e Historia, Praza da Universidade, n 1, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain

JRGEN WESTPHAL
Ancient Monuments, Danish Agency for Culture, H.C. Andersens Boulevard 2, DK 1553 Kbenhavn V, Denmark

Preface

Luc Laporte and Chris Scarre

Megalithic monuments are defined essentially by the unusually large stones employed in their construction. The impressive dimensions have led to recurrent speculation as to how they were built. Popular histories and beliefs frequently attributed them to giants or other mythical beings. Dutch antiquarian Johan Picardt illustrated his Antiquiteten of Drenthe in 1660 with engravings showing giants engaged in the construction of one of the hunebedden of the northern Netherlands (Bakker 2010, 4046). Later scholars, more soberly attributing them to human action, have nonetheless speculated on the precise methods used in their construction by societies lacking modern engineering equipment. Such speculation has concerned both the erection of the monuments the raising upright of a menhir or orthostat, the building of a burial chamber or the addition of a mound and the transport of the stones. The general consensus over the years has envisaged large teams of humans pulling on ropes aided by timber trackways, rollers or scaffolds, although waterborne transport has also been invoked on occasion (for the Stonehenge bluestones, or the Grand Menhir Bris: Atkinson 1979; Le Roux 1997). Winter transport of megalithic blocks over ice or frozen ground has also been suggested for the monuments of northern Europe.