There is now a preview to the big new British Museum exhibition on Stonehenge, and as we all anticipated, the story which they portray as "the truth" is anything but.
https://blog.britishmuseum.org/an-introduction-to-stonehenge/?
In an article on the BM blog, Jennifer Wexler, the curator of the "World of Stonehenge" exhibition, says this:
The first Stonehenge was built around 5,000 years ago and comprised of ‘bluestones’ transported on a remarkable long-distance journey, or more likely a series of journeys, from west Wales. The term ‘bluestones’ refers to a type of blue volcanic rock that were specially quarried in the Preseli Mountains. They were transported on sledges, taking approximately 40–60 days to make the 200km journey from Wales to Wiltshire. The epic journey the stones made enhanced their value, meaning and symbolic significance.At this time, the monument served as a cremation cemetery and it is estimated that possibly 150–200 people were buried there. Analysis suggests that several lived and died in west Wales before their remains may have moved with bluestones to become part of the monument. Many objects from this period have been found buried with the dead – including a beautifully crafted mace-head made of banded Gneiss (a type of rock with distinctly coloured bands), probably brought from the north of Scotland and symbolising the authority associated with several important religious centres across Britain and Ireland.
And then this:
That story, as we all know, is not based on established fact, but upon a whole host of assumptions. It is, however, the established and approved EH story -- or rather the story according to Parker Pearson. Is there nobody at Stonehenge, or at EH headquarters, or in the British Museum, capable of sorting out facts from fantasies? Apparently not. Depressing, isn't it?
Have you noticed that Ladybird Books has started a series of very satirical versions on various topics? No doubt these may be listed and part - displayed on their website. e.g. they did a simple guide to Brexit!
ReplyDeleteThus, they could now do one (authored by yourself) entitled perhaps 'A Gormless Suggestible Person's Guide to Stonehenge'.
Now there's a thought.
ReplyDeleteActually, what I find most depressing is that somebody at the BM has made the decision that in the exhibition they will maintain the pretence that what they say is the truth. So no room for nuances, and no room for any acceptance that things are disputed, and that most of the interpretations about events at and around Stonehenge are actually just opinions.
So much for science.
Has the British Museum descended to the level of the sensationalist Victorian weekly "penny dreadfuls", which featured characters such as 'spring - heeled jack'........?? They characteristically left their readers " on a cliff edge" at the end of each episode, to sate the reader's apetite!
ReplyDeleteNever mind the quality, Britsh Museum, feel the width! [in this case, the width is often fantastically geographical].
Well we shall see -- the exhibition is due to be launched next month, no doubt with a massive fanfare in the media. As for its reliability, the signs are not good. Looks as if they are going the same way as EH in the Stonehenge Visitor Centre -- flog a wacky narrative and try to convince the public that it is true, and to hell with what the evidence actually shows......
ReplyDeleteWell, well.........Susan Greaney who works for English Heritage and created the Stonehenge Visitor Centre's exhibition glorifying much of Pearson's work seems to have "de - Friended" me on Facebook.So much for Free Speech!
ReplyDeleteYou have clearly upset the Wessex Thought Police, Tony. How on earth will you survive? As the Great Windsor Davies frequently said: "Oh dear. How sad. Never mind!"
ReplyDeleteSo sad that Susan is a product of Cadiff University where she obtained/will obtain her PhD. She needs to re-read and re - consider what the British Museum presentation says about the provenance..... and more... of transport of the Preseli bluestones! It ALL will be good for public knowledge, and STILL draws attention to the involvement of the geographical area Wales, which ultimately provided the bluestones to the builders of Stonehenge, 170 miles away. Come on, Susan, and British Museum!
ReplyDeleteI wonder how much say she will have had in anything that goes into the BM exhibition? I imagine that the major "expert" inputs will have come from people like Parker Pearson and Tim Darvill. Nonetheless, if the BM cannot bring itself to acknowledge that there are such things as "expert disputes" in the science of Stonehenge, as in all science, then one wonders what it is really there for. Balance and accuracy should be critical to their whole approach -- but it seems to me that they are going for storytelling and myth perpetration instead.
ReplyDeleteYes, Dr Jennifer Wexler is named as the Project Curator for the B.M. Stonehenge exhibition. All her background is set out in an Academia.com website. I see she has also worked for Andante Travel of Salisbury who no doubt encourage the telling the old, old story without blinking to suggestive smiling tourists......
ReplyDeleteI have written to her some days ago, to point out a few home truths -- no reply as yet.....
ReplyDelete