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Saith Maen
Re: What criteria for a natural TMA monument?
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GLADMAN wrote:
tiompan wrote:
I don't believe that I gave the impression that the " sheer physical aspect " is my macho bag ,or only warrior elites took part in rituals in hilly areas , although the former does have it's place and I wouldn't exclude the latter as a possibility .Warriors , like grannies don't get much of a mention in prehistory .Similarly I wouldn't be happy using 21 st C punters abilities or asthetics as a yard stick in judging those of the Bronze Age or earlier in any terrain particularly if it was their native heath/hill . We next to nothing about about all that , but we do have Oetzi ,he was found at 3210 m more than twice the height of Britains highest hill. I did find the Neil Oliver &Mark Edmonds attitude at the Langdale Pikes instructive , they had a nice stroll up ,you can keep your ahnds in your pockets all the way if need be ,then commented upon how the "factory workers " would have been considered the situation ,pretty demeaning in my book . People have always worked or went to incredibly difficult places throughout history it's one of the things we are good at.


Apologies Tiompan, the 'macho bag' line wasn't in reference to you at all... clearly seeking out rock art and such is evidence you seek much more than some physical fix. It was a general reference to the sort of person I've encountered damaging cairns, quoting 'record' ascent times in bars and such - no respect for the landscape whatsoever, just viewing it as something to be 'conquered.' Ridiculous. I make no apologies at all for stating these type of people leave me cold.

It is of course true mankind has always worked in inhospitable places - Welsh slate miners walking 10 miles across mountains to work are perhaps archetypal cases - but skeletons riddled with arthritis at 40 tell their own story. Sooner rather than later such regular, extreme activity will exact its toll. Were Bronze Age people really much different from us? Very few Welsh people I've met - other than farmers - have been up their local hill more than once, if at all.... no reason to, apparently.


I can still recall the jaw dropping first sight of Fell Runners , but it is as much their "playground " as ours or barefoot ascenders of "holy hills " .
It's very common for locals not to visit their local hill top /museum and not that long ago not venture out of the parish or county .
Ethnography has examples of locals hardly noticing the backdrop of local hills , some may bother to investigate but if they are unimportant economically and don't overly influence the weather they are basically ignored . None of that helps with prehistoric attitudes though . Oliver and Edmonds clearly believed the Neolithic quarriers were different from us in their attitude to the landscape at Langdale .


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tiompan
Posted by tiompan
27th February 2011ce
09:34

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