Granite Landscapes Transformed

An analysis of granite landscapes would not be complete if the modifying human factor were ignored (Godard, 1977). Over the millennia humans have used the resources provided by granite, whether in a solid or weathered state, taken advantage of the spatial configuration of granite landforms, or mimicked natural granite features for various purposes. The combination of rock outcrops, regolith-mantled surfaces, and soil characteristics has acted as a significant constraint on many human activities, especially in the past. Hence many granite areas have very specific histories of human impact. The monumentality of many granite landforms has inspired fear, awe, and spiritual experience, whereas in the modern era the distinctiveness of many granite terrains has become a magnet for tourism. Each of these activities has left its imprint on granite landscapes, to the extent that some of them easily fall into the category of ‘cultural landscapes’, while in others, man-made features have evidently overwhelmed the natural configuration of the land. In this closing chapter of the book a few aspects of human transformation on natural granite landscapes will be briefly addressed. The coverage, and particularly the selection, of examples are by no means exhaustive, and the historical context has not been explored. The intention is rather to review some of the most characteristic relationships between humans and granite landscapes and to show that the characteristics of natural granite landforms dictate very specific adjustments, uses, and strategies of landscape change. Therefore, extensive referencing has also been avoided. The middle and late Neolithic in western Europe (3500–1700 BC) was a period of extraordinary construction activity using local and imported stone. It was not limited to granite lands, but the availability of durable monumental stone was certainly important. Therefore, uplands and rolling plains underlain by granitoid rocks abound in a variety of megalithic structures, including standing stones, stone circles and rows, passage tombs, simple dolmens, burial mounds (cairns), and stone enclosures. Extensive assemblages of Neolithic monuments occur on the Alentejo plain in southern Portugal, in western Spain, in Brittany, France, and on the uplands of south-west England, from Dartmoor through Bodmin Moor, Carnmenellis to Land’s End.