Re: Time Team Tiny Henge Hey? | Forum — The Modern Antiquarian

Spaceship mark Jan 19, 2004 11:21:30

Replying to fitzcoraldo

I really rather liked Francis Pryor's 'Seahenge' book (which wasn't actually about Seahenge that much). But in Britain BC he puts forward this idea of landscapes being divided into the realm of the living and the realm of ancestors and really does put it forward (almost) as fact.
I have infinite respect for what he's done but this has mainly been wetland, non-megalithic stuff. What stands out in Britain BC is the lack of megalithic stuff and him shoehorning his 'realms' theory onto the Stonehenge landscape. If he had chosen a 'simpler' site he probably could have been much more convincing.
Not to say he isn't a hard working and very good archaeologist with mountains of knowledge, cos he is.

fitzcoraldo Jan 19, 2004 11:41:13

Replying to Spaceship mark

"What stands out in Britain BC is the lack of megalithic stuff and him shoehorning his 'realms' theory onto the Stonehenge landscape. If he had chosen a 'simpler' site he probably could have been much more convincing".

It's not just Pryor's theory. Parker Pearson & Ramilisonia wrote a nice paper on the subject which was published in Antiquity 1998.
Drop me an e-mail and I'll scan you a copy.

Kozmik_Ken Jan 19, 2004 12:17:51

Replying to Spaceship mark

>I really rather liked Francis Pryor's 'Seahenge' book

That's another one in my 'to read' pile... which is beginning to resemble Richard Dreyfus's living room in Close Encounters.

I kinda think that he's on to something with his zoning ideas... but I'll have to actually read his books before I make my own mind up about that.

I did wonder myself why one of the divers didn't just take a look at the causeway, rather than carting all the hardware out n' zooming info up to a satellite. If you've got it, flaunt it I suppose! That GPS device the guy up the hill had looked pretty neat!