This is one of Ceridwen's excellent photos, added here at Chris's instigation. Chris seems to think that we should delve into the mysteries of "stones that look like animals" and so forth -- not sure I want to go there. But fine -- if you want to think this stone looks like an afanc or a dragon coming out of an egg, go ahead. Mind you, from all other directions it looks like -- hmmm, a large stone.
Reminds me of all that fun and games a while ago about that stone hedgehog -- or was it a little piggy...? Mind you, this one is a great deal more impressive -- although, as Geo says, it's pretty pathetic alongside some of the other perched blocks that we find on the granite coasts of Brittany and elsewhere.
Brian, et al
ReplyDeleteInteresting image. I like it. But I've seen better and bigger. Driving through the Colorado Monument on the way to the red rock canyons in Utah. Tall big Indians on horseback hunting buffalo. Did Neolithic people did these also?
What this boulder looks like has nothing to do with how it was placed there! Can there be any doubt it was placed by glaciers? Whether or not it was shaped later by men.
Kostas
"With many awful facts about the scary hippopotamus..." Check wikipedia for the rest of the lyrics.
ReplyDeleteGILBERT & SULLIVAN [God bless 'em]
Don't let's get too preoccupied with glaciers. This boulder probably hasn't travelled very far -- and as Geo says, it isn't that big either. There are some MASSIVE perched blocks on the north coast of Brittany -- and they are just residuals, let down more or less in situ as the granite has weathered away. Nothing at all to do with glaciers.
ReplyDeleteI can't think of any boulders that are accepted as having been modified to be representational in the prehistoric period. Examples of simulacra tend to be in the eyes of the beholder , certainly those suggested at SH didn't get a look in from the recent survey .
ReplyDelete@Kostas. I rather like the scale and eccentricity of our Pembrokeshire remains in the Prescelli Mountains, of course they are not really mountains, more like big hills and maybe not even that. It is all a question of perspective.
ReplyDeleteSo we can boast the smallest stone circle in the world at Gors Fawr, and instead of the Lions of Mycenae we have our little Afanc at Carn Arthur. We have quarries that are mysteriously modest, and even the Welsh Stonehenge which seems to have disappeared completely. There are little people and healing wells that only reveal themselves to the chosen ones.
Fortunately we retain our sense of humour.
Chris,
ReplyDeleteI believe in humor! We all do best when we retain it! But British humor is especially hard to capture in words by non-Brits. Since so much depends on the “voice” and the “look”!
Much appreciated!
Kostas
Much is based on tone and allusion unlike SH so based on stone and illusion.
ReplyDeleteI fear Dr I is largely responsible for the delay in the SH layer data being public for both noble and ignoble reasons,
But such are all men completely floored (sic.
M
Pelagius came to the Library recently on the way to Palestine- nice man, interesting ideas. Will go far.
Pelagius would be an appropriate pseudonym should the Great Explorer ever deign to make a contribution.
ReplyDeleteMyris the mysterious,
ReplyDeleteIs this Pelagius the heretic monk opposing St. Augustine's doctrines? Or Pelagius of Oviedo, the “prince of falsifiers”. Quoting from the Wikipedia article: “His work as a historian is generally reliable, but for the forged, interpolated, and otherwise skillfully altered documents that emanated from his office he has been called el Fabulador ("the Fabulist") and the "prince of falsifiers" ".
Kostas the wonderer
Dear Kostas
ReplyDeleteHere is Alexandria it is the adherents of the new Chrystos sect that we meet.
All to do with Adam and original sin-if only! They seem a very vexatious set of people. Personally I would exile them all to Patmos where they can do no harm.
"Then four Christian priests
came into the room, and said prayers
fervently, and orisons to Jesus,
or to Mary (I'm not very familiar with their religion)". CPC
But "the great the sublime Apollo" will shine for ever, long after new Gods have gone
I stake my reputation on it.
M.
The Pelagius I am referring to objected to the Catholic doctrine of forgiveness of sins, preferring to believe as I do that we are responsible for our own karma by virtue of our decisions and actions and that these decisions are neither reversible or to be forgiven by a priest.
ReplyDeletePelagius was a problem for the ruling classes of his time who preferred to believe than any licentious or brutal behaviour was permitted as long as you got to make your confession before arriving at the pearly gates.
You can imagine that Pelagius was a contentious personality.
Myris,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your reassurance! Patmos is most appropriate! Been there?
Kostas
Chris,
ReplyDeleteThanks for that info re: Pelagius. From what I read he was an ascetic British heretic! How appropriate! Brian, perhaps?
Kostas