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moss wrote:
Well it does'nt seem to be all under wraps, MPP seems to be giving a lecture next week at Wiltshire Heritage Museum to members of the museum on the subject of the excavation, so............. presumably Bluehenge will have to be mentioned now, if it was'nt already going to be talked about anyway, methinks there is a bit of elitism going on here!


http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/78923/wiltshire.html

Hi all - haven't posted here in a long time but reading this thread I think I need to put a little something in too.

I was lucky enough to be a volunteer at this year's dig from test pitting all through until the end and at no point were we told not to tell anyone about what has been found. Nothing was top secret and MPP openly showed residents around and anyone who came venturing into the private land. It was my first encounter with MPP and he was a good bloke, always willing to answer questions and actually got his hands dirty teaching us "newbies" how to trowel correctly. He isn't an elistest kind of guy, infact he was quite open to discussing new theories, not only on Stonehenge but Avebury and the links between the two. Put it this way, he wasn't into himself at all and his ego was never flaunted - he was very down to earth.

With regards to the "lecture" - let me clear this up for us. The majority of the volunteers were from the WAHNS group - Wiltshire Archaeology and History Society which are linked to the museum in Devizes. It's our AGM on that evening and MPP has kindly offered to give a talk at the end of the evening updating the volunteers who helped him dig - you could say a kind of thankyou for 3 weeks free labour! There is no elitism going on here, anyone is free to be a member of the WAHNS group.

If anyone has any questions I'll do my best to help.

lilydee05 wrote:
moss wrote:
Well it does'nt seem to be all under wraps, MPP seems to be giving a lecture next week at Wiltshire Heritage Museum to members of the museum on the subject of the excavation, so............. presumably Bluehenge will have to be mentioned now, if it was'nt already going to be talked about anyway, methinks there is a bit of elitism going on here!


http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/78923/wiltshire.html

Hi all - haven't posted here in a long time but reading this thread I think I need to put a little something in too.

I was lucky enough to be a volunteer at this year's dig from test pitting all through until the end and at no point were we told not to tell anyone about what has been found. Nothing was top secret and MPP openly showed residents around and anyone who came venturing into the private land. It was my first encounter with MPP and he was a good bloke, always willing to answer questions and actually got his hands dirty teaching us "newbies" how to trowel correctly. He isn't an elistest kind of guy, infact he was quite open to discussing new theories, not only on Stonehenge but Avebury and the links between the two. Put it this way, he wasn't into himself at all and his ego was never flaunted - he was very down to earth.

With regards to the "lecture" - let me clear this up for us. The majority of the volunteers were from the WAHNS group - Wiltshire Archaeology and History Society which are linked to the museum in Devizes. It's our AGM on that evening and MPP has kindly offered to give a talk at the end of the evening updating the volunteers who helped him dig - you could say a kind of thankyou for 3 weeks free labour! There is no elitism going on here, anyone is free to be a member of the WAHNS group.

If anyone has any questions I'll do my best to help.

Thank you for that, you obviously sussed my 'thats not fair' immediate reaction to the news ;). But to be quite honest the whole affair flashed on to our screens in the form of a pretty rotten newspaper article and we were piqued.
I do love and know the museum, it has a vast store of knowledge that has been accumulated over many years about 'Wessex' its archaeology and the natural history of the downs.
Anyway, now that the news is out, I expect the fuss will die a natural death, as Rhiannon keeps pointing out its only a patch of earth for goodness sake.

Edit... Not to imply that it is'nt a marvellous find by the way, only that it needs another thread to discuss it rationally.....

Good to hear it from the perspective of someone who was there, thanks for that. Sounds like an interesting experience, I'm jealous!