Digging for Britain – Cerne Abbas 1 of 2
Introduction
In a recent instalment of ‘Digging for Britain,’ Alice Roberts stirred the archaeological pot by asserting that the Dorset Chalk Giant (Cerne Abbas) had Saxon origins rather than the presumed prehistoric roots. The revelation added a layer of intrigue, especially for someone like me, deeply entrenched in Landscape Archaeology. At first glance, the giant’s features seemed to echo a Neolithic connection, reminiscent of the Uffingham White horse. Both figures boasted natural harbours in the hillside, suggesting potential prehistoric maritime use. (Digging for Britain – Cerne Abbas)
My curiosity piqued, I delved into the methods employed to date this iconic figure, and the findings left me with a myriad of questions. The program, available here
The program offers a seemingly clear-cut consensus on dating, yet a closer inspection reveals fundamental issues and crucial omissions that cast doubt on the conclusion. This predicament, in my view, extends beyond this specific case, exposing systemic problems in archaeology, particularly the uncritical acceptance of methodologies that underpin numerous historical assumptions.
The documentary’s primary technique involved excavating four small trenches and penetrating a metre into the topsoil to extract samples and dates. The assumption guiding this approach is that the area beneath the chalk line represents the original surface, thereby providing the latest date for the chalk figure. While the theory isn’t inherently problematic, the reliance on a mere four sampling points raises concerns about the comprehensiveness of the analysis.
![Digging for Britain - Cerne Abbas 1 of 2 2 carne abbas snails 2](https://prehistoric-britain.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/carne-abbas-snails-2-1024x398.png)
To fully embrace the method’s validity, one must consider the potential variations across the entire area beneath the chalk figure. Such limited sampling leaves room for overlooking nuances, potentially altering the dating narrative. Archaeology, like any scientific pursuit, thrives on meticulousness and exhaustive investigation, and the methodologies applied should withstand scrutiny.
![Digging for Britain - Cerne Abbas 1 of 2 3 (Digging for Britain - Cerne Abbas)](https://prehistoric-britain.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/carne-abbas-snails-1024x391.png)
Moreover, the documentary overlooks alternative interpretations and doesn’t address the potential impacts of environmental factors on the chalk giant’s preservation. As we dissect these findings, it becomes imperative to question the assumptions underpinning the entire process and recognize that our understanding of the past hinges on the robustness of archaeological methodologies. (Digging for Britain – Cerne Abbas)
To understand this point I need to refer to another post I wrote on Wanu Manu who also used OSL to date the site MPP was excavating:
Within the Essay, I reported that: “the OSL data was excluded from the report except for a small paragraph – supplementary data shows that of the 42 samples taken:
1 – sample were of 9th Millennium BCE
3 – samples were of the 8th Millennium BCE
8 – samples were of the 7th Millennium BCE
4 – samples were of the 6th Millennium BCE
10 – samples were of the 5th Millennium BCE
6 – samples were of the 4th Millennium BCE
11- samples after 4th Millenium BCE up to 17 AD.
The process employed in the dating of the Dorset Chalk Giant, as revealed in the ‘Digging for Britain’ episode, raises significant concerns about the reliability of the conclusions drawn. While the documentary presents a seemingly definitive dating range, a deeper analysis unveils critical issues that challenge the integrity of the dating methodology.
The reliance on only four samples from the site for Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating introduces a substantial margin of error. With potential variations across the expansive area beneath the chalk figure, such limited sampling could yield dates spanning a wide range, making the obtained data inconclusive. The documentary’s methodology, including the unconventional horizontal sampling process, appears antiquated and lacks the precision expected in 21st-century scientific practices.
![Digging for Britain - Cerne Abbas 1 of 2 4 (Digging for Britain - Cerne Abbas)](https://prehistoric-britain.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/carne-abbas-OSL-dating-1024x393.png)
Even if we were to accept the provided dates, a fundamental geological consideration emerges. The site’s location on a very steep hill exposes it to soil creep (0.1cm per annum – 1 metre over 1,000 years), wherein gravity, coupled with rainfall, gradually moves soil downhill. Over a millennium, this natural process could displace the snails and colluvium under the chalk figure by a significant distance. The experts seemingly overlooked this geological reality, casting doubt on the accuracy of the site’s dating.
