Ring cairns

As I explained in one of my previous posts, the development of Copper Age tumulus in the territory of Montenegro went through several stages during the first half of the 3rd millennium BC eventually producing something like this: free standing dolmen cist covered with curbed multilayered earth - stone tumulus. 

 

But this was not the only type of stone cist burials in Montenegro at that time. The above type of burial in massive stone cists under earth tumuluses was used in the valleys and fertile lowlands. In the mountainous regions of Montenegro a more typical seems to have been burial in massive stone cists placed in the centers of artificial stone hills (cairns) which were surrounded with stone rings (curbs). 

A typical example of this type of burial is a group of tumuluses, located on the Planinica (little mountain) hill in Tuzi area in south eastern Montenegro. The tumulus group is described in the article "Bronze-Age stone tumuli on Planinica Hill, obš. Tuzi, Montenegro" published by Urszula Bugaj, Predrag Lutovac, Miron Bogacki, Maciej Trzeciecki and Mario Novak.

The stone tumuluses from this groups have diameters ranging from 11–16 m and heights up to 2 m. All three tumuluses have the form of an embankment of medium-sized broken stones (curb, stone circle) filled with stone rubble. In the centers of tumuluses there is a stone cist consisting of four upright stone slabs and a horizontal top slab.  The whole construction resembles an artificial stone hill with the stone cist placed into the pit dug in the middle of stone hill, where in fact the stone cist was placed on the surface and the stones were piled up against it forming the artificial stone hill (cairn).

The Planinica tumulus group has its counterparts in the tumulus group located near the village of Rječani in Nikšić area in north-western Montenegro.

Even though the current state of research of the Montenegrian tumuluses is very poor, it can be stated, however, that this group of stone tumuluses belongs to a definite tradition of burying the dead, which developed in this part of the Balkan Peninsula from the late Copper Age, early Bronze Age. These tumuluses were used for a relatively long time, retaining the tradition of the location while the burial rite or the forms of graves were changing.

These are tumulus 1 and 2 from Planica hill:

And tumulus 3 from Rječani

What is interesting is that we find exactly the same type of burial in Britain, dated to the early to middle Bronze Age. These burials are known as curbed stone cairns, or ring cairns. They consist of a massive stone cist placed in a hole dug the middle of an artificial stone hill (cairn) surrounded with one or many stone circles (curbs). I will here give few examples of curbed stone cairns. There are many more strewn across Britain. 

This is one of two curbed stone cairns, or ring cairns at Temple Wood in the Kilmartin valley.

It was constructed over a stone cist in which cremated bones were found. The cairn was surrounded by a stone circle constructed out of 22 massive stone and is about 40 feet (twelve metres) in diameter. Three of these stones have been carved: one with a number of concentric circles; another with two spirals - one on each of two adjoining faces with the ends of the spirals meeting at the edge; and a third with cup-marks. Two cairns were built over cists outside the stone circle. Later a large cairn was built up which covered the inner cairn, the stone circle and the two outer cairns. Post holes from another stone circle were found just a little way from the main Temple Wood circle. You can find more great photographs of this cairn on this page of the Ancient Scotland site. The dating of this complex is uncertain. Originally it was thought that the site was built around 4000 BC, but it is now believed that it is more likely that the site was built in the early Bronze Age.

It is thought that the southern circle was erected after the northern circle The line connecting the centre of the circles forms an axis running NE-SW, and coincides with the alignment of the southern circle's three burial cists.

From the northern circle, the midwinter sun would have set in line with the southern circle. The concentric circles on stone 12 and the double spirals on stone 10 could be symbolizing this event. You can find more details about this bronze age complex on this page from the Antiquity site.

This is Carn Llechart, one of the largest curbed stone cairns, or ring cairns in Wales.

The stone circle (curb) is 12m in diameter, consisting of 25 outwards-facing stones, and the central cist has its east side stone and capstone missing. It seems that there is no entry to the circle and no trace of a covering mound.The cairn appears vividly against the skyline when it is approached along the track-way from the North.

Aubrey Burl in his "The Stone Circles of British Isles" wrote that such rings were thought to be the first stage of development of stone circles, but that these cairns, however, are almost certainly too late to provide such an ancestry. The reverse seems likely, that the existence of stone circles elsewhere impelled people to place tall stones around the bases of their own round cairns, a fusion of traditions resulting in monuments like spiky coronets. You can see more photos of this site on this page from the Ancient Wisdom site and this page from the Modern Antiquarian site.

This is a Bronze Age cairn at Llanelwedd near Builth Wells in Wales dated to 2600 - 1600 BC. 

You can see that cist cairn has a form of an embankment of medium-sized broken stones (curb, stone circle) filled with stone rubble with the stone cist placed in the middle.

You can find a lot of information about the Llanelwedd circle cist on this great page from the CPAT site.

This is Turf Knowe, a bronze age cist cairn, located near Ingram, Northumberland, Great Britain. Originally thought to be a field clearance cairn, excavation over the years 1994-97 revealed a central stone cist (coffin) which contained a burial with a jet bead necklace and a well-preserved, upturned food vessel. A second cist contained several cremations but no pots. Other cremations, some with pots, had been inserted into the cairn structure, including an infant who had apparently died from meningitis over 4000 years ago.

What is interesting is that the only site that I could find in Ireland that vaguely looks like curbed stone cairn is the Poulawack Cairn which is located in Burren, Western Ireland. 

