Editing Uffington White Horse (section)

==Origin==
[[File:White Horse of Uffington.jpg|thumb|Uffington White Horse, sketched by [[William Plenderleath]] in ''The White Horses of the West of England'' (1892)<ref name="Plenderleath" />]]
The earliest reference to the site is found in [[Medieval Welsh literature]]. The [[Red Book of Hergest|Llyfr Coch Hergest]] (''Red Book of Hergest'', 1375–1425) states that "Near to the town of Abinton there is a mountain with a figure of a stallion upon it, and it is white. Nothing grows upon it." Some scholars have compared the figure to the Celtic goddess [[Epona]], or the later [[Rhiannon]] of the [[Mabinogi]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Red Book of Hergest |website=maryjones.us |url=http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/hindex.html |url-status=dead |access-date=10 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709041237/http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/hindex.html |archive-date=9 July 2011}}</ref>

The figure is one of a number in the area that was long thought to have ancient origins. In the 17th century, [[John Aubrey]] attributed the figure to [[Hengist and Horsa]]. However, Aubrey also ascribed its origins to the [[Ancient Britons|British Celts]], noting the similarity of the image to those found on native Iron Age coins.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schwyzer |first1=Philip |date=Winter 1999 |title=The scouring of the White Horse: Archaeology, identity, and 'heritage' representations |journal=Special Issue: New Perspectives in British Studies |pages=42–62 |publisher=University of California Press}}</ref> [[Francis Wise]] would state that the image was created by [[Alfred the Great]] to celebrate his victory at the [[Battle of Edington]].{{cn|date=May 2023}}

Although the notion of it being a [[Sub-Roman Britain|post-Roman]] creation remained popular, many antiquarians and scholars had noted the design's similarity to the [[Celtic art]] found on the coins of the local tribes (the [[Dobunni]] and [[Atrebates]]). Comparative analysis of the design with [[numismatic]] and archeological finds was conducted by [[Stuart Piggott]] in 1931 and Ann Ross in 1967, with Piggott suggesting circa 100&nbsp;{{sc|BC}} as a possible date of origin.<ref>{{cite web |last=Nash Ford |first=David |series=The Uffington White Horse, Part&nbsp;4 |title=Dating the Horse |website=David Nash Ford's Royal Berkshire History |url=http://berkshirehistory.com/archaeology/white_horse4.html |access-date=4 September 2022}}</ref> In 1949, Morris Marple suggested a Bronze Age date, comparing the design to others throughout Europe and North Africa.<ref>{{cite web |title=Uffington White Horse |website=BritishFolklore.com |url=http://britishfolklore.com/uffington-white-horse |access-date=4 September 2022}}</ref>

Following an excavation in 1990, the figure's origin was finally settled with [[optically stimulated luminescence]] testing. Simon Palmer and David Miles of the [[Oxford Archaeology|Oxford Archaeological Unit]] dated silt deposits to the period between 1380 BC and 550 BC, confirming the Uffington White Horse to be Britain's oldest chalk figure. The new [[Bronze Age Britain|Bronze Age]] date would place the figure's origin at the same time as [[Uffington Castle]], during a period when the horse was transforming warfare in Britain.<ref>{{cite book |last=Darvill |first=Timothy |year=1996 |title=Prehistoric Britain from the Air |page=223 |isbn=0521551323 |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Uffington White Horse |magazine=Atlas Obscura |url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/uffington-white-horse |access-date=15 July 2017}}</ref>