In recent years museum research has generated a rich and sophisticated body of psychosocial theory to demonstrate how the symbolic capacity of museum objects can support people to achieve meaning, personal insight, and healing. Based on the psychoanalytic concept of ‘transitional space’ — the meaningful experience that occurs through imaginative engagement with cultural objects — this work offers a framework for understanding the therapeutic potential of the wider historic environment. Accordingly, this paper considers the concept of transitional space in relation to people’s lived experience of prehistoric landscapes. Drawing on qualitative research recently undertaken in the prehistoric landscapes of Stonehenge, Avebury, and the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, UK, it looks at how the significance of the age, form, and narratives of these places aid in the production of transitional space, and thus the realization of existential authenticity, personal growth, and healing.
T. Darvill, K. Barrass, L. Drysdale, V. Heaslip, & Y. Staelens