Poulawack Cairn has been dated variously by several observers to be between 3000 and 1900 B.C.. Before excavation, this round cairn measured 20.75m N/S and 21.25m E/W. Under it were found two concentric kerbs or revetments. 10 graves were found within the revetments containing remains of 16 people. Very few of the remains showed signs of cremation, indicating Bronze Age origin, a period when unburnt burials were quite common. The cairn material which had consisted in the main of limestone slabs had been carefully laid and it was evident in a change in orientation in the stones that a considerable part of the upper levels of the cairn had been disturbed in the course of a secondary insertion of a number of cist graves. 

You can find more info and pictures of the Poulawack Cairn on this page of the Ancient Ireland site and this page of the Saints and stones site. If anyone has any info about any other ring cairn from Ireland please let me know so that I can add the information about it to this post.

So it seems that here we have another example of a cultural development which first appeared in the Balkans Montenegro during the late Copper Age, early Bronze Age and which was then brought to the British Isles during the early Bronze Age. Is this another sign of a migration from Montenegro to Britain during the mid 3rd millennium BC? I think it is. What do you think?

Linkardstown cists

In my post about the development of Late copper age Montenegrian tumuluses I asked the question: Was there an immigration from Ireland to Montenegro at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC? And is it possible that the cultural process of "raising" of burial cists from the ground, which happened in Montenegrian tumuluses in the first half of the 3rd millennium BC was influenced by these Irish immigrants? 

And here is the reason why I asked this question: Linkardstown cists. 

Linkardstown cists are so named after first excavated example at Linkardstown in Co. Carlow. The book "Early Ireland: An Introduction to Irish Prehistory" By Michael J. O'Kelly, Claire O'Kelly describe Linkardstown Cists like this:

They are built from large slabs or boulders which were arranged on the ground surface, generally in polygonal plan. The original Linkardstown Cists from county Carlow measured 2m X 2.3m at the ground level, but much smaller examples are known, some of them less than a meter in length and width. The side slabs were slanted inwards so that the dimensions at the top were less than at the ground level . All spaces between the side slabs were usually infilled with smaller pieces of stone and other slabs were placed against the outside. A capstone or capstones closed the top.

A small cairn surrounded the structure and then the whole cairn was covered with the circular mound of sods or earth bounded by a stone kerb. The mounds vary in diameter from about 35m to 20m. 

The normal burial consisted of one or two male bodies, sometimes flexed or crouched.

The above two pictures are taken from the "Irish Decorated Neolithic Pottery" by M. Herity. The reason why this book talks about the Linkardstown cists is because some, but not all Linkardstown cists contain round bottomed, highly decorated pots. The pots are shouldered and the ornament consists of channeled grooves, executed with a blunt point in geometric panel, a series of oblique strokes being frequently employed.

This is an example of one of these decorated pots. This one is from the tumulus located at Ballintruer More, Co Wicklow

In "An archaeological reconsideration of solar mythology" by Karlene Jones-Bley we read that "the common elements of these vessels are rayed or starred motifs in combination with a cruciform pattern all found on the base of the vessels...".  In same Linkardstown cists, a plain round bottomed shouldered bowl is found with the decorated pots.

This is the list of all the Linkardstown cist burials i could find:

Ballintruer More, Co Wicklow
Clogher Lower (Co. Roscommon)
Ballinagore (Co. Wicklow)
Knockast, Co. Westmeath

Ardcroney, Co Tipperary

Ashley Park, Co Tipperary
Baunogenasraid, Co. Kilkenny
Knockmaree, Co. Dublin

Jerpoint west,  Co. Kilkenny

Drimnagh, Co. Dublin

They are mostly found in Eastern and Central part of Ireland. 

So what is the big deal about Linkardstown Cist burials? Well they are almost exact copies of the Montenegrian late copper age, early bronze age tumuluses.

Both Linkardstown Cist burials and Montenegrian tumuluses have:

1. Central stone dolmen cist poligonal (Linkardstown Cist) or rectangular (Montenegrian tumuluses) which was built on the surface of the ground.
2. Cists narrow towards the top and are covered by a massive capstone or stones.
3. Cists were cobbled, had a floor made of stone and sand.
4. Cists were sealed. Space between the stones in filled with smaller stones (Linkardstown Cists) and clay (Montenegrian tumuluses)
5. Each cist contained single burial
6. Central stone dolmen cist was covered by multilayered tumulus with multiple stone curbs
7. Funerary offerings contained decorated and undecorated food ware.

Why no one made any link between the Linkardstown Cist burials and Montenegrian tumuluses before now? 

Well firstly, as I said in my posts about Montenegrian tumuluses, they were discovered very recently and there is very little published data about them outside Montenegro. Secondly the Montenegrian tumuluses were originally dated to 2nd millennium BC and the Linkardstown Cist burials were originally dated to 4th millennium BC. So this is very big time difference and any similarity across such time frame is ususally attributed to chance.

But recently both Linkardstown Cist burials and Montenegrian tumuluses did some serious time travel which brought them much much closer together on a timeline. Montenegrian tumuluses were dated to the period between 3000 BC and 2400 BC. The Linkardstown Cist burials were recently dated and the results were published in the article entitled "Radiocarbon Dates for Neolithic Single Burials" published by A. L. Brindley and J. N. Lanting. The C14 dates fall to the period between 4800 - 4200 BP.  BP means "before present" but really it means "before 1950". Why 1950? Because the "present" time changes, standard practice is to use 1 January 1950 as commencement date of the age scale, reflecting the fact that radiocarbon dating became practicable in the 1950s. The abbreviation "BP", with the same meaning, has also been interpreted as "Before Physics"; that is, before nuclear weapons testing artificially altered the proportion of the carbon isotopes in the atmosphere, making dating after that time likely to be unreliable. And the reason why additional radioactivity produced by humans affects radiocarbon dating so much is because radiocarbon dating is based on measuring of the amount of radioactive carbon (C14, radiocarbon) in organic matter. 

