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Nebra Disc Fake?
Archaeologists have revived the debate over whether a spectacular Bronze Age disc from Germany is one of the earliest known calendars.
The Nebra disc is emblazoned with symbols of the Sun, Moon and stars and said by some to be 3,600 years old.
BBC
see
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6722953.stm
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Watton town sight: the babes and the wood, the easter hare jumping over some beer?
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plan view of the circle in 1722. click on 'this album' link for more of Avebury.
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Superb Image and text explaining the Weyland myth and the connections with other myths and legends.
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Two slides of the smithy from the archive of the Oxford Institute of Archaeology.
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Cashtal yn Ard in Manx-Gaelic means 'Castle of the Height'.
Source: The Folklore of the Isle of Man, by Margaret Killip.
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Tumuli
Gaunt trees, scant shelter
For the grass covered barrow
On wind caressed downland
Overlooking the vale
The ancient chalk highway
A stone's throw away
Lies vacant, brooding;
Acknowledges whispers, inaudible echoes
Vibrations from invisible feet
Weathered sarsen monoliths
Stand to attention
Lichen encrusted overseers
Of a strange uneasy place
The pulse quickens, reactive sensation
An incorporeal feeling;
The heart of past centuries
Although hidden, still beats.
David Pike
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Iron age settlement site. Pottery and a skeleton found in the 19th Century. (ref: Smith 1894, Victoria County History, Beds.)
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Includes the info:
'Adwell Cop is an ancient entrenchment supposed to have been constructed by the Danes when they burnt Oxford in 1010.'
(included here as links to change and expire)
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Iron age settlement site. Finds of pottery. (ref: Bradford 1942).
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'A small detached hillock, about midway between Tetsworth and Lewknor, some 1½ miles from the foot of the Chiltern escarpment' - (quote found somewhere on that there 'Tinternet')
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SP981221 Nearby settlement site at Totternhoe.
Storage pits and hearth. Finds included: high round shouldered jars and a bronze vase-headed pin. Iron age. (ref: Hawkes 1940)
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Pits cut into chalk, pottery finds with unique horseshoe decoration. Also, finds of bone, bronze and iron objects. (ref: Richardson & Young 1951)
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Settlement site with intercutting pits. Finds of pottery, bone and bronze ring-headed pin. (Head & Piggot 1946)
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Bozedown, Whitchurch: Univallate enclosure of 58 acres.
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Univallate enclosure of about 4 acres and Heavily ploughed.
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'One great occasion in the Vale was the pastime accompanying the scouring of Uffington's White Horse. It usually took place in Uffington Castle but occasionally moved to Kingston Lisle or Seven Barrows Farm...'
From 'Rural Life in the Vale of the White Horse' by Nigel Hammond.
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Interesting that the festival didn't always take place at Uffington Castle:
The Kingston Lisle site must be because Mr Atkins owned the Estate there (and it's reasonably close by, and must have had an inn or tavern).
Seven Barrows Farm (near the Lambourn Seven Barrows site) may have been in the area of the barrows, but after you've finished scouring, that's a fair trek across the downs (you'd probably go past Rams Hill and head towards it that way). Did they get the payment in beer on the hill (and therefore wandered drunk over to Seven Barrows Farm) or when they arrived?
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New bunkhouse at YHA Clyffe Pypard
A newly renovated bunkhouse set in a converted skittle alley and attached
to a real ale pub has been leaving guests 'bowled over' in Wiltshire.
Recently opened YHA Clyffe Pypard is conveniently located right next to the Goddard Arms and has already welcomed a steady stream of visitors from all over the world.
click for complete article
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Clip from an episode of Robin of Sherwood (the eighties one, not the one on telly at the mo), entitled 'Swords of Wayland'. - they don't make them like they used too!
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Notes on Puck of Pooks Hill and the Sword of Weyland. Nice piccy of Mr Smith aswell.
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Teutonic/Scandinavian Roots of Mr Smith. Not sure I want to go into the 'Spae-Realms' though, down the pub sounds like more fun. ;-)
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Interesting look at how Blacksmiths are viewed as devilish in folklore and culture. Much text about the Vulcan!
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The rain broke in the afternoon, and having some free time, I decided to scout the hillfort.
Herein lies the problem with some sites, some of them are private property (cue Marxist rants) and being of the opinion that it is better to err on the side of caution, I donned the trusty combats and DPM jacket and proceeded with caution in the horseless carriage up the road to the site.
