A few of us here love the mystery, romance and - it has to be said - the escape from the modern world provided by wandering around ancient sites and handling ancient artefacts.
I especially like any TV films which have ancient sites as a backdrop for the main story - 'A Month in the Country', 'Pilgrim' and the multitude of crappy dramas set within the shadow of a stone circle or remote barrow.
Avebury and Stanton Drew are two villages near here which are actually built within stone circles, probably by the same indignant medieval Christians that built churches on mounds which were sacred to the people who dug them 2000 years before Christ was born and just after St. George killed the dragon.
I am in two minds about archeologists in the same way I am in two minds about local planning authorities and conservation officers. They have saved a lot of sites from the routine destruction caused by farmers and antiquaries, but they are just so pedantic and unimaginative. Their feet are held down by the very clay they dig their timid trenches through, and - aside from Guy Underwood - any speculation they may have which does not fit into the parameters of reasonable scientific probability is suppressed in their first year at university.
Those 17th and 18th century antiquaries took the best and left the rest.
The archaeologists need money and peer review, they are scared of joining the other side of speculation. Did you know William Stukeley created in his garden a tree circle with an apple tree in the centre growing mistletoe. His interpretation of Druidism may have been fanciful but in his garden he created a sacred space. Guy Underwood comes from the Earth Mysteries movement. John Michell was a forerunner, druids, pagans, leyliners are the parallel lines that run next to archaeology. But you have to tread carefully between the two ;)
ReplyDeleteI knew John Michell. He was quite a while later on the scene than Guy Underwood. Underwood lived at Belcombe Court, which has its own stone circle in the grounds. A real one.
DeleteI believed Guy Underwood more than John Michell, btw.
DeleteStone structures of all kinds (circles, walls, chambers...) have carried romance and high interest for a long time. Narrow mindedness comes with expertise that dictates precise thinking and hard fast rules with no variables allowed. In my opinion, this does not mix well when thinking about antiquities dating back 2000 BC.
ReplyDeleteYes, Thelma mentioned peer pressure (or review). Scientists don't like to be laughed at, but the antiquary cares less.
DeleteI imagine it would be hard to get funding today for hunting for the remains of St. George's dragon, but it could have been a better bet in the time of the eccentric antiquaries.
ReplyDeleteMost of them had private incomes in any case, or they promised to dedicate a book to the King about it, and received funding that way. Nobody has looked for the dragon as far as I know.
DeleteWhat a beautiful and special little drawing!
ReplyDeleteI’ve had some sleepless nights since your post on June 12th about the pineapple. Its peculiar look has got my brains scrambled (easily done btw). I understand that you have to match an existing one, and it is very fine work. But, ARE WE SURE that it’s a pineapple? Maybe somebody – way back when – got it wrong! Could we possibly settle on it being an artichoke? Please say yes. I need my beauty sleep.
That is an engraving from 1723 drawn by Stukeley, one of the original antiquaries. I call it a pineapple because the client calls it one, and the customer is Queen.
DeleteAhhh, well, long live the Queen!
DeleteSome places do have a special aura. Enchanting some, others spell Evil.
ReplyDeleteI had some fights with a monuments conservator (my house in Hildesheim is under protection - being built in 1902 the whole street was put under that because a) it was the result of an architect combat and b) there was not much left of Hildesheim after the bombardment on 3.March 1945).
But I think archeologists are a different cup of tea: I admire their work (if only they would leave the poor Pharaos to rest in peace!)
There is much more old architecture in Bavaria than up in the North, I know. I wonder if the curse of the Pharaos will descend upon those greedy Egyptians...
DeleteSee my old blog post:
ReplyDeletehttps://little-corner-of-the-earth.blogspot.com/2015/11/anyone-can-do-it.html
Standing stones have a strangeness....
Have you read 'Patterns of the Past' by Guy Underwood?
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