The radiocarbon dating method is based on the fact that radiocarbon (C14) is constantly being created in the atmosphere by the interaction of cosmic rays with atmospheric nitrogen. The resulting radiocarbon combines with atmospheric oxygen to form radioactive carbon dioxide, which is incorporated into plants by photosynthesis; animals then acquire C14 by eating the plants. When the animal or plant dies, it stops exchanging carbon with its environment, and from that point onwards the amount of C14 it contains begins to decrease as the C14 undergoes radioactive decay and gets converted into a stable C12 carbon isotope. Measuring the amount of C14 relative to C12 in a sample from a dead plant or animal such as piece of wood or a fragment of bone provides information that can be used to calculate when the animal or plant died. The older a sample is, the less C14 there is to be detected.

Originally it was thought that the amount of C14 absorbed by plants every year was the same resulting in the constant C14/C12 ratio. But people soon started to wonder if this was really the case or was it possible that the amount of C14 in the atmosphere varied through time. 

Over time, discrepancies began to appear between the known chronology for the oldest Egyptian dynasties and the radiocarbon dates of Egyptian artefacts. Neither the pre-existing Egyptian chronology nor the new radiocarbon dating method could be assumed to be accurate, but a third possibility was that the C14/C12 ratio had changed over time. The question was resolved by the study of tree rings: comparison of overlapping series of tree rings allowed the construction of a continuous sequence of tree-ring data that spanned 13,900 years. In the 1960s, Hans Suess was able to use the tree-ring sequence to show that the dates derived from radiocarbon were consistent with the dates assigned by Egyptologists. This was possible because although annual plants, such as corn, have a C14/C12 ratio that reflects the atmospheric ratio at the time they were growing, trees only add material to their outermost tree ring in any given year, while the inner tree rings don't get their C14 replenished and instead start losing C14 through decay. Hence each ring preserves a record of the atmospheric C14/C12 ratio of the year it grew in. Carbon-dating the wood from the tree rings themselves provides the check needed on the atmospheric C14/C12 ratio. Carbon-dating of the tree rings made it possible to construct curves designed to correct the errors caused by the variation over time in the C14/C12 ratio. This correction process is called radiocarbon date calibration. 

So... Now that we know how the radiocarbon dating works, let's get back to the Linkardstown Cist burials. The radiocarbon dates obtained from the bones deposed in these burials fall into the period 4800 - 4200 BP. If we assume that the C14/C12 ratio was constant during last 5000 years, then these two dates translate into 2800 - 2200 BC. But if we take into account the variability of the C14/C12 ratio and use the calibration curve to correct the variation error, we end up with calibrated dates 3400 - 2800 BC. 

And this is where things get fuzzy. And the reason is that the radiocarbon date calibration is based on one very big assumption: that the C14/C12 ratio obtained from a tree ring in Germany dated to 3000 BP is the same for instance in Ireland at the same time and across the whole northern hemisphere...And this does not have to be the case. We have basically replaced the assumption that the C14/C12 ratio is constant in time with the assumption that the C14/C12 ratio is constant in space. And what is more, the initial calibration of the radiocarbon date calibration curve was done by comparing the radiocarbon dates with archaeological dates, which were obtained using again assumptive methods which could also be imprecise. Basically the measurement of of the imprecision of the radiocarbon dating was done by a measure which was itself more or less guessed and therefore imprecise...

This is actually recognized problem. We have to correct the measured date using calibration, but we know that both the measuring process and the calibration process have huge margin of error. And this is why we often see things like: "this object was dated to the period 3500 - 3200 BC..."

So....Where were we? Ah, the Linkardstown Cist burials and their relationship with the Montenegrian tumuluses. If we use calibrated dates then the Linkardstown Cist burials directly predate the Montenegrian tumuluses. But if we use plain dates then the Linkardstown Cist burials completely overlap with the Montenegrian tumuluses. I believe that the truth is somewhere in the middle. I believe that the Linkardstown Cist burials are probably slightly later than the calibrated dates and that they partially overlap with the Montenegrian tumuluses. But even if we stick with the calibrated dates of the Linkardstown Cist burials, we still have a very interesting situation indeed. We have two almost identical burial structures being built first in Ireland and then in Montenegro either during immediate succeeding periods or during partially overlapping periods. 

Now we could say that that was a coincidence and that Ireland and Montenegro are too far apart geographically to have been able to influence each other culturally in the 3rd millennium BC. Well we could say that, if it wasn't for the fact that we know that there was a migration from Montenegro via Sicily and Iberia to Ireland during the first half of the 3rd millennium BC. A migration which brought metallurgy, oxen, cist burials, golden cross discs and today's Irish male population main Y haplogroup R1b genes. Irish Annals preserved the record of this migration under Partholon, and now we have archaeological and genetic data to prove that these records are true histories. 

But was this cultural influence bidirectional? 

The Linkardstown Cist burials were built in Ireland just before and during the initial phase of the "raising" of the cists from the ground in Montenegrian tumuluses. Is it possible that who ever built Linkardstown Cist burials in Ireland at the end of the 4th millennium and the beginning of the 3rd millennium somehow ended up in Montenegro at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC, bringing with them the tradition of burying their dead in Linkardstown Cist burials? And is it possible that they, after mixing with Yamna people, influenced the process of "raising" of the stone cists in Montenegrian tumuluses above ground, eventually producing rectangular copies of the Linkardstown Cist burials? 

