Two crazy coincidences in the last month have led me to stumble onto a whole new world I had never encountered before, both at ancient sites.
A few weekends ago myself and my wife rested on a few boulders at the top of Knocknarea and considered Maeves Cairn from afar for a while the crowds dispersed. I noticed a stone leaning against the boulders that looked completely out of place and on closer inspection we found it concealed a black plastic bag. We weren't really sure what to do with the bag, was there a decapitated head inside? Maybe some coke cans and banana skins? A prodding with my boot confirmed that it rattled so we had a gawk inside.
In the bag was a small plastic tupperware box, inside the box was a bag with a notebook, a bottle opener, some keyrings, a CD, some stickers and a yo-yo. There was also a laminated card that informed us we had stumbled onto a geocache, a planted box of odds and ends delivered and retrieved by like-minded GPS users at sites all over the world. Flicking through the notebook we read the experiences and thoughts of dozens of people who had come across the box, intentionally and un-intentionally. We left my business card and took nothing.
This week I visited Beaghmore stone circles and it was a pretty dull day as usual so I whiled away the time removing cig butts and plastic bottles from inside the circles. Then I came across a printed sheet that had been soaked through. I couldn't read most of it but it said something about something under some big rocks, away from the old stones. Sure enough there was a couple of big rocks sitting by the sidelines in the long grass and between them was yet another plastic box with lots of goodies and baddies in it. I left another note in the book but didn't take anything or add anything.
So it turns out that there are hundreds of these boxes placed all over the place, in just about every country of the world, and a large proportion of them are at historical sites. It was interesting to read what people had written about the circles at Beaghmore and the view from Knocknarea, especially as most had only really come with an interest in finding the little box but were startled at the amazing span of history at the sites. It was a curious insight into how their world of finding little boxes and my our world of finding old stones overlapped and revealed some fresh perspectives.
So, geocaching.. Been there, done that? Any views on it as a good way of introducing people to ancient sites otherwise unvisited? Or are they just littering the countryside and even worse, bringing litterers out, like the ones at Beaghmore?
