From pigment to symbol: The role of paintings in the ideological construction of European megaliths (original) (raw)
The documentation of paint accompanying the engraved decorations in dolmens in the Iberian Peninsula has enabled the development of a tested methodology. Its application to engraved dolmens in Brittany and to materials and architecture in the Orkney Islands has determined the range and variability in the depictions at megalithic sites in Atlantic Europe. The possibility of obtaining direct dates has achieved results in the case of the Bury Stela and some painted objects at Ness of Brodgar. A new line of research into the symbology of megaliths has opened up, as well as new potential for their dating.