Well it is possible actually. The builders of the Linkardstown Cist burials could have arrived from Ireland to Montenegro following the maritime trading route along the Eastern Atlantic and Northern Mediterranean coast. The same route that Partholon followed during his migration from Montenegro to Ireland 500 years later. 

Interesting, very interesting. What do you think of all this?

Anyway, while you are pondering this, here is some data on so far excavated Linkardstown Cist burials. I hope you will find it interesting. Also if you have any additional data about Linkardstown Cist burials or any similar burials from that period pleas let me know.   

Ardcroney Linkardstown Cist burial (from Modern Antiquarian)

A massive central cist of sub-megalithic proportions was uncovered at the centre of a denuded cairn which originally measured about 33mn. in diameter of which about 20m. remains. About 2.5in. of the cairn height survives, The cist was polygonal in plan and consisted of a single large stone inclining at about 60 degrees at each side and of two vertical boulders at each end. The floor was paved with small irregularly-shaped flat stones and measured 1.75in. by 1.4in. The cist was 69cm. high (internally) and 1.48m. by 93cm. at the mouth. It was covered by a large single capstone, 1.9m. long by 1.73m. wide by 51cm. in max. thickness.

Two disarticulated and unburnt skeletons identified by Prof. CA. Erskine as being of men of 17 and 45 years – lay on tile paved floor, one on either side of a shouldered, round-bottomed, highly decorated shallow bowl of late Neolithic date, the bones had been disturbed before investigation. The bowl was covered with channelled decoration comprised of pendant triangles of horizontal lines and dots as well as circumferential lines around the rim and shoulder, the ornament on the base being arranged on a quadripartite system.

The cist and cairn fit into the Linkardstown group while the bowl and mode of burial make this the most western example, so far, of the ‘South Leinster” Single Burial tradition of the late Neolithic. A full excavation of the structure will explore the nature of the cairn, the existence of kerbs, and the relationship of cairn, and a now removed earthen ring, to the cist.

You can find more pictures of the Adcroney site on this page on the Modern Antiquarian website.

Ashleypark Linkardstown Cist burial (from Modern Antiquarian)

Situated on the NW shoulder of an E-W ridge in farmland. A megalithic structure is exposed in a round mound which in turn is encircled by two low wide banks with internal ditches giving an overall diameter of 90m. The structure was uncovered during bulldozing operations in 1980 after which the site was excavated (Manning, 1985a). The mound, 26m in diameter, consists of a cairn core, 18 to 20m in diameter, overlain by a covering of clay, The megalithic structure stands eccentrically within the cairn. It is trapezoidal in plan, some 5m long and narrows from 2.3m wide at the SE or inner end to 1.3m at the open NW end. It was built around a limestone erratic which has a sloping upper surface and serves as a floorstone. Two stones form the inner end of the structure. There is a stone at right angles to the SW side of the structure 1.2m from the inner end. This, in combination with a rough wall divides it in two. That part of it forward of the dividing wall was filled with cairn stones among which animal bones and the bones of a child less than a year old were found. The inner end of the structure, roofed by a skeletal remains of an adult male and a child were found here along with a variety of animal bones, a bone point, some chert flakes and Neolithic pottery, including sherds bearing channelled decoration. 

You can find more pictures of the site on this page on the Modern Antiquarian website and on this page from Secret Ireland.

Baunogenasraid Linkardstown cist burial (From Irish Stones)

 

The burial was discovered in the Autumn 1972 during the excavations of a tumulus. The first stage of the excavation led to the discovery of ten human burials, five cremations and five inhumations, along with a single flint flake and a food vessel that helped archaeologists dating the remains to the Early Bronze Age.
The second stage of the excavation discovered a cist placed at the centre of a large cairn. Inside the cist the disarticulated, unburnt remains of a male adult described "of exceptional size" were found along with a finely decorated bowl of Linkardstown type, that is a bowl with a T-rim around, and a small perforated object of lignite.

You can find more pictures of this site on this page of the Irish Stones site.

Knockmaree Linkardstown cist burial (From fountain resource group)

The stones we see today at Knockmaree are what are left of the original tomb, the earthen mound long since gone.

The site at Knockmaree was first discovered in 1838, during landscaping works. It was brought to the attention of the Royal Irish Academy (RIA; the academy for the sciences and humanities, including antiquaries), by a Mr. T. Drummond . When members of the RIA first visited the site, it looked distinctly different from today. They saw a large mound, surrounded by a few smaller ones. Upon excavating the mound and examining its contents, they found the tomb itself and a number of pottery vessels. The description below is the original description of the tomb, by George Petrie: “The tomb consisted of a table, or covering stone, 6feet 6inches in length, from 3 feet 6 inches to 3 feet in breadth and 14 inches in thickness. This stone rested on five supporting stones, varying from 2 feet 6 inches to 1 foot 3 inches in breadth and about 2 feet in height…and there were 5 other stones, not used for supports, but as forming the enclosure of the tomb…” 

What is interesting is that the pottery vessels mentioned above were identified as funerary urns from the Bronze Age period and date to approximately 2500 BC. You can see why I am not sure that the calibrated dating of the Linkardstown Cist burials is correct.

Two adult male skeletons, the skeleton of a dog and a large number of seashells, were all recovered from within the tomb. The shells were all local, from the Dublin coastline, and formed two necklaces, one of which can be seen on the next picture. It was found within the tomb, under the skulls of the male skeletons. From Treasures of the National Museum of Ireland Irish Antiquities, 2002, page 73.

