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The Long Man of Wilmington

Lying Long Man!

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Brother Johnno B
Brother Johnno Oct 7, 2003 21:21:40
Replying to olly

...hey thats what I thought olly, but according to Prof Martin Bell, environmental archaeologist at Reading Uni, he says the ground shows no iron age, medieval, or roman activity and all evidence points to the mid 16th century. Apparently around 500 years ago there was a large layer of chalk dust swept down the hillside which he believes came from the newly constructed long man. What are we to believe?
Best wishes, BJ

C Cursuswalker
Cursuswalker Oct 11, 2003 02:01:30
Replying to Brother Johnno

In order to have survived the figure would have had to have been scoured and remade many times.
The current naturalistic figure couldn't be anything older than Roman.

What they haven't explained is the aligment of barrows from two seperate pre-historic cultures on the space the Long Man occupies:

See

http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/3945
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/3946
and
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/14504

They are obviously right that major work took place on the hillside in the 16th century. I find it very difficult to believe that there was nothing there prior to that, as medieval people weren't renowned for aligning anything on barrows that hadn't even been recognised as such at the time, as is the case with the Long Mound.

Slightly more compelling is the evidence that the hillside was wooded in the Neolithic, when the Long Mound was constructed.