Reassessing ‘henge’ monuments: can we see a neatly packaged monument type?
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2017-05-10

Henge monuments are some of the best known and most recognisable monuments of Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Britain. Since they were first identified in the 1930s, and defined as later Neolithic enclosures with a circular bank, inner ditch, and usually one or two entrances, henges have been considered as a single category of site. Between 1932 and 1987 there were numerous attempts to define sub-types or classes within the umbrella term of henge. Rather than creating clarity, for some scholars however these have added to the uncertainty and mistrust of the henge type. Now, more than ever, it is increasingly apparent that wide variation in their size, location, dating and architecture means they cannot be assumed to share a single use and meaning.
Typology has been a core aspect of archaeology, however its place within present archaeological research has increasingly been criticised, with arguments ranging from total abandonment to reassessing typology using current theoretical perspectives. This paper will assess the pattern and variation in the characteristics of sites currently classified as henge monuments to investigate the use of typology in relation to these sites. It will also adopt a more relational approach in the investigation of sites, looking beyond morphology to assert if any clear pattern within the data to suggest types can be discerned. It will then go on to question the use of a relational approach to typology within archaeology and if, perhaps, there are better ways of understanding monuments.

Lucy Cummings, Newcastle University