Creating Prehistory: Druids, ley hunters and archaeologists in pre-war Britain

• Published in: Antiquaries journal Vol. 89; pp. 468 - 469
• Main Author: Evans, Dai Morgan
• Format: Book Review Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.09.2009
• Subjects: Archaeology; Blake, William (1757-1827); British & Irish literature; English literature; Material culture; Otherness; Prehistoric era; War; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US; British Isles; Stonehenge
• ISSN: 0003-5815; 1758-5309
• DOI: 10.1017/S0003581509990394

[...]in summary he blames our present position, as he sees it, on the '1930s' generation of archaeological 'greats'; this might be enough for many 'orthodox' archaeologists to stifle a yawn and pass on to safer shores. Part 3, 'The most ancient faith', 'investigates the revival of Stonehenge as a spiritual centre (from c 1908 onward), and a place where meaning and access were highly contested' - good strong stuff which should be recommended reading for all megalithic monument managers. There is also a sub-text of the use of archaeology to help bolster national identity and to be projected as more 'scientific'. [...]there is the author's argument, really a polemic, in his conclusion ('Archaeology and social transformation') that the intellectual developments and structures of 1930s archaeology have caused us to be 'rooted in their assumptions', 'enmired in a fixation with material culture'; 'we need to get beyond the confines of a discipline defined for a different age'.