Imogen Lycett Green on ancient Sussex: #1 Cissbury Ring.

The only known photo of John Pull with one of the carvings. They were found in the galleries of Shaft 27 in May 1953, on Pull’s last major excavation. This carving was filled with charcoal in order to highlight it for the camera. The Neolithic remains are held at Worthing Museum. Photo © Worthing Museum and Art Gallery.

The men can wait. The woman will nurse her child. The baby suckles noisily, gripping her mother’s thumb. The woman’s thumb is stained red.
The woman looks up, alert. From here, high on the hill, as near to the sky as it is possible to be without actually flying, what can she see? To the south, the wide blue sea, like you can. To the north? The never-ending fold and swell of the chalk downs, like you can. What can she smell? In summer, the storm coming, salt, chalk, barley. Milk, sweat, cow dung, the smell of wet wool in winter. Rain. What can she hear? The wind, like you can. The sheep bleating, her children pla...