A Radical Re-Thinking
Sage at Goddessing posts with a story from late last year that could turn a lot of assumptions in the modern pagan community on their heads. Two famous chalk hill figures of Britain have been proven to be a lot younger than originally thought.
The Long Man of Wilmington in Sussex
The Long Man of Wilmington originally thought to date back to the Anglo-Saxon, Iron-Age Celtic or Roman periods in history is now thought to be much, much younger.
“New dating evidence are consistent in indicating that the figure was created in the sixteenth or seventeenth century AD. The new dating suggests a context in that period of religious and social conflict around the reformation, civil war and restoration.”
Meanwile the equally famous Cerne Abbas Giant of Dorset once thought to have ancient origins is now thought to be made during the reign of Cromwell (1650’s).
Cerne Abbas Giant of Dorset
Those of us who read a lot of books aimed at the pagan market know that these figures were often used as major landmarks for modern pagans in England (and in America) looking for evidence of Britain’s pagan past. The Cerne Abbas has been equated with Celtic Gods while the Long Man was recently portrayed as an ancient gate-keeper by Neil Gaiman in his comic adaptation of A Midsummers Night’s Dream.
Lest one loses all hope of ancient chalk markings, The White Horse of Uffington is still dated to pre-historic times and was made in Britain’s pagan past.
“Chalk figures were therefore present in the prehistoric landscape, but the giants at Wilmington and Cerne Abbas, now take their place as monuments of the early post Medieval period. That date is more recent than many had expected but these huge, still enigmatic, figures are none-the-less testimony to a social and religious context very different to the one which we know.” – Professor Martin Bell
One can only hope to see some revisions in the speculative non-fiction writings of modern pagans, I also hope to see some real investigation into the social atmosphere of the these times that would prompt the creation of these faux-pagan chalk structures.
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