What lies beneath: Thinking about the qualities and essences of stone and wood in the chambered tomb architecture of Neolithic Britain and Ireland

Abstract

This article considers the interpretation of stone and wood in Neolithic chambered tomb architecture in Britain and Ireland. Against a broader theoretical agenda of both relational materialities and animistic ontologies, it is argued that the qualities and essences of stones dictated their choice and use in monuments. Essentially, it was the hidden natures of stones which gave them meaning, and as archaeologists we can explore this through understanding lithic sourcing, quarrying techniques and the movements of stones, as well as their final resting place within monuments. These ideas are explored through the life history of one monument, that of Blasthill in Kintyre. These ideas are then expanded out to include wood and provide a critique of the wood–stone dichotomy prevalent in current interpretations of Neolithic monumentality.