Leucippotomy

Leucipotomy, also known as leucippotomy is the art of carving white horses in chalk upland areas - particularly apparent in southern England and presumed of prehistoric origin.

The most famous and most ancient hill figure in England is the Uffington White Horse near The Ridgeway.Plenderleath, Rev. W. C. (1892). "The White Horses of the West of England." Pub. Allen & Storr, London.] The most recent may be the Folkestone White Horse, built in 2003 near the English opening of the Channel Tunnel [ [http://www.hows.org.uk/personal/hillfigs/folk/folk.htm Folkestone White Horse on The Hillfigure Homepage] accessed July 16, 2007] .

The practice of cutting human hill figures is known as gigantotomy. Many examples have been created in the last four hundred years, including the Cerne Abbas giant and the Long Man of Wilmington.Bergamar, Kate (1997). Discovering Hill Figures. Pub. Shire. ISBN 0-7478-0345-5.]

Drawings gallery

See also

*Hill figure

Bibliography

*Plenderleath, Rev. W. C., "On the White Horses of Wiltshire and Its Neighbourhood" ("Wilts Archaeological & Nat. Hist. Magazine", vol. 14, pp. 12-30)
*Plenderleath, Rev. W. C., "White Horses of the West of England" (London: Allen & Storr, 1892)
*Marples, Morris, "White Horses & Other Hill Figures" (London: Country Life Ltd, 1949; New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1949)
*Huntingford , G. W. B., 'The Scouring of the White Horse' in "The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland", Vol. 87, No. 1 (Jan. - Jun., 1957), pp. 105-114

References