The Appropriation or the Destruction of Memory?: Bell Beaker ‘Re-Use’ of Older Sites

Abstract

In Western and West-Central Europe, it is common to find sherds of Bell-Beakers in the uppermost layers of megalithic monuments, sometimes accompanied by bones of a corre- sponding age. This ‘re-use’ is not restricted to burial-context. Henges and stone circles can contain so-called ‘coves’ from the Bell Beaker period. This points to a changed use of the structure. The most famous example is Stonehenge. I interpret this as a deliberate attempt by a new elite to erase power-mechanisms of previous generations. The effort put into these acts shows that these structures were perceived as a real threat to the new order. This case study illustrates the difficulty of distinguishing between different ways of using the past, between the use and the intended destruction of memories