This is the original drawing of the tomb from the Royal Irish Academy’s Report. From Petrie, 1838. Page 188.

You can find more pictures of this site on this page of the Irish Stones site and this page of the Fountain resource group.

Ballintruer More Linkardstown cist burial (from A Neolithic Burial Mound at Ballintruer More, Co. Wicklow)

The destruction by bulldozer of a circular mound with kerb revealed a polygonal cist with a floor of fine sand and which contained some disarticulated and apparently broken bones representing part of the skeleton of an adult male. An empty pottery vessel had been placed in the centre of the grave immediately to the west of the bones.

This pot, like a number of vessels from other burials of this type, is a fine Bipartite Bowl. The cist was in the middle of a circular mound 24m in diameter and slightly less than 2m high in the middle above the level of the surrounding land. The cist had seven sides. Each of the side stones had at least one further stone outside it and in three cases there were two additonal supporting stones. All sloped inwards at a steep angle from the bottom to the top, making the bottom at 80cm being much wider than the top at 30cm. The slabs forming the sides were regular, as if specifically selected and shaped for this purpose and varied in thickness from 2 to 8 cm. They averaged 95 cm in length and of this 30 cm was inserted into sub soil, which was a buff coloured clay. The stone cist was packed on all sides with with stones averaging 20cm in width. Finally, it was closed by two thing lower capstones over which lay two much heavier ones. The cist with its external stone packing was covered by a circular mound now of gray clay, held in position by a kerb of large stones. You can find more details on this cist tumulus in these two articles:

You can find more information about this burial in "A Neolithic Burial Mound at Ballintruer More, Co. Wicklow" by Joseph Raftery

Jerpoint west Linkardstown cist burial (from The Excavation of a Neolithic Burial Mound at Jerpoint West, Co. Kilkenny)

This site, which was not marked on the 0.S. maps of the area, was discovered in 1972 when the landowner decided to tip the mound into a adjacent quarry in order to minimise the danger to his livestock. A mechanical excavator was employed for this purpose and roughly two thirds of the area of the site was severely damaged when a large polygonal cist was uncovered. The cist was polygonal in form the sidestones being doubled in some cases. Three, (perhaps four), capstones covered the burial. he floor of the cist was roughly cobbled. It contained a burned and an unburned burial, fragments of plain and decorated Neolithic vessels and a bone pin.

The cist was bedded into the old ground surface. It was placed approximately centrally in a mound of complex construction. A core of boulders piled against the cist. A deposit of flat fairly regular stones each pitched upwards in the direction of the cist. A mantle of soil mixed with a high proportion of sod, in which, at intervals, occurred thin layers of flat stones carefully laid. The soil mound was delimited by three concentric arcs of fairly regular stone laminae resting on the old ground level, between these occurred a series of radially set stones. The site was disturbed on the north and south by modern field boundaries. 

You can find more information about this burial in "The Excavation of a Neolithic Burial Mound at Jerpoint West, Co. Kilkenny" by M. FitzG. Ryan .

I hope you enjoyed this article. Until the next time, keep smiling, stay happy and healthy..

Klas

An ear is the grain-bearing tip part of the stem of a cereal plant, such as wheat or maize. 

If you look at the wheat plant, you can see that ear looks like a head standing on a long neck (stem). 

This is the part of the cereal plant which is collected during harvest. Harvesting cereal literally means cutting off the long necks of the wheat plants and collecting the heads of the wheat plants, the ears. 

The wheat is basically "slaughtered". 

In the past this was done by hand using sickle, and the wheat plant necks (stems) were cut quite close to the wheat head (ear). This was done to make the transport and storage of the ears of wheat easier. You can see what I mean from the next few pictures which depict grain harvest during medieval time.

Basically, the harvesting of the grain was in the past done in the same way people or animals were slaughtered: you pick the head (ears of wheat) and you slice across the neck (stalks of wheat). 

There is even a Cornish ritual of "cutting the neck of the grain spirit"...

Guldize. Guldize is Cornish language for "The feast of ricks" (i.e. grain stacks). The festival itself was held at the end of the wheat harvest and took the form of a vast feast. 

The festival started with the ceremony called "Crying The Neck".

In "The Story of Cornwall", by Kenneth Hamilton Jenkin, the ceremony is described like this:

"In those days the whole of the reaping had to be done either with the hook or scythe. The harvest, in consequence, often lasted for many weeks. When the time came to cut the last handful of standing corn, one of the reapers would lift up the bunch high above his head and call out in a loud voice.....,

"I 'ave 'un! I 'ave 'un! I 'ave 'un!"

The rest would then shout,

"What 'ave 'ee? What 'ave 'ee? What 'ave 'ee?"

and the reply would be:

"A neck! A neck! A neck!"

Everyone then joined in shouting:

"Hurrah! Hurrah for the neck! Hurrah for Mr. So-and-So" (calling the farmer by name.)"

This shows clearly that harvesting of the corn was seen as cutting of the neck of the corn plant to collect the corn heads making the corn head that which is obtained by slaughter...

The cutting of the last handful of standing corn was also symbolically seen as cutting of the head of the corn spirit. Our ancestors believed that the spirit resided in this last cut head of grain...

And this is why after the ceremony of Crying The Neck, the neck was used to make a corn effigy which was then believed to contain, preserve, the corn spirit.

In Cornwall this corn effigy, presided over the Guldize feast which later took place in the farmhouse kitchen...

Development of Montenegrian tumuluses

The development of Copper Age tumulus in the territory of Montenegro went through several stages.

