Mega-Talk (Megalithic)

[Boreades]

Meanwhile, back in deepest East Wiltshire, it looks like somebody is rewilding Wiltshire with some novelty species. Folks near Marlborough have already been surprised by
[url]http://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/11357103.Hopes_g
row_that_Wanda___Wiltshire_s_wandering_wallaby___will_be_re
united_with_owners/[/url]Wanda, the wandering wallaby, and now another one has been spotted near Calne

http://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/11360921.Now_Calne_
motorist_is_surprised_by_wallaby_crossing_road/?ref=mr

My favourite bit? Here:
http://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/11320887.Runaway_wa
llaby_spotted_bounding_toward_Pewsey/

The wallaby was first spotted in a quiet housing estate in Marlborough late on Wednesday. Brian Williams thought he must have had more to drink than he had realised when he saw the creature as he walked back from Marlborough Football Club on Elcot Lane just before 11pm.

He alerted police and the officers who went out said there was a wallaby hopping along at 15mph towards the A4 London Road.

Irene Pielke, 59, was returning to her home in Elcot Nurseries by car at 10pm and was just turning into Elcot Lane when she spotted the animal sitting in the middle of the road. 'My friend and I looked at each other and said, 'We're in the wrong continent', she said.

That phone call to the police must have been a gem.
"Sarge, we've got a bloke on the phone who's just come out the pub and says he's seeing a wallaby on the A4".

Still, we needed something special to cheer us up. Crop Circle sightings are way down, and the Crop Circle Conference has called time. This year's Conference has said it's the last, because "the energies have moved on".

And that's the end of this evening's special broadcast on the Weird & Wonderful World of Wiltshire.
Evenin' all.

[Mick Harper]

This significant exchange occurred on the Megalithic Portal

[Hatty]

The village of Tyndrum was at the centre of a confrontation between the National Parks Authority and villagers over the proposed re-opening of a gold mine. Tyndrum is (just) part of the Loch Lomond National Park



and, like Tarbet, is on the A82, the road linking Glasgow to Fort William.

Environmentalists opposing the restoration of the mine kept waving at the wonderful scenery oblivious apparently of the large expanses of conifers blighting the landscape. (Exactly the same thing occurred in a programme about a national park in the middle of Wales with equally ugly scenery.)

[Mick Harper]

It looks as though somebody (everybody?) has beaten us to the punch re megalithic markers being to guide ships in. Here's the comment

[Hatty]

Doesn't look like much of an observation point. Would a sailor be able to distinguish this cairn, particularly from a distance, considering the cairn-like aspect of the terrain as a whole? Or indeed wish to find himself within wrecking range of the Isle of Lewis's east coast?

The Eye Peninsula (q.v.) is however an ideal landing place/navigation marker.

[Boreades]

[Tilo Rebar]

Wow, what a coincidence. Just returned to Sunny Sussex after a nice long break near Ormsary, Sterlingshire which was on the shore of Loch Caolispor, very close to Boreades meridian line.

Did a guided walk around the Vale of Kilmartin and was amazed at how much ancient stuff was lying around. Also visited the hill fort and township at Dunadd, just a little way south of the Kilmartin museum. It is said to be one of the strongholds of the Celtic Dal Riata.

Interestingly, near the summit I came across this...



Remind you of anything?

The whole area has been populated since the early Neolithic - a Megalithic trig-point and trade hub perhaps?

[Boreades]

Looks like a socket-hole for a marker post of some kind?

[Tilo Rebar]

The BBC are going to air a programme tomorrow (11-Sep-14) @ 20:00 on BBC2 called "Operation Stonehenge: What Lies Beneath". It shows results of a recent radar and magnetometer survey of the Stonehenge landscape which has identified several new monuments.

Here's a map of the new finds...



Larger map on the link here...

http://oi61.tinypic.com/2d26nvk.jpg

These are some of the finds as pictured by the magnetometer...



Larger version of above here...

http://oi57.tinypic.com/hrx16b.jpg

So many circles it's making my head spin!

More info on these exiting developments here...

http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/latest/2014/09/new-map-reveals-hidden-archaeology-of-stonehenge-10-09-14.aspx

[Boreades]

Yes indeed!



As usual, the usual suspects (archeos) can only mutter "ritual objects".

Our friend Jon has started the process of expanding a 'non-ritual' explanation:

http://www.megalithic.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=Forum&file=viewtopic&topic=6412&forum=4

[Boreades]

Re Tilo's pic, my first observation is the position of these new finds. All are on (what looks like) the high ground. Which is in keeping with my "Keeping your feet dry, 5000 years ago" theme.

[Tilo Rebar]

[Tilo Rebar]

Anyone watch the programme about the new finds around Stonehenge?

I felt that the factual bits were very interesting, but the other 70% was the usual boring blurb about 'sacred landscapes', along with failed attempts to jazz things up a bit by showing our antecedents killing each other.

If you believed the archaeologists, everyone would have been so busy creating and using this 'sacred landscape' that there would have been little time left for them to earn a living.

Here's hoping next week's programme has more meat, but I expect it will be slim pickings again.

[Boreades]

The cult word "ritual" was mentioned so many times that my toys went way out my pram, and I have had to humbly apologise to M'Lady Boreades for the abuse the TV screen received.

[Boreades]

Other postings on TME and MCUK have reaffirmed my impartial and unbiased opinion that the ortho-archaeos in charge at Stonehenge are either complete wankers or just a total waste of space.

"How did you arrive at this judgement?" I hear you cry.

A lot seems to hinge (or henge) on (a) how current-day people perceive the object in question, and (b) which profession has custody of it.

By way of a few examples:

1) The SS Great Britain in Bristol.

It might have been a complete wreck at one time, but it was perceived as a great piece of engineering, worth the effort of restoring to better condition. Marine architects and engineers had custody. It was restored.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Great_Britain

2) The Antikythera Mechanism

Now recognised as a fully working mechanical computer built c.200BC. Archeologists had custody, didn't know what it was, and got nowhere with it. But engineers have taken detailed X-rays of the mechanism using a technique called linear tomography. The original is just too far gone to restore, but working replicas have been made.



See: http://www.world-mysteries.com/sar_4.htm
and: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism

3) Silbury, Avebury and Stonehenge

Not generally recognised as purposeful engineering of any kind. Barely and grudgingly recognised as astro-science of any kind. English Heritage has custody. It's all a mystery to them. Doh.

I did once suggest to EH that Silbury should be restored to its original condition.



They must have been struck dumb with shock (or thought I was taking the piss) because I never got a reply. If you do poke them hard enough, they will produce stock phrases like "Splendid isolation" and "ritual objects". Intellectual tumbleweed.