It's nice to see a journalist who has a sense of humour. In one of the local papers here in Pembrokeshire, the coverage of my latest article in QSJ was straightforward enough, but when the editor hunted through the archive for a suitable photo of me, he chose this one, taken many years ago by Martin Cavaney. It was first published in connection with my "Pembrokeshire Folk Tales" trilogy, which resulted in four hardcover books containing, in all, around 500 stories.
Anyway, one of the tales told in Volume 2 of the four-volume trilogy was the heroic tale of the "bluestone expeditions"as narrated by HH Thomas and many others since then..........
I included the story because it is an archetypal myth, invented by somebody with a fertile mind to explain something strange and spectacular (like Stonehenge) which science, at the time, could not cope with. That is what myths are -- stories used to express respect or admiration for wondrous things -- night and day, the sun, the moon, the seasons, storms, tides, epidemics or plagues, birth and death. And so forth. This is one definition:
Myth, a story of the gods, a religious account of the beginning of the world, the creation, fundamental events, the exemplary deeds of the gods as a result of which the world, nature and culture were created together with all parts thereof and given their order, which still obtains. A myth expresses and confirms society's religious values and norms, it provides a pattern of behavior to be imitated, testifies to the efficacy of ritual with its practical ends and establishes the sanctity of cult.
You don't have to have gods in myths, but it helps. And mythology does not have to be associated with religious beliefs or rituals. But heroes and heroic deeds commonly feature, and indeed the heroic deeds of our Neolithic ancestors are central to the bluestone myth. HH Thomas was fully aware of that, and artists like Alan Sorrell quite deliberately flagged up the "heroic" element just to hammer home how extraordinary and wonderful the transport of the bluestones really was. Really? In other words, truthfully, as a matter of fact? Yes -- and this is where the danger lies, because the bluestone myth is now quite cynically sold to the nation and the world as if it is a matter of fact -- regardless of the fact that mythology is ALWAYS overtaken by events, as the most enquiring of minds in any society make observations, make deductions and assemble hard evidence to show that the sun was not created by a giant and that nighttime does not occur because a great god is covering the sun with a blanket.
But certain archaeologists and geologists -- and the top brass of English Heritage -- persist in trying to convince the world that the myth is TRUE. There is certainly a cult that insists on it, and there is a never-ending flood of pseudo-science devoted to demonstrating that there were bluestone quarries, that stones were parked up in a "giant lost circle", and that Neolithic tribesmen had the technical and geographical knowledge required to move 80 bluestones from West Wales to Stonehenge. They also of course believe in the parallel myth of sarsen transport, over somewhat shorted distances. And they all get furious when people like me gently point out that there is a vast data deficit -- and that science has moved on very considerably from the time when HH Thomas started the myth off in 1923, demonstrating in the process a very inadequate understanding of the British Quaternary.
There is something rather pathetic about people like MPP, Ixer and Bevins trying at every turn to demonstrate the truth of the bluestone transport myth, and dreaming up brand new mythological components every time the facts get in the way of one or another of the elements of their narrative. They might just as well try to prove that the universe really is held up in the branches of a giant ash tree called Yggdrasil, or that there is an "otherworld" called Annwn, or that somewhere underground in Wales a red dragon fights against a white one, or that the sun is really a great god called Ra, riding across the sky..........
Well, in answer to your question posed in the last sentence, YES, and I would fully expect English Heritage to respectfully make an announcement by the time of the Summer Solstice celebrations occur, i.e. TOMORROW.
ReplyDeleteFailing that, they have a wonderful second opportunity this Sunday! For then, on BBC Radio Three, they have time beforehand to make some tweaks to " Between the Ears: Being What You Expect to Find ". Currently it's a billed as " an enchanting landscape of the gatherings that occur at Stonehenge for solstices and equinoxes, marking all four seasons ". But I won't hold my breath. It also describes this half - hour programme,starting at 19.30 hours, as " a suitably dreamy portrayal of the activities and expectations... " Good grief, Caruthers, they cannot be serious. What would Mortimer Wheeler make of it??
