Cerne Giant mystery solved?
The Dorset chalk figure known as the Cerne Giant was most probably created in the early Middle Ages, according to recent dating work. Contextualising the archaeological work by the National Trust, authors of a new study say the figure was cut in the ninth or early tenth century when there was much interest in the Greek hero Hercules. In their paper in the journal Speculum , Thomas Morcom and Helen Gittos explain at length when and why the figure was cut in the image of Hercules and why it was done in this West Saxon landscape. By PeteHarlow, CC BY-SA 3.0 , Link The Cerne Giant, located outside the village of Cerne Abbas, is approximately 55 metres long and 51 metres wide. The hill on which it was carved also features an Iron Age earthwork, which the authors say, has never been investigated archaeologically but which was considered important enough to give the hill its name until recently. Previous attempts to date the giant placed its creation either sometime in prehistory or in the