Re: Absurdity of time capsules | Forum

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Absurdity of time capsules

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fitzcoraldo Aug 15, 2007 13:35:12

Replying to FourWinds

true nuff Tom
but who's to know that, some dusty report in the county archive isn't all that inspiring.
I think that perhaps if these places were elevated in the public imagination then they might just be treated differently and given a little more love and respect. It's gotta be better than just preserving them as some kind of relic, forever frozen in time.
It should always be a case by case thing but I personally haven't got any big problems with including peoples responses to ancient sites along side the sites themselves.
I've seen a couple of really nice examples. The rock art at Ashove in Derbyshire has some lovely stuff made by the kids as a response to the carvings.
This lovely plaque has been mounted beside the wonderful High banks panel http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/37453/images/high_banks.html.
Saying that I was never to fond of that chrome egg thing at the Rollrights but that's just me.

fitzcoraldo Aug 15, 2007 13:46:30

Replying to fitzcoraldo

Tom,
what's the name of that wonderful megalithic roundabout on the edge of a coucil estate, the one with the statue of the virgin on it?
I'd love that in my neighbourhood.
(-:

FourWinds Aug 15, 2007 14:45:19

Replying to fitzcoraldo

fitzcoraldo wrote:

I think that perhaps if these places were elevated in the public imagination then they might just be treated differently and given a little more love and respect.

I'm all for promoting these places, naturally. That's exactly why I have my website. I'm hoping that the poems were left in a sensible place close to the quarry and so don't impinge on it unnecessarily.

fitzcoraldo wrote:

It's gotta be better than just preserving them as some kind of relic, forever frozen in time.

But where do you draw the line. If I own a portal tomb, should I be allowed to wrap it in tin foil, for instance? If so, should I be allowed to square off the capastone so that it's a nice shape and more asthetically pleasing to me? Should I be able to install a counter and sell icecreams through the portal?

fitzcoraldo wrote:

It should always be a case by case thing but I personally haven't got any big problems with including peoples responses to ancient sites along side the sites themselves.

Case by case is always the way, I agree. I love to see such things, too. At Ballynageeragh portal tomb in Waterford there's a little sign made by the local school, but this is 50m from the tomb as you approach. At Carnagat, Co. Tyrone (I think), there's a lovely big sign by the local historical society, who bought the tomb and fenced it in and laid a path across the bog to it. The latter is just 5m from the front of the southern court, though.

Littlestone Aug 15, 2007 17:15:22

Replying to fitzcoraldo

It should always be a case by case thing but I personally haven't got any big problems with including peoples responses to ancient sites along side the sites themselves.

Case by case absolutely. I think there are/were plans to put a time capsule (might have been called a casket actually) behind one of the new blocks at York Minster - can't remember what was going in it though. But if it contained the names of the masons who cut the new stones, or one or two of their chisels etc., that would be a little piece of history from the present to the future. It also ties in with what you said above, "I suppose it's all about how you view and interact with sites. My personal opinion is that these monuments are not dead, their histories are still being written."

There's a difference between leaving a few masons tools at York Minster, though, and leaving inappropriate objects actually in Silbury. At York Minster the masons, carpenters etc are engaged in a creative/conservation exercise to preserve the structure. At Silbury, the leaving of a time capsule is nothing more than an English Heritage media exercise, while leaving the Atkinson/BBC door and lintel in place is simply continuing the unprofessional practices of the recent past.