tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post7194514461742842712..comments2024-03-28T22:13:17.139+00:00Comments on Stonehenge and the Ice Age: What was Callanish for?BRIAN JOHNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00413447032454568083noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-39572030519626143602018-07-11T13:05:19.522+01:002018-07-11T13:05:19.522+01:00Would love to constantly get updated outstanding b...Would love to constantly get updated outstanding blog!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-75755194340869221922014-06-18T15:23:23.651+01:002014-06-18T15:23:23.651+01:00Brian,
”Strange world....”
All the more reason ...Brian,<br /> <br /><i>”Strange world....”</i><br /><br />All the more reason why voices like yours and blogs like yours are essential. Even with their shortcomings.<br /><br />KostasConstantinos Ragazasnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-16275307899274720012014-06-18T10:14:23.891+01:002014-06-18T10:14:23.891+01:00Thanks Myris -- it's probably the same in most...Thanks Myris -- it's probably the same in most subjects. The bigger learned journals will peer review articles, the smaller ones (aimed at a general readership) won't. Mind you, peer reviewing is a far from perfect process. In some subjects, if an Editor is inclined to publish something controversial (or, more likely, something designed to reinforce the orthodox view of things) he will simply choose peer reviewers whom he can count on to deliver positive opinions. But many top-ranked journals now actually charge an author or an institution for publishing a paper -- a friend of mine was recently charged £2,000 for a paper of his to be published in a top journal. Fees like this get loaded onto the reasearch grant applications, and in the end they come from the taxpayer to line the pockets of Elsevier and the other big boys. Strange world.... BRIAN JOHNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00413447032454568083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-22780427618858678562014-06-18T09:02:18.059+01:002014-06-18T09:02:18.059+01:00PPS, JAS, have very rigorous peer reviewing;Antiqu...PPS, JAS, have very rigorous peer reviewing;Antiquity even peer review their book reviews. Arch n Wales peer review, the Inst. Of Arch. London even peer review their annual institute publication. Other journals have editorial boards.<br />I am sure it is the same in geography, smaller local journals probably do not.<br />Re the mace head lets hope the Breton suggested provenance and the newer Lewisian (not the one near Clacton) provenance are not best guesses of the same authority. Feet of clay set in shifting sands me hearties.<br />MMyris of Alexandrianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-4014832235008124462014-06-18T06:31:23.397+01:002014-06-18T06:31:23.397+01:00Peer-reviewed results? I wonder how many relevant...Peer-reviewed results? I wonder how many relevant journals rally use peer review these days? It seems to me that a lot of "evidence" appears in the pages of books these days without going through any peer review process. Which archaeo journals use peer review? Does anybody know?BRIAN JOHNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00413447032454568083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-39591788224063980462014-06-17T19:05:40.741+01:002014-06-17T19:05:40.741+01:00Myris I think is again winding us up in his claim ...Myris I think is again winding us up in his claim that about the "famous Lewisian Gneiss macehead now in Salisbury Museum and found close to SH".[15 June 2014 11.13]<br /><br />My research via the Internet, admittedly, indicates the gneiss has its provenance in Breton.<br /><br />Myris or any of your altar egos' could you please clarify. Thank you.TonyHnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-62347260683946374312014-06-17T18:55:22.819+01:002014-06-17T18:55:22.819+01:00Archaeologists are notoriously slow in publishing ...Archaeologists are notoriously slow in publishing their final results of excavation and analysis. Richard Atkinson is the example par excellence as regards Stonehenge, and has in recent years, ironically enough, been posthumously taken to task over this by the SRP Folk. Yet we still await much of their own findings, apart from what has mostly come via National Geographic and other sponsors. We still await peer -reviewed results.TonyHnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-50651155434917701832014-06-17T18:49:58.512+01:002014-06-17T18:49:58.512+01:00Well said, Chris, in your comment of 16 June 21.41...Well said, Chris, in your comment of 16 June 21.41.This is where the Rinyo - Clacton style and its geographically wide distribution is key.TonyHnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-28588104482924379642014-06-17T15:25:09.994+01:002014-06-17T15:25:09.994+01:00Kostas -- comment rejected. Lay off, please. Eno...Kostas -- comment rejected. Lay off, please. Enough of conspiracy theories.BRIAN JOHNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00413447032454568083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-49856807209444565422014-06-17T09:33:33.770+01:002014-06-17T09:33:33.770+01:00Quite so. Six years is a very long time for dig r...Quite so. Six years is a very long time for dig results to be properly published. Two generations of doctorate students have come and gone! A degree of sympathy for EH, and a few pokes to the archaeologists who need to get themselves organized. BRIAN JOHNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00413447032454568083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-46697160589553680852014-06-17T08:34:07.190+01:002014-06-17T08:34:07.190+01:00Kostas you have arcane knowledge denied to we less...Kostas you have arcane knowledge denied to we lesser folk. Amongst MPP's many new projects excavating in Stonehenge does not appear.