Following the OS map, I meandered through the wonderful villages of the vale, made a few wrong turns (ok, nobody's perfect), doubled back and eventually made landfall near the site. Parking in the access road for St. Mary (blesséd be her name) Lodge, I clambered out of the motor and grabbed the faithful digi (including spare battery) and eyed the landscape.
A hedge and a barbed wire fence pose little issue with a country lad, so I tramped in a straight line across from the motor and launched myself through the hedgerow and over the wire.
The field had many established trees in it (and a herd of cattle who thankfully were far away to my right - bulls and bullocks can be troublesome), and I could see the rise of the topography clearly ahead. A cracking view of Uffington and the White Horse is clearly visible from here. Was this place in opposition to the Atrebates? With the river Thames and its tributaries being the possible tribal boundary, it may be and it's obvious from this hillfort location, that you could keep an eye on Uffington.
Across another fence (with the music from mission impossible rattling around me skull) I came across a road and could see the tell tale embankments of a hill fort in front of me. Being conspiciously camoflaged, I looked left and right and with confirmation of the coast being clear, dashed across into cover.
The whole site is very overgrown with mature trees and established 'jungle'. This makes it very difficult to work out what it what and where is where. A little tree strewn valley led me up to the earthwork. It seemed small to me, until I realised that I was on the edge of the fort and not in it (init!). The bunnys had moved in and there was plenty of burrows to see.
I explored more and found a fence with open fields beyond. Was that it? Cos it seemed a tiny hillfort to me. I realised that the piece I'd been in was just part of the complex. Beyond the fence I could see the buildings of a large private house and more earthworks. Keen to explore without being exposed, I followed the fence line (crossing more barbed wire) and could then see the bigger picture. This hillfort runs the length of the contour and I'd just been at the beginning!
The ditches and banks are less defined than, say, Uffington, but if the field beyond is the interior of the fort, then it's a biggy. Being in full view of the house didn't seem like a good idea, so I grabbed some snaps (the bunny's didn't mind at all) and headed back whence I'd came to explore the other side.
A lovely tree lined avenue headed towards the house and looked tempting, but I avoided the temptation and went back to where I started. Whoops - a car came up the drive and I mingled nicely into the background. The site is adjacent to the road and every engine noise put me on edge.
I footed back over my original path and looked at the field below the site. Like all hillforts, you can see the problem with charging uphill and attacking - you'd be exhausted before you reached the fight!
I did spot a lovely earthwork circle in the field below. Didn't look like a barrow, but def a circular earthwork of some description. Maybe it was a hut circle? Feeling vulnerable in the middle of a field with no cover, I twitched as another car came up the drive - better safe than sorry I thought, and I guess my luck had run out, so I headed back to the car and over the hedge and barbed wire. Sat in the car, I couldn't help thinking that I might be a looney-tune, and that it was OK to go a stomping and that we have a right to see our heritage. But, I know how precious landowners are 'bout their little bit of land, and I know gamekeepers that carry shotguns (OK, so I'm a big rabbit) and was thankful that it's better to be 'invisible' if you can.
I guess it's a different mentality than wandering moors and fells, were nobody gives a toss what stones or lumps and bumps you're looking at, in the South it's more a case of 'Get orf MY land'... or else!
And was it on a Mary or Michael Ley Line?
Dunno
WF
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official Icknield Way web site (encompasess the Rudge)
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Live near the Ridgeway and most interested in sites 'up the rudge'.
Hates: people leaving rubbish at Wayland Smithy (groan, gripe, rant, rage, dribble etc!)
Loves: people taking their rubbish away with them in bags. And yes, that includes nitelites, coins (at least make them silver!), glass, sweet wrappers and dog ends.
Q. what's brown and sticky?
A. try collecting firewood at Waylands.
THINK. would you shit in a church?
... ... ... here endeth the rant
} cUrReNt NoNsEnSe {
Doesn't pagan to a roman just mean some old person who lives in the sticks?
"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?"
"God dammit Jim, I'm a Doctor not a Dealer"
"We have sat waiting like this many times before. Sometimes I tire... of the fighting and killing. At night, I can hear the call of my race. They wait for me. When I join them, we will be forgotten."
"We're dealing with a Gnome! A Devil!... A Devil? Now you listen to me. The Devil in the Keep wears a black uniform, has a Death's Head in his cap, and calls himself a Sturmbannführer!"
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