Sites of Existential Relatedness: Findings from Phenomenological Research at Stonehenge, Avebury and the Vale of Pewsey, Wiltshire, UK

Temporal Frankensteins and Legacy Images

“…Consider our case study, the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Avebury, whose apparent timelessness provides a classic example of "a material memory cycle over which artifacts are altered, destroyed, buried and perhaps (re)discovered, and then preserved as objects bearing witness to the past, and then may be destroyed and 'forgotten' all over again" ([41], p. 191, original emphasis). In essence, it remains a site of "existential relatedness" [42]. Avebury is a later Neolithic complex that was first constructed between c. 3000 and 2350 BCE ( [43], pp.…”

“…Avebury is a later Neolithic complex that was first constructed between c. 3000 and 2350 BCE ( [43], pp. [42][43]. The henge earthworks and stone circle do not stand in isolation but developed in a Neolithic landscape with a long history dating back to the 4th millennium BCE ( [43], pp.…”

Forgotten Castle Landscapes: Connecting Monuments and Landscapes through Heritage and Research

“…They also regularly feature as the venue for festivals and historical re-enactments. It remains to be seen whether castles and their related landscapes contribute to the same sense of mental well-being in terms of existential relatedness as has been demonstrated for major prehistoric monuments (Nolan 2019), but certainly from the mid-eighteenth century the use or emulation of castle ruins as follies within a carefully designed landscape setting was connected with a sense of aesthetic pleasure, one that extended to 'authentic' ruins within their landscape setting as captured in the 'ruin paintings' of European Romantic art. However, whilst such paintings, today recast as dronecaptured aerial photographs, highlight the visual effectiveness of setting a castle within its landscape context, it is questionable whether castles-as heritage-are presented and experienced in this way.…”