tiompan wrote: This comment , from somebody who had actually worked on the excavation , was posted recently on Britarch and may be of interest .
Hi,
Can I correct one thing, the Long Man was not re-cut in the 19th century, as
it was never 'cut' in the first place. Our excavations confirmed that it had
never been a chalk-cut figure, and had been laid out in bricks from its
construction in the 16th century.
During one of its numerous re-linings, this one being at the end of the 19th
century, an experiment was carried out to see if it could be cut into the
chalk. This resulted in a cut at the top of the head (re-located in our
excavation). However, the experiment failed and it was once again laid out
in bricks.
Hope this clarifies the popular misconception that the Long Man is a chalk
cut hill figure. A report on our excavations will be forthcoming in Sussex
Archaeological Collections in due course, and interim reports have appeared
in the SAS newsletter.
Chris Butler
I find it very easy to believe that the current naturalistic figure was never chalk cut.
However, when what is on top of the hill is taken into account there are still questions to be answered about the pre-history of the site.
I find it difficult to believe that in the 16th century people decided to use a previously completely un-used slope to put a figure on, and that they decided to place the figure directly below a huge round barrow, and make it the same length as the largest long barrow in the area, with the top of that long barrow pointing at the top of their brand new figure. This being at a time when the nature of such barrows had not even begun to be understood.
Unless...
...the space was used because of rumours or traces of a previous figure of some kind on that slope.
This would tie in well with medieval attitudes towards giants and the dreamtime-like stories of giants forming the landscape that I think appeared, or were popularised, around that time.
As ever, look at the wider landscape context.
Reply | with quote | Posted by Cursuswalker 20th July 2007ce 16:52 |
Long Man of Wilmington - URGENT HELP NEEDED (Cursuswalker, Jul 01, 2007, 13:28)- Re: Long Man of Wilmington - URGENT HELP NEEDED (slumpystones, Jul 01, 2007, 15:43)
- Re: Long Man of Wilmington - URGENT HELP NEEDED (VenerableBottyBurp, Jul 01, 2007, 16:28)
- Re: Long Man of Wilmington - URGENT HELP NEEDED (Cursuswalker, Jul 01, 2007, 22:59)
- Any word? (Robert Carr, Jul 02, 2007, 17:11)
- Re: Long Man of Wilmington - URGENT HELP NEEDED (Cursuswalker, Jul 02, 2007, 20:05)
- Re: Long Man of Wilmington - URGENT HELP NEEDED (VenerableBottyBurp, Jul 02, 2007, 21:25)
- Re: Long Man of Wilmington - URGENT HELP NEEDED (Cursuswalker, Jul 02, 2007, 23:03)
- Re: Long Man of Wilmington - URGENT HELP NEEDED (rocknicker, Jul 03, 2007, 08:27)
- Re: Long Man of Wilmington - URGENT HELP NEEDED (Rowan_1, Jul 03, 2007, 11:06)
- Re: Long Man of Wilmington - URGENT HELP NEEDED (Cursuswalker, Jul 03, 2007, 16:11)
- Re: Long Man of Wilmington - URGENT HELP NEEDED (Stix, Jul 03, 2007, 16:46)
- Re: Long Man of Wilmington - URGENT HELP NEEDED (tomwatts, Jul 03, 2007, 16:48)
- Re: Long Man of Wilmington - URGENT HELP NEEDED (Cursuswalker, Jul 03, 2007, 16:53)
- FULL WRITE-UP (Cursuswalker, Jul 04, 2007, 11:12)
- The reaction starts... (Cursuswalker, Jul 04, 2007, 13:35)
- Re: Long Man of Wilmington - URGENT HELP NEEDED (Cursuswalker, Jul 04, 2007, 14:20)
- Re: Long Man of Wilmington - URGENT HELP NEEDED (Cursuswalker, Jul 04, 2007, 18:31)
- National coverage (Cursuswalker, Jul 05, 2007, 02:32)
- YET ANOTHER REQUEST TO HELP THE LONG MAN (Cursuswalker, Jul 05, 2007, 10:14)
- Re: Long Man of Wilmington - URGENT HELP NEEDED (Cursuswalker, Jul 05, 2007, 13:44)
- COMPLAIN TO ITV (Cursuswalker, Jul 05, 2007, 14:48)
- CALLING HERITAGE ACTION! PHONE CONVERSATION NEEDED (Cursuswalker, Jul 05, 2007, 17:34)
- Apology (Cursuswalker, Jul 05, 2007, 23:49)
- You Tube video (Cursuswalker, Jul 06, 2007, 17:05)
- You Tube film of the events of last Monday. (Cursuswalker, Jul 06, 2007, 17:08)
- Re: Long Man of Wilmington - URGENT HELP NEEDED (JohnDee007, Jul 06, 2007, 20:01)
- Re: Long Man of Wilmington - URGENT HELP NEEDED (Cursuswalker, Jul 07, 2007, 01:28)
- Re: Long Man of Wilmington - URGENT HELP NEEDED (tiompan, Jul 07, 2007, 07:54)
- Re: Long Man of Wilmington - URGENT HELP NEEDED (JohnDee007, Jul 07, 2007, 10:20)
- Re: Long Man of Wilmington - URGENT HELP NEEDED (Cursuswalker, Jul 07, 2007, 12:46)
- LONG MAN PETITION (Cursuswalker, Jul 07, 2007, 12:58)
- Re: LONG MAN PETITION (Littlestone, Jul 07, 2007, 17:23)
- Re: LONG MAN PETITION (tjj, Jul 07, 2007, 20:47)
- Re: LONG MAN PETITION (supercat, Jul 08, 2007, 04:19)
- Re: LONG MAN PETITION (Cursuswalker, Jul 08, 2007, 10:18)
- Re: LONG MAN PETITION (Cursuswalker, Jul 09, 2007, 15:53)
- Re: LONG MAN PETITION (Littlestone, Jul 11, 2007, 21:52)
- Re: Long Man of Wilmington - URGENT HELP NEEDED (JohnDee007, Jul 07, 2007, 13:53)
- LEGAL MATTERS (Cursuswalker, Jul 07, 2007, 16:54)
- Re: Long Man of Wilmington - URGENT HELP NEEDED (Cursuswalker, Jul 08, 2007, 12:54)
- Yet another local article: (Cursuswalker, Jul 09, 2007, 11:40)
- Write to them... (Cursuswalker, Jul 09, 2007, 16:39)
- Re: Long Man of Wilmington - URGENT HELP NEEDED (Cursuswalker, Jul 09, 2007, 16:39)
- Re: Long Man of Wilmington - URGENT HELP NEEDED (Cursuswalker, Jul 09, 2007, 20:06)
- LONG MAN WOMEN ALL PREGNANT! (Cursuswalker, Jul 10, 2007, 13:51)
- final count (Cursuswalker, Jul 10, 2007, 21:51)
- Link (Cursuswalker, Jul 11, 2007, 16:19)
- CAUTIOUS GOOD NEWS... (Cursuswalker, Jul 12, 2007, 18:08)
- STATEMENT FROM THE SUSSEX ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY: (Cursuswalker, Jul 16, 2007, 13:26)
- sooo many signatories... (Cursuswalker, Jul 16, 2007, 18:49)
- NOW FOR ITV: (Cursuswalker, Jul 16, 2007, 21:19)
- Sussex Archaeological Society are okay by me... (Cursuswalker, Jul 16, 2007, 21:50)
- PLEASE THANK SUSSEX ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY (Cursuswalker, Jul 19, 2007, 10:57)
- New You Tube video (Cursuswalker, Jul 29, 2007, 19:55)
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