![Digging for Britain - Cerne Abbas 1 of 2 5 (Digging for Britain - Cerne Abbas)](https://prehistoric-britain.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Some-influences-of-soil-creep-on-surface-topography.png)
Moreover, the chalk figure’s placement directly on topsoil challenges the notion of its not prehistoric in origin. Logically, a prehistoric figure would likely be carved into the exposed white chalk bedrock, minimising the need for maintenance. The historical record indicates later efforts by the church to clean the new figure, suggesting a subsequent covering with soil . This prompts the question: Did the church intentionally obscure the original prehistoric figure during Saxon times, creating a cruder replacement to mock the ancient Cro-Magnon ‘Giants’?
![Digging for Britain - Cerne Abbas 1 of 2 6 (Digging for Britain - Cerne Abbas)](https://prehistoric-britain.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/carne-abbas-dating-1024x449.png)
The presence of an original chalk figure at the entrance of a raised river with a natural harbour for boats, evident in Google Earth and LiDAR Maps, adds another layer of complexity. This context aligns with the theory that the church, perhaps in an act of cultural appropriation or mockery, covered the original prehistoric figure with soil and sculpted a new one.
This leads to a crucial query unaddressed by the program: Why is the figure situated on the corner of the hill range rather than atop the hill, and why is its full visibility only apparent from a considerable height? This observation challenges the proposed function of the figure as a ground-level marker, suggesting a more intricate history and purpose.
![Digging for Britain - Cerne Abbas 1 of 2 7 Digging for Britain - Cerne Abbas](https://prehistoric-britain.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/carne-abbas-3-1024x492.png)
We must approach archaeological conclusions with a discerning eye, recognising the intricate interplay of geological, historical, and cultural factors that shape our understanding of the past. The Dorset Chalk Giant, once perceived as a straightforward archaeological subject, now beckons for a more nuanced exploration of its complex history.
Part II will look at my LiDAR scans of this monument and uncover what was the figure on the hill in Prehistoric times and what he was holding, which gives us our first clue of what the site on top of the hill was doing 6,000 years ago.
Further Reading
For information about British Prehistory, visit www.prehistoric-britain.co.uk for the most extensive archaeology blogs and investigations collection, including modern LiDAR reports. This site also includes extracts and articles from the Robert John Langdon Trilogy about Britain in the Prehistoric period, including titles such as The Stonehenge Enigma, Dawn of the Lost Civilisation and the ultimate proof of Post Glacial Flooding and the landscape we see today.
Robert John Langdon has also created a YouTube web channel with over 100 investigations and video documentaries to support his classic trilogy (Prehistoric Britain). He has also released a collection of strange coincidences that he calls ‘13 Things that Don’t Make Sense in History’ and his recent discovery of a lost Stone Avenue at Avebury in Wiltshire called ‘Silbury Avenue – the Lost Stone Avenue’.
Langdon has also produced a series of ‘shorts’, which are extracts from his main body of books:
For active discussions on the findings of the TRILOGY and recent LiDAR investigations that are published on our WEBSITE, you can join our and leave a message or join the debate on our Facebook Group.
1
a
- Alexander the Great sailed into India – where no rivers exist today
- Ancient Prehistoric Canals – The Vallum
- Ancient Secrets of Althorp – debunked
- Antler Picks built Ancient Monuments – yet there is no real evidence
- Archaeological ‘pulp fiction’ – has archaeology turned from science?
- Archaeological Pseudoscience
- Archaeological pulp fiction – has archaeology turned from science?
- Archaeology in the Post-Truth Era
- Archaeology in the Post-Truth Era
- Are Raised Beaches Archaeological Pseudoscience?
