GEOGLYPHS - GIANT CHALK FIGURE OF HERCULES IDENTIFIED AS SAXON MUSTERING SITE:

          

Cerne Abbas Giant, near the village of Cerne Abbas, Dorset, England. Online image, public domain.

Some of the world’s most famous geoglyphs are the chalk figures found in England. The Uffington White Horse, the Long Man of Wilmington, and perhaps the most famous of all the Cerne Abbas Giant.

“The Cerne Abbas Giant was formed by cutting trenches two feet deep into the steep hillside and then filling them with crushed chalk. Some scholars believed the giant might date back to the Iron Age as a fertility symbol. Local folklore holds that copulating on the giant’s crotch will help a couple conceive a child, and there is an Iron Age earthwork known as the Trendle at the top of the hill in which the giant has been carved. However, there is no mention of the figure in a 1540s survey of the Abbey lands, nor in a 1617 survey conducted by the English cartographer John Norden.” (Ouellette 2021)

Chalk-filled trench of Cerne Abbas Giant. Online image, publlc domain.

“A study conducted in 1996 observed alterations in certain characteristics over time. It concluded that when originally carved, the figure had a cloak draped over its left arm and potentially held an object, speculated to be a severed head beneath it is left hand. Tests conducted by the National Trust in 2021 determined that the giant was carved in the Anglo-Saxon period between AD 700-1100, when the land was owned by the West Saxon royal family in the 9^th Century and 10^th Century.” (Milligan 2024)

Sculpture depicting Hercules, late Roman, Corbridge, England. Corbridge Roman Town Museum. Photograph Copyright Carole Raddato.

This figure has since been recognized as a representation of the Classical Hercules. The draped cloak and severed head align with Classical representations of the demigod.

“The club is the clue, according to the new study. Hercules was one of the most frequently depicted figures in the classical world, and his distinctively knotted club acted as an identificatory label, like the keys of Saint Peter or the wheel of Saint Catherine. Hercules’ signature mantle—his cloak—may have also been included in the original Cerne Abbas outline, draped over the giant’s free hand, the researchers hypothesize.” (Anderson 2024)

“A further study by researchers from Oxford University now suggest that the figure was a muster station for West Saxon armies during a period when Saxon kingdoms were in conflict with invading Vikings. According to the researchers, the giant’s position, protruding from a ridge and situated near major route ways, combined with nearby fresh water souces and the locality to a West Saxon estate made it the perfect mustering spot.” (Milligan 2024)

So, perhaps now we know.

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

Anderson, Sonja, 2024, This mysterious Hillside Carving is Actually Hercules, Researchers Say, 2 January 2024, https://www.smithsonianmag.com. Accessed online 4 January 2024/

Milligan, Mark, 2024, Mystery of Cerne Abbas Giant solved?, 1 January 2024, https://www.heritagedaily.com. Accessed online 2 January 2024.

Morcom, Thomas and Helen Gittos, 2024, The Cerne Giant in Its Early Medieval Context, Speculum, Volume 99, Number 1, Published by University, https://doi.org/10.1086/727992. Accessed online 10 January 2024.

Ouellette, Jennifer, 2021, Archaeologists “flabbergasted” to find Cerne Giant’s origins a medieval, 12 July 2021, Ars Technica, https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/07/. Accessed online 10 January 2024.