Savages and howling barbarians​…

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tjj T
tjj Jan 13, 2011 10:53:42
Replying to Sanctuary

Sanctuary wrote:
When I was a member of the Southampton based group WATSUP (Wessex Association for The Study of Unexplained Phenomena) I had the great honour as a young man of meeting and speaking to Professor Atkinson on a field trip we made to Avebury and he presented me with a drawing he scrawled out on a piece of paper of the construction of Silbury Hill as he saw it during his excavation.

To speak to he was most humerous and witty. I also remember him saying the builders of Silbury would have 'stank' as there was no deoderant in those days.
This is his obituary
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/obituary-professor-richard-atkinson-1443428.html

For what it is worth I think he was a great man of his time.

Good for you Sanctuary for speaking up for someone who it is easy to discredit with the wisdom of hindsight. Where Silbury is concerned I believe the 1960s excavation was driven forward by the now revered David Attenborough, who actually speaks about it in his Foreward of The Story of Silbury Hill.

Archaeology, along with anthropology, is developing all the time. What was acceptable 50 years ago isn't today. Given that we went into the new century on the back of an illegal war which was discredited before it even began - as a society we can't shout too loudly in terms of moral high ground. The two 'world leaders' who drove that forward regardless of the voice of the people were to be discredited within a very short time indeed.

Sorry I digress, the principle of being wise with hindsight is the same. The best we can do is learn by the mistakes of the past and move forward.
A thought provoking piece by LS though.

J