The initial phase is represented by the central pit grave within the first mound of the Gruda Boljevića tumulus. This initial burial was dated to the beginning of the third millennium BC. Culturally it belongs to the southwestern branch of the Yamnaya culture, characterized by pit grave burials.

The next phase in the Copper Age tumulus development are represented by Velika Gruda and Mala Gruda tumuluses, which was dated to the period between the 3000 and 2800 BC. Mala and Velika Gruda tumuluses also have central pit burial. But this time the body was not placed directly into the pit. First a shallow grave pit was dug into the earth to the depth of half a meter. Then a stone cist was built inside the pit. First the bottom of the grave pit was covered with a stone plate and then the vertical stone plates were placed on top of it to form the dolmen cist. The body was placed inside the stone cist and then the cover stone plate was placed on top of it. The stone dolmen cist which was sticking out of the pit was then covered with a tumulus pile.

 

The final phase in the Copper Age tumulus development is represented by the Mogila na Rake and Bjelopavlići tumuluses. These two tumuluses were dated to the period between 2700 and 2400 BC. These two tumuluses also have a central burial withing a stone cist. But this time this stone cist is free standing on the surface of the earth. There is no trace of a burial pit any more. I don't have detailed description of the Bjelopavlići tumulus but I do for the Mogila na Rake tumulus. The stone cist was built on a base which was round in shape, and made of medium and small pieces of limestone (0.5 to 0.20 m) mixed with red-brown earth. The cist was built on this layer using local stones. The sides were  constructed from massive trapezoidal shape stone plates (1.40 × 1.00 m, about 20 cm thick), which were bonded with yellow waterproof clay.  The body was placed inside the cist, and the cist was then covered with two massive rectangle shaped plates (1m x 1.20m and 1.80 × 1 m; 20 cm thick). After the cist was covered the dolmen cist was then covered with a tumulus pile.

 

The Late Copper age Montenegrian tumuluses have several common elements:

1. a central position of the burial within a large multi layered tumulus with stone curb
2. a cross in circle symbol inscribed either on a golden disc which topped the axe shaft hole or on ceramic vesel, which was interpreted as thurible and which was part of a special funerary ceramic set.
3. placing of food vessels inside the burial

These common elements show clear cultural continuity.

But at the same time the actual burial underwent a significant change:

1. a burial inside a pit with or without a cist dug into the ground
2. a burial inside a cist sticking out of a pit which was dug into the ground
3. a burial inside a free standing cist built on the surface of the ground.

This shows clear cultural development.

So by 2500 BC in Montenegro we find massive stone burial dolmen like cists which were placed on the surface of the ground and then covered by multi layered earth tumuluses with stone curbs.

In my previous posts about Montenegrian tumuluses, I already discussed the possibility that the Irish Annals contain records describing the arrival in the mid 3rd millennium BC, of the first metallurgists to Ireland from Montenegro. The finding of golden cross discs in both Montenegro (early 3rd millennium BC) and then in Ireland (late 3rd millennium BC), and the latest genetic data (which I will discuss in one of my future posts) seem to confirm this. 

So there is definite observable cultural influence brought to Ireland by immigrants from Montenegro in the mid 3rd millennium BC. 

But was there, at the beginning of the 3rd millennium, a previous cultural influence brought to Montenegro by people who emigrated from Ireland? 

Is it possible that the cultural process of "raising" of burial cists from the ground, which happened in Montenegro in the first half of the 3rd millennium BC was influenced by these Irish immigrants? Or did the Montenegrian immigrants arrive to Ireland in several waves, the first wave arriving before 2800 BC and the second wave arriving around 2500 BC?

I will talk more about this in my next post. 

Riddle

Srbska zagonetka: Pitanje: Visok otac, široka majka Odgovor: nebo i zemlja Serbian riddle: Question: Tall (high) father, wide mother Answer: sky and earth The ancient belief in Father Sky and Mother Earth, preserved in Serbian tradition. Father Sky and Mother Earth are at the core of the old European belief system. In Serbian tradition the Father Sky and Mother Earth are known as: Father Sky: Dajbog - giving god Djed - grandfather, male ancestor Mother Earth: Dajbaba - giving goddess Baba - grandmother, female ancestor The Father Sky was seen as three headed (Triglav, Troglav) or three faced, triple (Trojan) Sun god. He consisted of Jarilo (sun as a young man), Vid (sun as an adult, husband), Perun (sun as an old man, grandfather). 
The Mother Earth was seen as three headed (Triglava, Troglava) or three faced, triple (Trojana) earth goddess. She consisted of Vesna (earth as young girl), Mokoš (earth as an adult woman, wife), Morana (earth as an old woman, witch).

It is the dynamic interplay between the Sky and the Earth, the intercourse between the Father Sky and Mother Earth, which creates all life.

Babje leto - Grandmother's summer

Indian summer is a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather that sometimes occurs in autumn, from mid September to late November, in the Northern Hemisphere. This warm period in autumn has many different names in Europe but they all seem to fall into these main categories:

Poor people's summer, Gipsy summer

Bulgaria: "Циганско лято" - gypsy summer
Makedonija: "Циганско лето" - gypsy summer
Sweden: "Fattigmanssommar" - Poor man's summer

It is believed that these names are derived from the fact that the good weather at the end of autumn allows poor people to collect whatever is left of the cultivated and forest crops and so survive the winter.

