Silbury Hill forum 180 room
Image by postman
Silbury Hill

Absurdity of time capsules

close
more_vert
moss M
moss Aug 15, 2007 13:44:51
Replying to FourWinds

FourWinds wrote:
fitzcoraldo wrote:
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. I guess the local children may have been involved in the excavation and by leaving something of themselves they then become part of the quarries history. This inturn may foster a sense of ownership and belonging.

cheers
fitz

If they did help to excavate it then they are already part of the place's history, because it has been recorded that they did so (if they did so).
I suppose you could also argue why the history of a neolithic quarry has anything to do with the children who just happen to live locally, do we have time capsules at castles, roman forts, iron age hillforts, not nitpicking here Fitz but just interested. I know we should teach our children to love the world around them and by making them write a few poems AT LEAST focus their minds on something definitely to do with history, but the world has moved on somewhat, as they will..
Also, secondary burials in barrows just shows a lazy tendency not to get the shovel/antlers pick out and dig a new grave.. and I expect votive offerings always come with a "Please god/goddess make me better, mend my broken heart, kill the neighbours pigs etc....

F fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo Aug 15, 2007 14:02:28
Replying to moss

"I suppose you could also argue why the history of a neolithic quarry has anything to do with the children who just happen to live locally, do we have time capsules at castles, roman forts, iron age hillforts, not nitpicking here Fitz but just interested. I know we should teach our children to love the world around them and by making them write a few poems AT LEAST focus their minds on something definitely to do with history, but the world has moved on somewhat, as they will..
Also, secondary burials in barrows just shows a lazy tendency not to get the shovel/antlers pick out and dig a new grave.. and I expect votive offerings always come with a "Please god/goddess make me better, mend my broken heart, kill the neighbours pigs etc...."

I guess if the children were descended from Welsh quarrymen or lived in commiunities established by quarrymen, it would be a way of acknowleging a lineage, that until recently remained unbroken, establishing a connection with their ancestory and the landscape around them.

I'm fairly neutral on the time capsule thing although I do think it indicates a certain lack of imagination.

As for secondary burials, could they not be seen as burials placed into ancestoral 'consecrated ground'? after all we still bury our dead in family graves.

cheers
fitz