- ATLANTIS: Discovery with Dan Snow Debunked
- Avebury Ditch – Avebury Phase 2
- Avebury Post-Glacial Flooding
- Avebury through time
- Avebury’s great mystery revealed
- Avebury’s Lost Stone Avenue – Flipbook
b
c
- Caerfai promontory fort – archaeological nonsense
- CASE STUDY – An Inconvenient TRUTH (Craig Rhos Y Felin)
- Case Study – River Avon
- Case Study – Woodhenge Reconstruction
- Chapter 2 – Craig Rhos-Y-Felin Debunked
- Chapter 2 – Stonehenge Phase I
- Chapter 2 – Variation of the Species
- Chapter 3 – Post Glacial Sea Levels
- Chapter 3 – Stonehenge Phase II
- Chapter 7 – Britain’s Post-Glacial Flooding
- Cissbury Ring through time
d
- Darwin’s Children – Flipbook
- Darwin’s Children – The Cro-Magnons
- Dawn of the Lost Civilisation – Flipbook
- Dawn of the Lost Civilisation – Introduction
- Digging for Britain – Cerne Abbas 1 of 2
- Digging for Britain Debunked – Cerne Abbas 2
- Digging Up Britain’s Past – Debunked
- DLC Chapter 1 – The Ascent of Man
- Durrington Walls – Woodhenge through time
- Dyke Construction – Hydrology 101
- Dykes Ditches and Earthworks
- DYKES of Britain
g
h
- Hadrian’s Wall – Military Way Hoax
- Hadrian’s Wall – the Stanegate Hoax
- Hadrian’s Wall LiDAR investigation
- Hayling Island Lidar Maps
- Historic River Avon
- Hollingsbury Camp Brighton
- Hollows, Sunken Lanes and Palaeochannels
- Homo Superior – Flipbook
- Homo Superior – History’s Giants
- How Lidar will change Archaeology
l
m
o
p
- Post Glacial Flooding – Flipbook
- Prehistoric Burial Practices of Britain
- Prehistoric Canals – The Vallum
- Prehistoric Canals – Wansdyke
- Prehistoric Canals – Wansdyke
- Prehistoric Canals (Dykes) – Antonine Wall
- Prehistoric Canals (Dykes) – Great Chesters Aqueduct (The Vallum Pt. 4)
- Prehistoric Canals (Dykes) – Hadrian’s Wall Vallum (pt 1)
- Prehistoric Canals (Dykes) – Maiden Way
- Prehistoric Canals (Dykes) – Offa’s Dyke (Chepstow)
- Prehistoric Canals (Dykes) – Offa’s Dyke (LiDAR Survey)
- Prehistoric Canals (Dykes) – Offa’s Dyke Survey (End of Section A)
- Prehistoric Canals (Dykes) – Roman Military Way
- Prehistoric Canals (Dykes) – Wansdyke (4)
- Prehistoric Canals Wansdyke 2
s
- Sea Level Changes
- Section A – NY26SW
- Section B – NY25NE & NY26SE
- Section C – NY35NW
- Section D – NY35NE
- Section E – NY46SW & NY45NW
- Section F – NY46SE & NY45NE
- Section G – NY56SW
- Section H – NY56NE & NY56SE
- Section I – NY66NW
- Section J – NY66NE
- Section K – NY76NW
- Section L – NY76NE
- Section M – NY87SW & NY86NW
- Section N – NY87SE
- Section O – NY97SW & NY96NW
- Section P – NY96NE
- Section Q – NZ06NW
- Section R – NZ06NE
- Section S – NZ16NW
- Section T – NZ16NE
- Section U – NZ26NW & NZ26SW
- Section V – NZ26NE & NZ26SE
- Silbury Avenue – Avebury’s First Stone Avenue
- Silbury Hill
- Silbury Hill / Sanctuary – Avebury Phase 3
- Six years ago archaeology made an astonishing discovery (Einkorn Wheat)
- Somerset Plain – Signs of Post-Glacial Flooding
- South Cadbury Castle – Camelot
- Stone me – the druids are looking the wrong way on Solstice day
- Stone Money – Credit System
- Stone Transportation and Dumb Censorship
- Stonehenge – Monument to the Dead
- Stonehenge Hoax – Dating the Monument
- Stonehenge Hoax – Round Monument?
