Sacred Sites – Contested Rites/Rights: Pagan Engagements with Archaeol
Paganism is held to be the fastest growing ‘religion’ in Britain today. Pagan identities and constructions of sacredness contest assumptions of a ‘closed’ past and untouchable heritage, within a socio-politics in which prehistoric archaeology the stone circles, burial cairns, and rock art of the British Isles is itself subject to political and economic threats. Pagans see prehistoric monuments in a living, enchanted landscape of deities, ancestors, spirits, ‘wights, ‘ and other non-human agencies to be engaged with for personal and community empowerment. From all areas of Britain and indeed worldwide, people come to sacred sites of prehistory to make pilgrimages, befriend places, give offerings, act as unofficial ‘site guardians, ‘ and campaign for ‘site welfare.’ Summer solstice access at Stonehenge attracts tens of thousands of celebrants. Threats of quarrying near Derbyshire’s Nine Ladies stone circle or Yorkshire’s Thornborough Henges lead to protests and campaigns for the preser
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