Hillforts & Barrows

close
more_vert
tiompan T
tiompan Sep 30, 2012 09:33:38
Replying to The Eternal

The Eternal wrote:
tiompan wrote:
But what if there were no dead , as is often the case in BA barrows and sometimes earlier Neolithic barrows ?
tiompan,

Maybe they knew the barrows were empty, maybe they didn't. Either way, I suspect that superstition played a big part in the respect shown.

If they did know they were empty, then perhaps they knew that the intention of an empty barrow was a sacred one, and, like the occupied barrows, showed the same respect. After all, there are so many records of empty barrows, so the huge effort in erecting them must have been for a compelling purpose. If not to represent a sacred place, or boundary, then what else?

Records of the respect that the Romans paid to prehistoric sites shows that the aura that those places had continued well after their use. Surely this must have been the case in previous centuries when the hillforts were built.

Cheers,
TE.

TE , I agree that those sites where there are no funereal deposits seemed to be as important as those that did and may well have had the same "power" .But my comment was in response to your , "A healthy respect for the dead, by superstition, is what it was. " which omitted the the non funerary aspect .

T The Eternal
The Eternal Sep 30, 2012 22:20:01
Replying to tiompan

tiompan wrote:
TE , I agree that those sites where there are no funereal deposits seemed to be as important as those that did and may well have had the same "power" .But my comment was in response to your , "A healthy respect for the dead, by superstition, is what it was. " which omitted the the non funerary aspect .
Tiompan,

True, my comment didn't take into account empty barrows. It seems like we both agree that they held a similar importance. Why that was is the intriguing question.

Gladman has stated that maybe banks and ditches around sites that weren't hillforts were doffing their caps to past traditions. It's a good theory, and maybe the importance of empty barrows was to keep with contemporary tradition in terms of stating territory.

It all seems to come down to respecting present and past traditions in the years prior to the Roman invasion. Respect for ancestors, and a fear of disrespecting them is what I feel was going on.

All the best,
TE.