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A tale of three giants? New evidence for the evolution of Cerne Abbas’ chalk colossus
The 55m-tall hill-figure that towers above the village of Cerne Abbas in Dorset has long been the subject of debate, in terms of both its date and whom it represents. Mike Allen reports on fieldwork undertaken in 2020-2024 which revealed new clues – and surprises – about the Giant.
Picked out in gleaming chalk on a Dorset hillside, the Cerne Abbas Giant cuts an undeniably imposing figure. Depicting a priapic nude male, it has been in the care of the National Trust for more than a century, but its origins have long been obscure. Was it created in later prehistory, like Oxfordshire’s Uffington White Horse (CA 359), or might it be much more modern, like the Tudor Long Man of Wilmington in East Sussex (CA 234 and CA 379)? In CA 365, we described a small-scale excavation that set out to learn more.
Led by Martin Papworth, the National Trust’s senior archaeologist in Wessex, this investigation saw four test-pits opened over the Giant’s outline, focusing on the crook
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