メーズハウと2つの環状遺構 : 先史オークニー諸島の巨石建造物
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概要
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There are many famous and important prehistoric sites in the Orkney Islands in the north of Scotland. But they are not known well except by archaeologists in Japan. So in this paper I will describe some Neolithic sites in those islands, for example, the settlements of Skara Brae and Knap of Howar, and the chambered tombs of Isbister and Quanterness. In particular in this paper, the great three monuments, the chambered tombs of Maes Howe, and the henge monuments of the Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar are described in detail, and the meaning of these great monuments being constructed is considered. I think that these three great monuments are the key to the cultural development in Orkney and it is possible to use it as one of the models in study of the birth of civilizations. As Colin Renfrew says in the forward of the book, "Tomb of the Eagles" by John W. Hedges, "These distinctive sites do not belong to the past of Orkney alone. They reflect, perhaps more clearly than anywhere else in Europe, the realities of a 'neolithic way of life". I consider Renfrew's and Hedges' ideas about prehistoric society in Orkney, such as the gradual centralization of prehistoric society and the chiefdom society. I think the building of the great three monuments means the completion of the centralization in Orkney. I also believe the prehistoric people in the Orkney islands had contact with not only Scotland but also Ireland especially, the Boyne district, and the south of Britain, while keeping and developing their own traditions, for example, the unique of the structures of their houses and the chambered tombs in Orkney. As one of the evidences of contact between Orkney, Ireland, and the south of Britain, we can see, for example, the direction of entrances of Newgrange and Maes Howe, both of which pointed towards the winter solstice, the former is directed towards the sunrise, the latter is directed towards the sunset, and the existence of Henge monuments in these area. We realize that these areas had a common cosmology or religious tradition throughout the Pacific coast of Western Europe in Neolithic times. As A. Ritchie suggested, one view of the world held by the inhabitants concerned duality, a very common feature of human cosmology. In addition to this, I think that they believed that the human sex act was connected with fertility, and that one of the main rites which they held in the chambered tombs and the circles, was one connected to it. Some of the prehistoric sites and artifacts in the Orkney Islands suggest that.