[Stones] Stonehenge Decoded?

[David Shugarts]

Hi, Ric--

Your ideas are worth considering, along with many others, and that was my
original point, because the NatGeo program seems to give us one viewpoint
from Mike Parker Pearson, but the facts could allow many possible
interpretations, and we should keep an open mind.

On the matter of hearths being altars, it¹s a possible explanation for the
³knee holes,² but it seems to me that the weight of probability tends toward
some kind of activity like cooking. Also, it is not to be assumed that
ancient peoples knealt in their prayers. Kneeling is strongly Christian, but
in some ancient artwork there are depictions of ³orantes,² supplicants who
stood with arms extended or upraised.

Regards,

Dave


On 6/3/08 5:03 PM, "Ric" <megalith6 at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> hi,  some thoughts: do not hearths double as altars, in some contexts? the
> Beaker Culture 'invasion' is just as likely to have been a culture-shift, as a
> sudden influx of people from 'elsewhere'; this 'workers' village' strikes
> parallels with the 'feasting villages' erected for the pyramid builders of
> Egypt, dispelling the old slave workforce notion here: it was actually a great
> privilege to be chosen as part of the workforce, for the construction of a
> sacred monument, it appears; presumably, something similar must have existed
> for Avebury and Silbury, as well, as yet undetected?
> 
> Ric
> 
> 
> --- On Tue, 3/6/08, David Shugarts <david.shugarts at azimuthcomm.com> wrote:
>> From: David Shugarts <david.shugarts at azimuthcomm.com>
>> Subject: Re: [Stones] Stonehenge Decoded?
>> To: "The Stones Mailing List" <stones at stoneslist.org.uk>
>> Date: Tuesday, 3 June, 2008, 1:25 PM
>> 
>> Well, here's what I can say from memory. I believe there were scenes where
>> they used a vessel to carry a beverage, and it could have been grooved ware,
>> although I don't recall being given a clear view of it. For instance, I
>> believe they brought water to slake the thirst when the workers were hauling
>> the stone through the hills.
>> 
>> In the shots of the feasting, which went on to imply an orgy (which produced
>> babies in nine months, a fertility cycle), there was certainly an
>> implication of headiness or intoxication, but I don't think they depicted
>> the act of drinking mead. I could be wrong.
>> 
>> Finally, though, when it came to the clash of cultures, they showed an
>> example of a shard of a grooved ware vessel being unearthed, and used it as
>> one of the talking points to bring up the invasion of the Beaker culture.
>> Their statement was something to the effect that grooved ware was found all
>> over Britain and would have been a sign of home to any of the tribes there,
>> whereas the Beaker ware represented a dramatic shift.
>> 
>> The inferences about the feasting came from a number of observations that
>> seemed to center on a refuse pit where many bones were found. These bones
>> showed that the consumption was probably incomplete, an uncharacteristic
>> waste for this culture, as though they had had plenty of food and could
>> throw some away. Also, the pigs were about nine months old, judging by the
>> jaws, and therefore it seemed timed to the cycle of starting new livestock
>> in the spring, then slaughtering them for the winter feast, when they would
>> be excellent eating (so says MPP). I think it may have been left a bit vague
>> as to whether they meant that the pigs were domesticated, since there were
>> other scenes showing the tribesmen hunting wild boar.
>> 
>> Frankly, everything I saw had to be sorted into two categories, facts versus
>> suppositions. I will enjoy the pondering of the facts for some time to come,
>> but will attempt to dismiss the suppositions.
>> 
>> For instance, what was shown about the village was a series of many houses,
>> and there was a particular house shown with a clear indication of a hearth.
>> In front of the hearth were two depressions which they construed to be
>> "kneeling holes," indicating that people had knealt at the hearth for
>> an
>> awfully long time.
>> 
>> Accepting these observable facts, I feel confident that it indicates long
>> hours of attending the hearth for cooking purposes and I ask, what was being
>> cooked? I conclude that it could not have been solely meat, because no
>> culture ever has THAT much meat available. But MPP says they didn't do any
>> farming in support of this village. So I stop and wait for further evidence.
>> 
>> Regards,
>> 
>> Dave Shugarts
> 
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