The discovery of a young bronze age woman’s remains high on a remote Devon hillside has inspired a community play featuring the residents of two moors and also forms the centrepiece of a newly refurbished visitor centre.
Hundreds of people, young and old, professional and amateur, have been involved in the production of the play, Daughters of Sunset, which is being performed on Dartmoor and Exmoor later this week and over the weekend.
There has also been fresh wave of interest in the archaeological discovery, regarded as one of the most significant ever in the south-west of Britain, thanks to the renovation of Dartmoor national park’s visitor centre at Postbridge. It features displays that explain the find and replicas of some of the grave goods discovered.
In 2011 the cremated remains of a young woman who died 4,000 years ago were found on Whitehorse Hill, Dartmoor. The remains were wrapped in an animal pelt, possibly bear, before being placed in a burial cist concealed within a peat mound.
Also discovered was a beautifully woven basket containing more than 200 beads, thought to have formed a necklace, two pairs of wooden studs (possibly earrings) and a flint tool.
The source of some the beads – amber from the Baltic, shale from Dorset – hinted that Dartmoor was not isolated in prehistoric times but had good cultural and trade connections. The position of the burial site, on a high, remote spot, and the preciousness of the grave goods also suggested, intriguingly, that the young woman was an important figure.
MED Theatre, a Dartmoor-based organisation in its 40th year, which produces pieces based on the ecology, history and folklore of the moor, has taken the Whitehorse Hill discovery as inspiration for Daughters of Sunset, which will be performed in the Dartmoor and Exmoor national parks from 10 to 13 September for socially distanced audiences. The play focuses on the idea that in the bronze age the moors could have been matriarchal societies.
Mark Beeson, the artistic director MED Theatre, said: “The discovery of the grave goods in the Whitehorse Hill cist, indicating a female of importance buried on one of the highest and most prominent locations in the south-west, gives a tantalising hint that matriarchy or matriliny existed.”
The play tells the story of two young queens who rule Dartmoor and Exmoor and features tales of warriors, a shipwreck, golden apples and skullduggery. It includes puppetry, dance and music. “Obviously we don’t know what it was like in bronze age times but that idea of matriarchy has been at the heart of the project,” said Beeson. “Whitehorse Hill has been a catalyst; it has given us the chance to speculate.”
The play has been created by a mixture of professionals, young emerging artists from the moors and amateurs. It is part of a project funded by Arts Council England called Moor Voices aimed at harnessing the talents of local people and reaching out to residents in remote places. Workshops have been run and hundreds of pupils from nine schools have been engaged.
The finished piece is being performed in a socially distanced way and one of the shows is also being livestreamed.
Since the news of the discovery broke, Whitehorse Hill has become a popular spot with hikers and history fans, despite its remote location. For those who cannot make it across the rugged terrain, displays at the refurbished visitor centre at Postbridge tell the story of the find with replicas of the jewellery found in the grave.