Summer of of one of the autumn saints

Serbia: St Miholj's summer (Officially after Prepodobni Kirijak Otšelnik better known as Sveti Miholj (29th of September), but really Saint Michael's day celebrated in Catholic church as Michelemas and which is celebrated on the 29th - 30th of September)
Spain: Veranillo de San Miguel - Saint Michael's small summer, Veranillo de San Martín - Saint Martin's small summer, Veranillo - small summer
Sweden: Brittsommar - Saint Birgitta's summer
Finland: Pärttylin pikkukesä - Saint Pärttyli's (Bartholomew's) little summer
Italy: l’estate di San Martino - Saint Martin's summer
England: Saint Luke's little summer, Saint Martin's summer
Holand: "Sint-Michiels zomer" - Saint Michael's summer
Catalonia: "Estiuet de Sant Martí" - St. Martin's lil' summer
Portugal: "Verão de São Martinho" - St. Martin's summer

The indian summer period fall between these two dates:
autumn equinox (21 of September, mid point of the climatic autumn) converted to the St Michael's day celebrated on the 29th of September.
5th of November (the mid point between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice, the beginning of the climatic winter) converted to St Martin's day celebrated on the 11th of Novemeber.

Basically this is the second part of the climatic autumn, when the weather is supposed to deteriorate. So good warm weather at this time is "unseasonable". If the warm period is closer to the beginning of this period then it is called "The summer of St Michael" and if it falls closer to the end of this period it is called "The summer of St Martin".

Various

Sweden: "Grävlingssommar" - Badger summer
Finland: "akkain kesä" - summer of hags
Brittany: An hanv c'hraden - the summer of ferns, bracken
Latvia: "atvasara" - resummer, summer again
Holand: "Nazomer" - late summer, after summer

These names are either linked to a particular animal or plant whose behavior is influenced by this warm spell or it just means late summer, or another summer

Old woman's summer, Grandmother's summer

Many Slavic countries, for example, in Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia, Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Poland, Czech republic...some variation of "Babje leto" meaning grandmother's summer.
German speaking countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland): "Altweibersommer" meaning old women's, grandmother's summer
Holand: "oudewijvenzomer" - meaning old women's, grandmother's summer
Hungary: "vénasszonyok nyara" meaning old woman's summer.
Lithuania: "bobų vasara" - Grandmother's summer

This particular name for the indian summer is what I would like to talk about in this article. 

There are several theories about the origin of the name "Babje leto" (Grandmother's summer).

One theory says that the name comes from the meaning "second youth in women". The "second youth" is contemptuously viewed as short-lived and ill-timed. If this was the origin of the name, then "Babje leto" (Grandmother's summer) would also have been seen as something bad and out of place. But that is not the case. "Babje leto" (Grandmother's summer) is seen as something good, as a precious gift. And the name "Babje leto"  (Grandmother's summer) tells us clearly who the people believed this gift of the good weather was from: Baba, the great goddess. In Slavic tradition apart from being mother Earth, Baba also controlled the waters, the cold and ruled the winter. She was the complementing opposite to the Father Sky, who controlled the sun, the heat and ruled the summer. So it is quite possible that the expression "Babje leto"  (Grandmother's summer)  was originally Slavic in origin and comes from the Slavic belief system. It then spread into the countries, which once had large Slavic population, and were strongly influenced by the Slavic culture, such as  Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Lithuania, Hungary, Finland.

Another proposed reason why the late summer is called "babje leto" (Grandmother's summer) is that this is the time of the year when young males of a certain type of spiders, Linyphiidae, produce long strands of spiderweb on which they then fly through the air.

In English this flying spider web is known as gossamer. The English Etymological Dictionary says that this word was first recorded around 1300 AD, meaning "filmy substance (actually spider threads) found in fields of stubble in late fall". It is not known where does this word come from. One theory says that it comes from gos "goose" + sumer "summer" and that the word probably comes from an original sense of "late fall; Indian summer" because geese are in season then. However it is much more likely that the word comes from go + summer = going away, end of summer. Compare obsolete Scottish go-summer "period of summer-like weather in late autumn.".

Swedish and Dutch names for these spider threads clearly show that the word gossamer has to do with the end of the summer: Swedish "sommartrad" meaning "summer thread", Dutch "zommerdraden" meaning "summer tread". It is interesting that in Slavic languages the word "konac" means both "thread" and "end". So the expression "konac leta" would mean both the summer thread and the summer's end. So is it possible that all of this is somehow related, and that the Germanic names for this type of spider threads are direct translations of the Slavic expression "konac leta" meaning summer's end. It is very poetic in a way that the shiny silvery spider threads (konac) which appears at the end (konac) of the white, hot part of the year (summer, autumn).

As I already said in German Babje leto is called "Altweibersommer" which literally means "the old woman's summer". The word weib is an archaic German word meaning woman, wife. This word is very close to an old Germanic root word "web" meaning net, something woven, like spider net which is related to an old Germanic root verb "weben" meaning to weave. So we can see here clear link between web (made of thread) and wife, woman. However it seems that in Germany, the expression "Altweibersommer" has only been in use since the 17th century, which points to an old cultural import. I would like to confirm this however, so if anyone has any more info about the history of this expression in German, I would be more than grateful if you send it to me, so I can update this post.

Babje leto (Grandmother's summer) is in Germany also called "Madchensommer" meaning young girl summer (maiden's summer, virgin's summer).

So no wonder that that in German this type of flying spider tread was once called "Marien garn, Marien faden". There is a folk belief that these threads are remnants of the cloth used to wrap the body of the Virgin Mary, and which unraveled into the threads and dropped from the sky during her ascension.

