The Role of Sea Affordance and Monument Orientation in the Landscape Contexts of the Long Cairns of Scotland

Abstract

Many have argued that the landscape setting of prehistoric monuments played a significant role in shaping the experience of places and have thus sought to understand the relationships between monuments and their surrounding landscapes. One such claim is that sea views may have played a role in the placement of megalithic monuments, yet there has been a lack of substantial empirical data to support this. In adopting currently available GIS techniques and the concepts of ‘affordance’ and monument orientation, this thesis seeks to interrogate this interpretation using the long cairns of the coastal regions of Scotland, dating to the Neolithic. Several trends are found in the data that support this interpretation. Namely, the long cairns considered seem to be placed preferentially in their landscapes to afford sea views. In large numbers, these cairns are also found to be placed to reveal sea views to observers as they approach the sites from a seaward direction, creating potentially auspicious effects that arguably reference the sea. In addition, it is found that these monuments are often oriented in way that suggests a reference to the sea. There is some variability in these trends and in their prevalence in the different regions of Scotland investigated, which may be attributable to other factors also determining monument placement and to variability in the landscape types between those different regions. This investigation provides an illustration of how digital technology can be adapted to further explore and support insights gained through phenomenological narratives and examine the validity of the conclusions drawn in the field. Additionally, it is hoped that the predictive models created using this GIS-based analysis can, in turn, be tested and informed by future experiential-based field observations. This thesis thereby aims to contribute to ongoing discussions on the development of a hybrid approach that combines both phenomenological and GIS-based analysis, highlighting the dual potential of such an approach. Show more