I'm not convinced by either argument Brian
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand, the bluestones could have been transported part, or perhaps all, of the way. To my eye it seems unlikely that they were transported all of the way
On the other hand, the current proposed motivation for transport by human hand appears to be a very weak argument. Accepted that if transport was done for ritual purposes, then they might have adopted sub-optimal methods suggested. But again, this appears to me to weaken an already weak argument.
I was going to say NO!
ReplyDeleteJon, I am very confident that evidence for the " bluestones erratic train" will eventually be found to the west of the eventual site of the Neolithic monument. The main reason this hasn't already happened is that the MOD prevents everyone except the Army from wandering purposefully across the Plain. We could do with Richard Osgood,the MOD's archaeologist for Salisbury Plain, addressing himself to this potential mission. Also, if you read the article Brian has mentioned on his recent Post written by Olwyn Jones and her colleague, it becomes very apparent that so - called " bluestones " have ALREADY been identified fairly near the monument, over generations. William Cunnington was perhaps the first to do this when he gave the go - ahead to the Boles Barrow excavation around 1803. It is accepted that William Cunnington was a very early discerner of rock geologies....
ReplyDeleteAlmost 7,000 new visits to your Blog in slightly over 24 hours!! They can't ALL be Tim Daw and Ixer!
ReplyDeleteThat may be partly my fault Tony. Following a conversation on the Ancient Stone Bothering site, David Palk kindly posted a link to Brian’s blog on his ‘wall’.
ReplyDeleteIt's risen by almost 1,500 views now, since the afternoon of Wednesday the 19th of June. Of course the Stonehenge Summer Solstice probably has raised the general popularity and curiosity of the monument and its connections, Lloyd.
ReplyDeleteWe could do with Richard Osgood,the MOD's archaeologist for Salisbury Plain, addressing himself to this potential mission.
ReplyDeleteWhy Tony? What benefit is there from knowing: once that's sorted out, there might be a case. Seems unlikely that this piece of information would happen to be located just in the place that is inaccessible, so would need an exceptionally good cost/benefit argument. Same applies to the idea of doing a proper transport assessment study by people with appropriate expertise.
On looking at the statistics, in normal circumstances this blog gets between 1,000 and 2,000 hits per day, but when there is a bit of a stir going on -- as with my Waun Mawn paper and the Newall Boulder paper, the number of hits goes up to around 5,000 per day. This lasts for maybe a couple of weeks, and then things quieten down again.........
ReplyDeleteAt the times of peak viewings, the majority of hits do not come from internet searches (Google etc) but from people who are in possession of the URL, coming either from a press release or from media coverage, or from personal recommendations.
It’s great to see so many people accessing your work Brian, hats off to you.
ReplyDeleteJon: I don't see why Richard Osgood might NOT be asked to look into this issue. I am not suggesting he spends a vast amount of his time and effort pursuing the whereabouts of the bluestones erratics train. To the best of my knowledge, there still exists an Archaeological Conservation Group within the Salisbury Plain Training Area ( SPTA). They are 95 % volunteers. Richard should provide the leadership. Salisbury Plain is the same size as the Isle of Wight. A good proportion is within the SPTA. BUT I'm sure that if we could see Richard liaise with our Brian, some applied intelligence from the friendly expert glacial geomorphologist would narrow down the acreage search. Thus, the cost/ benefit ratio would be more favourable. I used to work within the same council department as the Wiltshire Council Archaeologist Roy Canham (now retired), and I was a member of the SPTA's Imber Area Conservation Group which Roy led. There's another thing: Richard Osgood has led a superficial re - excavation, last year, of the Neolithic Boles Barrow, renowned for the apparent location of a bluestone when excavated in 1803 by William Cunnington. (and he knew a great deal about geology ). Richard Osgood is we are told to be returning to Boles Barrow with his band of Army veterans.
ReplyDeleteRichard Osgood has an important connection to Operation Nightingale, which enables Army veterans to work on archaeological sites with mental health and self esteem benefits to these participants.
ReplyDelete