- Stonehenge Hoax – Summer Solstice
- Stonehenge LiDAR tour
- Stonehenge Phase I (The Stonehenge Landscape)
- Stonehenge Solved – Pythagorean maths put to use four thousand years before he was born
- Stonehenge Stone Transportation
- Stonehenge Through Time
- Stonehenge, Doggerland and Atlantis connection
- Stonehenge: Discovery with Dan Snow Debunked
- Stonehenge’s Location -The Stonehenge Hoax
- Stonehenge’s The Lost Circle Revealed – DEBUNKED
t
- Ten thousand year old boats found on Northern Europe’s Hillsides
- Ten thousand-year-old boats found on Northern Europe’s Hillsides
- The Ancient Mariners – Flipbook
- The Ancient Mariners – Prehistoric seafarers of the Mesolithic
- The Bluestone Enigma
- The Dolmen and Long Barrow Connection
- The Durrington Walls Hoax – it’s not a henge?
- The First European Smelted Bronzes
- The Fury of the Past: Natural Disasters in Historical and Prehistoric Britain
- The Giant’s Graves of Cumbria
- The Giants of Prehistory: Cro-Magnon and the Ancient Monuments
- The Great Chichester Hoax – A Bridge too far?
- The Great Hadrian’s Wall Hoax
- The Great Iron Age Hill Fort Hoax
- The Great Offa’s Dyke Hoax
- The Great Prehistoric Migration Hoax
- The Great Stone Transportation Hoax
- The Great Stonehenge Hoax
- The Great Wansdyke Hoax
- The Henge and River Relationship
- The Logistical Impossibility of Defending Maiden Castle
- The Long Barrow Mystery
- The Long Barrow Mystery: Unraveling Ancient Connections
- The Lost Island of Avalon – revealed
- The Maths – LGM total ice volume
- The Old Sarum Hoax
- The Oldest Boat Yard in the World found in Wales
- The Post-Glacial Flooding Hypothesis – Flipbook
- The Post-Glacial Flooding Theory
- The Problem with Hadrian’s Vallum
- The Rise of the Cro-Magnon (Homo Superior)
- The Rivers of the Past were Higher – an idiot’s guide
- The Silbury Hill Lighthouse?
- The Stonehenge Avenue
- The Stonehenge Avenue
- The Stonehenge Code: Unveiling its 10,000-Year-Old Secret
- The Stonehenge Enigma – Flipbook
- The Stonehenge Enigma: What Lies Beneath? – Debunked
- The Stonehenge Hoax – Bluestone Quarry Site
- The Stonehenge Hoax – Flipbook
- The Stonehenge Hoax – Moving the Bluestones
- The Stonehenge Hoax – Periglacial Stripes
- The Stonehenge Hoax – Station Stones
- The Stonehenge Hoax – The Ditch
- The Stonehenge Hoax – The Slaughter Stone
- The Stonehenge Hoax – The Stonehenge Layer
- The Stonehenge Hoax – Totem Poles
- The Stonehenge Hoax – Woodhenge
- The Stonehenge Hospital
- The Troy, Hyperborea and Atlantis Connection
- The Vallum @ Hadrian’s Wall – it’s Prehistoric!
- The Woodhenge Hoax
- Three Dykes – Kidland Forest
- Top Ten misidentified Fire Beacons in British History
- Troy Debunked
- TSE – DVD Barrows
- TSE DVD – An Inconvenient Truth
- TSE DVD – Antler Picks
- TSE DVD – Avebury
- TSE DVD – Durrington Walls & Woodhenge
- TSE DVD – Dykes
- TSE DVD – Epilogue
- TSE DVD – Stonehenge Phase I
- TSE DVD – Stonehenge Phase II
- TSE DVD – The Post-Glacial Hypothesis
- TSE DVD Introduction
- TSE DVD Old Sarum
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