Rupert Soskin wrote:
Hi Jane,
Thanks so much, Mike and I are both pretty thrilled that our time wasn't wasted.
Regarding Bryn Celli Ddu, I have much more experience in geology than archaeology and have a fair bit of petrified wood in my own collection. It's quite true that I sat on the floor of the chamber like a gibbering idiot and still don't really understand why it hasn't been picked up before. The thing is that, even if it is a freak piece of stone (unlikely), its reason for being there makes total sense in terms of representing life and death. It was definitely one of the high points of our journey.
best wishes and thanks again
Rupert
Yeah, what he said!
And it's true about the gibbering idiot. Floored us both, actually. I think there's photos of us both looking pretty dim in that chamber somewhere on the Slideshow in the Special Features. Difficult to talk about without actually having the think in front of you - it s hard to make the case from photography alone because you need to see the way those 'cut' marks assault the eye as something made with a single blow to wood rather than something painstakingly etched in stone. You'd need a diamond cutter they're so clean and sharp!
Thanks - and look forward to meeting you in April at Chipping Norton Theatre, if you can make it.
