XIV Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2022

In a paradoxical way, ancient burials tell us about the life of people in the era of ancient art and about the art of Britain itself. The custom of burying people who held an important place in their community began around 3000 BC. e. They were buried with part of their property, which included expensive items.

The main ancient monuments of primitive art in England are figurines and ceramics. In addition, among the godsends of the Bronze Age were found bronze items with simple ornamentation, as well as more amazing items. For example, the British Museum has a Rillaton gold mug dating back to the early Bronze Age [1]. It was found in 1837 in Cornwall in the crypt of the person who owned it. This product is forged from a solid piece of high purity gold and has a ribbed wall surface. Thus, it was possible to make the walls of thin metal stronger. Such mugs were also made in other parts of England and in the north-west of Europe from different materials (silver, amber, clay). Also an amazing find is the Salisbury treasure, partly from the Bronze Age, partly from the Iron Age. It contained miniature models of tools and weapons that had a cult purpose.

Presumably, also during the Bronze Age, an amazing work appeared, which can hardly be attributed to any genre of fine art. This is a huge (over 100 m. long) figure of a horse near the village of Uffington in Oxfordshire. It is carved right into the ground, on the side of the hill. There are different versions as to what this horse represents - a symbol of a Celtic deity, a totem of a tribe, or even an advertisement ("Buy horses here!").

Perhaps the most famous monuments of the English Chalcolithic and Bronze Age are the megalithic structures at Stonehenge and Avebury [2]. Such structures are called cromlechs. Stonehenge is one of the largest megalithic structures in Europe, which located in Wiltshire, near the city of Salisbury. There is still controversy about how the ancients succeeded roughly between 1900 and 1400. BC e. to build such a grandiose structure (colossal stones brought from Wales), and most importantly - what is its purpose.

Most scientists agree that the cromlech at Stonehenge had something to do with astronomy or the cult of the sun. Cut stones up to 8.5 m high dug into the ground and stone slabs weighing almost seven tons lying on them form a circle with a diameter of over 30 m. Altar stone.

Avebury is a whole complex of megalithic sanctuaries and tombs of the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. The largest cromlech with a diameter of about 400 m, in which there are about a hundred pillars, includes two smaller ones. An alley of stones leads south to another cromlech, Overton Hill, which consists of two concentric circles. The stones are of local origin, their height is from 1.5 to 6 m.

During the Iron Age, Celts migrated from the continental lands to the territory of Britain. In the last centuries BC. e. they created beautiful items of bronze and gold with intricate geometric patterns, filigree and enamel, as well as weapons, stylized figurines, heads and masks.

Списокиспользуемойлитературы:

Adamchik M.V. - Countries of the world and continents. - Minsk: Harvest - 2007;

All about the countries of the world (directory). - St. Petersburg: Kristall – 2005;

Bramley Yu.V., Podolny R.G.- Human beings are peoples. - Moscow: Mysl – 1990;

Kovalevskaya T.V., Vagizova F.A., Semenyuk E.V. - History, Literature and Culture of Great Britain,- Moscow: RSUH - 2012;

Tokarev S.A. - Calendar customs and rituals. - M.: Nauka, 1983.