This paper summarises 80 years of 'henge' studies. It considers the range of monuments originally considered henges and how more
diverse sites became added to the original list. It examines the diversity of monuments considered to be henges, their origins, their
associated monument types and their dates. Since the introduction of the term, archaeologists have often been uncomfortable with it.
It was introduced in inverted commas and those commas continued to be used for over 30 years. With the introduction of the term
'hengiform' the strictures of definition that characterised the monument class collapsed and an increased variety of circular and oval
monuments were included under the henge aegis. It is suggested here that the term 'henge' has outlived its usefulness as we no longer
know what we mean by it. Instead we should adopt an objective viewpoint and recognise these earth circles as just one manifestation
of the tradition of circularity that pervades the third and second millennia BC.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/5531 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Gibson, Alex M. |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book chapter, published version paper |
| Rights | © Archaeopress and the individual authors 2012 |
| Relation | http://www.archaeopress.com/archaeopressshop/public/defaultAll.asp?QuickSearch=2440 |
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