In most Slavic languages these strands of spiderweb are called "bapske vlasi", "babina kosa" meaning baba's hair, grandmother's hair, or witch's hair. Folk belief is that this is the time when new witches are inaugurated and that the flying strands of spiderweb are their hair. People also believed that this spiderweb was tow, unprocessed wool, used by fairies, witches and Virgin Mary for making thread.  and that a girl will soon get married if this flying spiderweb got entangled into her hair.

What is interesting is that on the 1st of October, during the period of "Babje Leto" (Grandmother's summer), we find a very interesting Othodox Christian holiday: Intercession of the Theotokos. No remember, this is the time when silver spider threads fall from the sky, silver spider threads which Slavs call grandmother's hair.

Theotokos literally means "God-bearer", "Birth-Giver of God" and "the one who gives birth to God." Less accurate translations include the primarily Western title "Mother of God" (Latin: Mater Dei). It is funny that the Nativity of the Theotokos, which is in Serbian called "Mala Gospojina", and which is celebrating the birth of Mary, is celebrated, according to the old Julian calendar on the 8th of September. This day falls in the middle of the Virgo zodiac sign: 23 August – 23 September. Strange don't you think? According to the new Gregorian calendar this day falls on the 21st of September, autumn equinox. It is the date when the night becomes longer than the day. The we enter the part of the year dominated by the destructive female principle the Goddess, Baba. The period dominated by darkness, dampness and cold. No wonder that the good warm and dry weather during this period is seen as the gift from Baba. This is why it is called "Babje leto", Grandmother's summer. The normal summer is gift from god, Dabog, Grandfather. 

Anyway, the Intercession of the Theotokos celebrates the protection afforded the faithful through the intercessions (actions of intervening on behalf of another) of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary). In the Russian Orthodox Church it is celebrated as the most important solemnity after the Twelve Great Feasts. The feast is commemorated in Eastern Orthodoxy as a whole, but by no means as fervently as it is in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Interestingly this religious celebration is in Slavic languages also known as "Pokrov" and in Greek as "Skepe". 

The Slavic word Pokrov, like the Greek Skepe has a complex meaning. First of all, it refers to a cloak or shroud, but it also means protection or intercession. For this reason, the name of the feast is variously translated as the Veil of Our Lady, the Protecting Veil of the Theotokos, the Protection of the Theotokos, or the Intercession of the Theotokos. It is often translated as Feast of the Intercession. 

According to Eastern Orthodox Sacred Tradition, the apparition of Mary the Theotokos occurred during the 10th century at the Blachernae church in Constantinople where several of her relics (her robe, veil, and part of her belt) were kept. On Sunday, October the 1st at four in the morning, St. Andrew the Blessed Fool-for-Christ, who was a Slav by birth, saw the dome of the church open and the Virgin Mary enter, moving in the air above him, glowing and surrounded by angels and saints. She knelt and prayed with tears for all faithful Christians in the world. The Virgin Mary asked Her Son, Jesus Christ, to accept the prayers of all the people entreating Him and looking for Her protection. Once Her prayer was completed, She walked to the altar and continued to pray. Afterwards, She spread Her veil over all the people in the church as a protection.

Have a look at the above icon. Do you see the "glowing" threads shimmering in the air? Do you see how Mary's "pokrov", the veil, turns into "glowing" threads which are then covering the faithful? Do you remember what Germans once called the spider treads which fly during the "Babje leto"? They called them "Marien garn, Marien faden" meaning "Mary's yarn, Mary's threads"? Do you see how the "porkov", the veil looks like hair? Do you remember how Slavs call the spider treads which fly during the "Babje leto"? They called them "Babina kosa" meaning "Baba's hair". The Mary's veil is Baba's hair.  

It is interesting that it was a Slavic mystic monk who saw "the Virgin Mary wearing a shroud, cloak, moving in the air above him, glowing". What he saw were the spider treads which fly during the "Babje leto". The same threads which are by Slavs called "Babina kosa" meaning "Baba's hair". Baba was the old great Mother Goddess of the Slavs. Mary was the new Christian Mother Goddess. If we know this then the description "the Virgin Mary wearing a shroud, cloak, moving in the air above, glowing" can be translated as "Great Goddess with long silver hair, moving in the air above him, glowing". 

So it is most likely that originally Slavs saw the  spider treads which fly during the "Babje leto" as Baba's, Great Goddess' hair falling from the sky symbolically covering and protecting her people. I believe that the white silvery shining spider web threads, Baba's hair, were symbols of snow and ice of winter, when Old Mother Earth becomes gray white. There is a belief in Slavic countries that if we have Babje leto the following winter will be long, showy and cold.

The Pokrov icon may be related to the Western Virgin of Mercy image, in which the Virgin spreads wide her cloak to cover and protect a group of kneeling supplicants. 

The first known examples of this type of icons date from Italy at about 1280 and were probably influenced by Slavic Christian art from the Balkans, which we say was influenced by the old pagan Slavic beliefs.

The fact that these spider threads are linked to both Baba (old woman, but also young woman Mother Earth) and Virgin Mary are another proof that in Europe the worship of Mother Earth, Baba, Dajbaba was replaced with the worship of Virgin Mary, in the same way that the worship of the Father Sky, Djed, Dajbog was replaced with worship of god the father.

But if Mother Earth was replaced with Mary the mother, Theotokos, the Birth giver, and if the Father Earth is replaced with God the father, who is then Christ the son of the Mother Earth and the Father Sky? I will talk about this in my future posts. 

I want to thank my friend Jože Kotnik for helping me with translation of some articles from Slovenian.

Keep smiling, stay happy.