<br />Were I EH I would want the monographs of all the 2008 excavations published before allowing more ground breaking<br />work.<br />I seriously doubt Dr Ixer would think Kostas a suitable confident in the careful negotiations regarding access to all things at Stonehenge. It would be a breach for him to suggest otherwise. <br />The only gravel at Stonehenge is the deep tenor voice of Dr Ixer repeating Stonehenge gravel, Stonehenge nonsense.<br />MMyris of Alexandrianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-6785808925800638002014-06-17T07:44:42.502+01:002014-06-17T07:44:42.502+01:00Chris -- I wouldn't argue against cultural con...Chris -- I wouldn't argue against cultural contacts on a pretty wide basis. Traded goods, weapon styles, even styles of tomb building point towards cultural "regions" and tribal territories. But I still think sandstones are boring! And of course a "fashion" for building stone monuments out of whatever stones were at hand, for prestige purposes or just for fun, might also have been widely disseminated and subscribed to by people all over the British Isles....BRIAN JOHNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00413447032454568083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-61983829733922172792014-06-16T22:04:05.004+01:002014-06-16T22:04:05.004+01:00I am able to speak on behalf of Dr Ixer, he would ...I am able to speak on behalf of Dr Ixer, he would drill and sample all unsampled above and below ground orthostats. However that is unlikely to happen. <br />M. Myris of Alexandrianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-89285612063702028522014-06-16T21:41:01.294+01:002014-06-16T21:41:01.294+01:00The pottery story points to a lot of communication...The pottery story points to a lot of communication and tendency to cultural conformity. I cannot think of any other scenario for people using the same style and designs over big distances.<br /><br />Here in Netherlands we find fine stone arrow heads attributed to the Beaker folk. They are practically the same as arrow heads found in UK and Poland from approximately the same time. Occam would suggest that there was a shared culture. (The same designs are found around Stonehenge).<br /><br />I find it easy to imagine that stone age people did attribute value to different types of stone and would recognise the source or identity. Myris observation is significant, I feel. However the stones were transported, the arrangement in the monument was not random.chris johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16210890033354730381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-90299377824537181682014-06-16T21:40:54.502+01:002014-06-16T21:40:54.502+01:00Brian,
Here is what puzzles me about Myris. Thoug...Brian,<br /><br />Here is what puzzles me about Myris. Though MPP will be doing excavations at Stonehenge soon, Myris has not even asked to include in this effort some simple surgical samples of the buried candidate stumps, SH32d/e. <br /><br />I have hard time justifying that. Or if he has asked, to insist sampling these. Arguing the need for the scientific integrity of his work. <br /><br /><i>How did the CRF rhyolite gravel got to be at SH</i>? We must not sweep this dirt under the debitage!<br /><br />KostasConstantinos Ragazasnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-75699898149360877802014-06-16T19:30:03.619+01:002014-06-16T19:30:03.619+01:00I'll leave Clacton on Sea for others to discus...I'll leave Clacton on Sea for others to discuss. Kostas, I think you are being unfair on Myris -- he can answer for himself, but I'm pretty sure he would love to get his hands on samples from every one of the standing stones and the stumps. It's English Heritage you need to blame for the lack of geological research activity.BRIAN JOHNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00413447032454568083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-32433271054196915252014-06-16T18:46:29.267+01:002014-06-16T18:46:29.267+01:00I think Myris, whose altar - ego (get it?) has aft...I think Myris, whose altar - ego (get it?) has after all got archaeological training and qualifications, would be very pleased if we all went away for a bit and looked up 'Rinyo - Clacton', and then applied this to the social geography of prehistoric Britain.TonyHnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-70400372645085112092014-06-16T18:45:48.276+01:002014-06-16T18:45:48.276+01:00Brian,
