Re: feelings vs facts | Forum — The Modern Antiquarian

Silbury Hill 180

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Trespass on SSSI sites

Rhiannon Sep 4, 2012 12:12:57

Replying to Evergreen Dazed

Of course you're not the enemy, I mean all this brilliant stuff "fills my thoughts every day" too as you must realise.

And as I said, nothing would make me happier than to sit in Skara Brae in a deerskin and try to grasp that ineffable thing that draws us all to these sites.

But what I'm saying is, we shouldn't do that at the sites that are in danger like Skara Brae, Silbury, Stonehenge. We have to respect them because we are the ones that really love them and we have to set an example to other people. How can we demand that other people respect them and look after them, if we then decide we're so Special that we can bend the rules? We love them So Much that we're allowed special dispensation? It won't wash. It's like those vermin politicians telling the country how to live (Back To Basics) and then having affairs and claiming for duck houses for their moats. If you've truly got principles then you have to stick by them, surely?

I'm sure we all have sites that are local to us, where nobody else seems to go, where you might meet another person occasionally, but often you wonder if it's just you and the partridges that even know it exists. And you can get that special tma connect-with-the-ancestors vibe at those places perfectly well = perhaps better than at a big half-spoiled show site like Avebury or wherever. There's no interpretation boards, no pavement, no mown grass, just you and whatever's left to snatch out of the landscape to try and imagine what it would have been like there 5000 years ago.

I'm not saying we shouldn't visit places like those and walk there, sit amongst them, picnic, chat, paint, whatever. That's the very thing we all love doing. And there's minimal harm because there aren't 70,000 visitors a year doing the same thing, maybe not even 70. But some places require us to put our personal whims aside and behave in the long term interests of the site and the people in the future that might want to see their inheritance too. I don't see that's so much to ask.

You seem to imply you just wouldn't be able to help yourself at Skara Brae. It's not a matter of huge willpower though? Erm shall I shan't I? Oh I simply must, I can't hold myself back, it's beyond my control? Surely not.

Also you seem to imply I'm being dishonest to myself for claiming I wouldn't do it. But I'm far from perfect and I really don't think I would. I think I could bear to hold myself back. It wouldn't be too much of a dilemma.

Evergreen Dazed Sep 4, 2012 12:48:32

Replying to Rhiannon

Rhiannon wrote:

How can we demand that other people respect them and look after them, if we then decide we're so Special that we can bend the rules? We love them So Much that we're allowed special dispensation? It won't wash.

I would not think I am special if I were to break a rule at Skara Brae and spend 2 minutes sitting on the floor in one of the houses.
I would not think it was my right or it was ok because "I know better than 99% of the general public", or that I have special dispensation.
Not at all. I would feel guilt.

But it goes beyond that, for me. It really does. But I cannot defend it.
This is why its a dilemma for me.
I suppose I could attempt a defence by saying that if 70,000 people did what I would do, exactly, sit on a modern gravel floor in one the houses, there would be no damage. But I realise I'm on difficult ground. (I don't mean the gravel would be uncomfortable :) )

Rhiannon wrote:

I'm going to get a bit weird now probably (if I haven't already).
Human beings made these places, and human beings are interested in them now, still. We are all clinging to a huge rock in an unfathomable universe.
In 40 years I won't be here (probably less).

If I am responsible for myself (theres not enough of this these days) and ensure I do no damage, then, yes, I simply MUST experience something as wonderful as one of those houses.
And the houses will still be there in 4000 years time if I treat them well whilst experiencing them.

Maybe that is an impossibility at Silbury Hill.

I can't resolve the argument to my satisfaction, and I know your opinion is the correct one in my heart, but I feel theres more to be explored in the detail.

Evergreen Dazed Sep 4, 2012 12:57:22

Replying to Rhiannon

Apologies if i've taken this a bit OT.

Mustard Sep 5, 2012 09:31:26

Replying to Rhiannon

Rhiannon wrote:

I don't think there's a "one size fits all" answer to this question. A lot depends on the nature of the individual site. If I could slip into Skara Brae at night, would I? Absolutely certainly. Is it doing any damage? No. Is it encouraging behaviour from others that will cause damage? No. In reality, very few people would care enough to follow my example - assuming they even knew about it in the first place. This is the old adage of "rules are made to be broken". While there's a need for rules, society has often recognised a need for those rules to be flexible enough to be broken occassionally, without that implying that the rules aren't important or should be abandoned. If a handful of people that care enough want to surreptitiously visit Skara Brae, it's not going to cause any problems.

Silbury Hill, on the other hand, is very different. Every person who climbs the hill is creating a visual encouragement for many, many others to do the same - and such behaviour could easily lead to significant damage.

Really, it just comes down to exercising a little bit of common sense.