Is he Hercules or Cromwell? Giant to yield its secrets
Experts to reveal age of mysterious chalk hill figure for first time after taking samples from site in Dorset
‘Although there are some who would prefer the giant’s age to remain a mystery, the majority would like to know’
ARCHAEOLOGISTS have embarked on a mission to determine the exact age of the mysterious Cerne Abbas Giant for the first time.
The hillside figure, of a nude man brandishing a large club, measures 180ft tall and overlooks the village of Cerne Abbas in Dorset.
The origins and purpose of the chalk hill figure are shrouded in mystery. Theories include an ancient spirituality symbol, a likeness of Hercules, the Roman hero, and a caricature of Oliver Cromwell, with the club a reference to his repressive rule and the phallus a mockery of his puritanism.
Local folklore has long held it to be a fertility aid and the earliest recorded mention of the giant dates from 1694.
The figure was gifted to the National Trust in 1920 by the Pitt-rivers family. Now the charity, together with the University of Gloucestershire, is undertaking tests to establish the giant’s age.
Archaeologists have dug small trenches to enable samples of soil to be extracted at several points.
Prof Phillip Toms, from the university, will attempt to date the samples using a technique called optically stimulated luminescence (OSL).
Martin Papworth, a senior archaeologist at the National Trust, said: “The OSL technique is commonly used to determine when mineral grains in the soil were last exposed to sunlight. It was used to discover the age of the Uffington White Horse in Oxfordshire in the 1990s. It was found to be nearly 3,000 years old – even more ancient than we had expected.”
The results are expected in July and are likely to produce a date range, rather than a specific age.
“But we hope they will help us better understand, and care for, this famous landmark,” Mr Papworth added.
Gordon Bishop, the chairman of the Cerne Historical Society, said villagers were eagerly awaiting the results.
“Although there are some who would prefer the giant’s age and origins to remain a mystery, I think the majority would like to know at least whether he is ancient or no more than a few hundred years old,” he said.
In a separate analysis, Mike Allen, an environmental archaeologist, will analyse soil samples containing the microscopic shells of land snails to learn more about the history of the site.
“There are 118 species of snails in Britain and many of them are habitat specific, so their preserved shells can help us establish what a landscape was like at a certain time, and to track changes in land use over time,” he said.
“They should help us to discover whether the giant was created on a grazed chalk hillside, or whether people purposely cleared scrub to prepare the land for the figure.”
The giant requires occasional maintenance due to weed growth, encouraged by seeds deposited in the dung of the sheep that graze there.
Last year, the top layer of chalk was refreshed for the first time in 11 years. A team of volunteers, led by Michael Clarke, the chief ranger, hammered in 17 tons of chalk from Salisbury.