Ritual Landscapes and Sacred Spaces: A Landscape Archaeology Perspective on Megalithic and Neolithic Monument Complexes An Investigation of Spatial Organization, Phenomenology, and Social Memory in Prehistoric Ritual Sites

Abstract

This paper examines ritual landscapes and sacred spaces through the lens of landscape archaeology, focusing on megalithic and Neolithic monument complexes. Drawing on theoretical frameworks from phenomenology, spatial analysis, and social memory studies, this investigation explores how prehistoric communities constructed and experienced sacred geographies. The analysis incorporates case studies from Stonehenge, Avebury, the Orkney Islands, and Brú na Bóinne, demonstrating how landscape archaeology methods reveal the interconnections between monuments, topography, celestial phenomena, and social practices. Through comparative analysis of monument morphology, spatial organization, and environmental contexts, this paper argues that ritual landscapes functioned as multisensory, performative spaces encoding cosmological beliefs and social relationships. The study employs Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis, viewshed modeling, and phenomenological survey to demonstrate how monuments were positioned within carefully choreographed sacred geographies. Findings indicate that ritual landscapes operated as theaters of memory where communities negotiated identity, power, and cosmological understanding through embodied practice. This research contributes to landscape archaeology methodology by synthesizing quantitative spatial analysis with qualitative phenomenological approaches, offering new insights into how prehistoric societies conceptualized and ritualized their environments.