tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post8992608570402467979..comments2024-03-28T00:46:01.084+00:00Comments on Stonehenge and the Ice Age: Sacred Stones and MadagascarBRIAN JOHNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00413447032454568083noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-59655681702226514642024-03-05T00:17:18.379+00:002024-03-05T00:17:18.379+00:00thanks for that post i will fly soon to madagascar...thanks for that post i will fly soon to madagascar for 3 weeks and i am very interessted in all the megaliths (stonestructures) and other native healer storys ect. if someone got contacts please write me thank you krake3@yahoo.deAlexander Krakolinignoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-12013448221570547502024-02-26T09:32:29.210+00:002024-02-26T09:32:29.210+00:00Madagascar has an 'Indonesian' background....Madagascar has an 'Indonesian' background.<br />https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/09/29/764638760/photos-the-dead-live-with-their-loved-ones-on-this-indonesian-island<br />whaa?whaa?https://www.blogger.com/profile/06848887834090568396noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-77841711991626590742024-02-26T09:06:34.671+00:002024-02-26T09:06:34.671+00:00Thanks for the comment, Anders. Gosh -- I had for...Thanks for the comment, Anders. Gosh -- I had forgotten about this conversation! Sadly, my good friend died some years ago. I never did have any more conversations with him on this topic, so I'l sorry there is nothing more that I can usefully add. All good wishes<br /><br />BrianBRIAN JOHNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00413447032454568083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-60315618599711703582024-02-26T06:27:58.712+00:002024-02-26T06:27:58.712+00:00Dear Brian,
As an anthropologist of Madagascar I ...Dear Brian,<br /><br />As an anthropologist of Madagascar I was intrigued reading what your ex-missionary friend told about talking the dead back to the village, feeding them, and then talking a long, complicated way back so they would lose their sense of direction. I haven't heard about this practice before (but Madagascar is huge and culturally varied, so no surprise), but I'd love to hear/read more. Are you still in contact with him?<br /><br />All the best,<br />Anders Norge LauridsenAnders Norge Lauridsenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01995631507297904784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-1993741884416043922012-08-06T08:28:10.777+01:002012-08-06T08:28:10.777+01:00Mr B -- or whoever you are (I hate this Anonymous ...Mr B -- or whoever you are (I hate this Anonymous stuff, and offer much greater respect to those who are honest enough to use their own names)-- many points here.<br /><br />Let's make it clear -- I have nothing against analogies. We all use them in our interpretations, in all fields of science. this particular blog is full of them, some more tongue-in-cheek than others. I really respect archaeologists who investigate carefully in the field, lay out their evidence honestly and accurately, examine alternative explanations for what they have found, and then (using analogies from elesewhere) suggest working hypotheses for what they think has been going on in the area of investigation. then, all being well, and with due respect for science, they and others test the working hypothesis to destruction and modify it if necessary. (It always is necessary...)<br /><br />What I object to is crap science, in which archaeologists (some of them very senior figures)invent evidence, tell lies, and impose a ruling hypothesis which cannot possibly be supported by the evidence which they have placed in the public domain.<br /><br />Why do they do this? God knows. You tell me. But it does archaeology no good at all.BRIAN JOHNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00413447032454568083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-41745099225250220952012-08-03T22:32:10.527+01:002012-08-03T22:32:10.527+01:00Hi Brian,
Excuse the sarcasm - though I do find it...Hi Brian,<br />Excuse the sarcasm - though I do find it to be a recurrent feature of your posts.<br /><br />You're right in pointing out that analogies prove nothing, however I fear your going to be sorely disappointed if your waiting for anyone to <i>prove</i> anything about the meaning or purpose of Stonehenge and its surroundings.<br /><br />Is it ever possible to definitively prove anything about purpose or meaning of prehistoric monuments? In short no, because as Sahlins famously commented - "The people, they're dead". Archaeologists might as well pack they're bags and go home, or perhaps retire and start a blog.<br /><br />Alternatively they could opt to provide strictly evidence based interpretations of the past and I would be interested to know your opinions on this. Empirical analysis and scientific enquiry can, and must, be used to make solid, factual (for you perhaps 'proven') statements about ancient environments and material culture, but how far does this <b>actually</b> get us?<br /><br />Up to around the late 1970s as it happens - after which processual archaeology was thankfully abandoned. Again, I would find your opinion on this interesting. <br /><br />I think it's important to understand what archaeologists like MPP are attempting to achieve when using analogies like the above. Strictly speaking his interpretation is not much different from your rather nice suggestion that Stonehenge, like the henge at Achill, might have been built as a symbol of protest. Your suggestion used the intentions of a 21st century western property developer as analogous whilst MPPs used the beliefs of a modern tribal community from Madagascar who use stone to venerate the ancestors. <br /><br />Importantly, both are interpretations are valid and neither one can either prove nor disprove the other. My suspicion is that your trashing of MPPs theories is because you feel it is somehow unjust for one interpretation to be valued more highly than another, especially when people are making good careers out of it.<br /><br />Yet, if you think it's possible to say anything interesting about the <b>meaning or purpose</b> of millennia old monuments without being wild or irresponsible then i'd have to question your grip on reality or, if you'd rather people refrained from saying anything about these things which can't be proven we'd be faced with an archaeology of statistics which would be to deny the meaning that we invest in the material world on a day to day basis (plus, your Achill theory would be breaking the rules).Bnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-51700835512206089742012-07-31T21:56:35.076+01:002012-07-31T21:56:35.076+01:00... sorry, I intended to put this: "...... h...... sorry, I intended to put this: "...... how attractive the Madagascar analogy might be..."BRIAN JOHNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00413447032454568083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-49002336800242811612012-07-31T21:53:54.755+01:002012-07-31T21:53:54.755+01:00Leaving your heavy sarcasm to one side, B, I think...Leaving your heavy sarcasm to one side, B, I think I know what a relational analogy is. I know next to nothing about this field of ethnography, but I tried to report honestly on the things my friend told me. We both know that analogies prove nothing -- and no matter how the Madagascar analogy might be, I still think MPP and his colleagues (of whom you are one?) have made wild and rather irresponsible leaps of faith in their explanations of the "purposes" behind some of the features in the Stonehenge landscape.BRIAN JOHNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00413447032454568083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-91918227810763656562012-07-31T19:27:05.782+01:002012-07-31T19:27:05.782+01:00Hi Brian,
By highlighting the fact the Malagasy &#...Hi Brian,<br />By highlighting the fact the Malagasy 'ancestor stones' belief system is only a few centuries old (and therefore of no use in interpreting Stonehenge) you are in fact demonstrating your failure to understand what a relational analogy is.<br /><br />Well done.<br /><br />B.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com