Sure the AS is an erratic! But Myris is hi...Brian,<br /><br />Sure the AS is an erratic! But Myris is hinting it is an erratic that started it all! I think I know what he means. Even as I know why he can't say so himself! Thus his <i>plaid talk</i>. And why he is no longer interested in sampling the stumps!<br /><br />KostasConstantinos Ragazasnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-57311477872518045442014-06-16T18:11:12.579+01:002014-06-16T18:11:12.579+01:00Don't buy the idea of sandstone blocks being s...Don't buy the idea of sandstone blocks being special -- they are, on the whole, utterly boring, because they are not really very interesting colour-wise, and from the point of view of texture they are boring too. And they are common-or-garden too -- and therefore virtually valueless. I might buy the idea of spotted dolerite being special, or even Lewisian gneiss, since they are actually quite attractive to look at.<br />As for transport, ever heard of a glacier, Myris? Just the one sandstone block at Stonehenge? That's not what you have been telling us...... not that that matters. There's just the one chunk of White Limestone in the till in Somerset, so far as we know, and nobody bothers about that. The Altar stone is an erratic, just like all the other monoliths that have come from the west.BRIAN JOHNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00413447032454568083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-87611187274100590462014-06-16T17:58:27.034+01:002014-06-16T17:58:27.034+01:00Myris of the plaid talk,
The AS is the reason for...Myris of the <i>plaid talk</i>,<br /><br />The AS is the <i>reason</i> for SH?! Does MPP know that? Or you are keeping it from him!<br /><br />I think, therefore, I understand you! And your reluctance to reveal plainly what you know. But you are so tempted and so tempting!<br /><br />No need for sampling … it spells trouble!<br /><br />KostasConstantinos Ragazasnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-77711249049392654142014-06-16T14:01:42.395+01:002014-06-16T14:01:42.395+01:00No at no time did I mention stones in boat trips m...No at no time did I mention stones in boat trips my vews on that are very well expressed in 'waiting by the river', that fantasy is totally of your own making not mine. <br /><br />But but just maybe the idea of sst monoliths being special did travel down the western seaboard, after all Rinyo-Clacton, albeit unfashionable and partly submerged(correct term is Grooved Ware set)is not a random juxtaposition of places names but a 20th cent idea.<br />Better Brogdar than Lourdes I say.<br />Otherwise we are left with the unlikely senario of a huge sst block being transported by Jack.<br />Just the one!!<br />M<br />Myris Elastosnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-31119719915821506062014-06-16T11:01:15.422+01:002014-06-16T11:01:15.422+01:00No prehistoric Maritime adventurers along the West...No prehistoric Maritime adventurers along the Western seaboard of what was to become Great Britain, then, just a 21st Century Wind - Up Merchant of many guises.tnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-30124397816798159972014-06-16T07:48:56.822+01:002014-06-16T07:48:56.822+01:00So did the builders of the various monuments searc...So did the builders of the various monuments search for sandstones as their "special" stones in their stone settings? What's the evidence for that? OK -- the Altar Stone is "different" but so -- apparently -- are two other Stonehenge monoliths in non-significant locations..... more info awaited on those. And there are no sandstones in the Callanish settings, so far as I know. Where are these special sandstones at Stenness and in other places? Nah -- Myris is winding up again. The stones built into the monuments were always the stones readily to hand, with some selection based on size, stone texture and colour. Simple.BRIAN JOHNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00413447032454568083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-83576899519334767132014-06-16T07:35:14.379+01:002014-06-16T07:35:14.379+01:00Yes I am throwing that suggestion-they searched fo...Yes I am throwing that suggestion-they searched for a match- into the mix whilst singing "brown stone in the ring true tralalala", "light my fire"<br />So perhaps a windup perhaps the new Great truth,I shall let history decide. <br />Or is it just a cosmic koan.<br />Myris.Myris of Alexandrianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-70851414917677891262014-06-15T21:20:06.263+01:002014-06-15T21:20:06.263+01:00I might be persuaded to re - write the lyrics to P...I might be persuaded to re - write the lyrics to Paul Simon's poignant and nostalgic "Homeward Bound" song, with haunting references to Callanais, Orkney, and South West Wales whilst "Sitting at a Railway Station" somewhere on Salisbury Plain during WW1 surrounded by primeval mist, etc, etc.<br /><br />those NOT wishing me to do so should, of course, forward their cheques in brown paper envelopes to my Stonehenge Box Office, c/o English Heritage.TonyHnoreply@blogger.com