Stones

Many years ago, I bought a book called The Modern Antiquarian, written by Julian Cope.  Cope was musician, writer, poet and many other things but he was the first to turn the tables on archaeology and write about prehistory in a different manner.

Cope's writing was deep and profound and you had to look beyond the clothes, and presumably drugs, to see his commitment.  Julian Cope lived near Avebury for many years he wandered the paths of prehistory, striking 'goth like' poses against the stones, Odin's image stalked him. 

I met Paul through the Modern Antiquarian clan, so let it be said that TMA is and was a part of my life. We all shared a love of the old stones, the history that lay at the back of the marvellous Neolithic long barrows, Bronze Age barrows, the stone circles and every stone that appears in an upright manner in this country and around the world.

  

Falling in love with stones seems a foolish pastime but people do, cults are born at some stone circles, offerings to whatever god you believe in.  And never forget that many of the stones were aligned at solstices, both summer and winter.  They echoed the sun and moon.  The barrows were the last resting place of leaders, chieftains?  Who knows.

That is where you must stop and think, for there is no written evidence from prehistory, it is all speculation and a few archaeological clues as to why in a Neolithic barrow we would find jumbled up bones from somewhere else in the landscape, it came to be called 'worshipping the ancestors'.  Carrying their bones around.

There are so many anomalies we cannot unpick now, the stones seem to represent a later stage when in fact it was wooden posts that dominated the landscape earlier, the great trees were cut down to make posts.  Stanton Drew stone circles have a strange wooden circular temple? inside the stone circle.  Nine concentric circles to be precise, all long gone now, their vague imprints shown by modern day detecting machines.

The following video is over two hours long, you can actually find chapters on Youtube, but you will begin to see through the length and breadth of our beautiful countryside, how prehistory reigned supreme for a small part of our history.

Amateurs such as Julian Cope, Michael Bott and Rupert Soskin opened up the world for others to see in a different way.  Their enthusiam follows all pioneers who strive for a better understanding of their world.  So enjoy

A link to Paul's site-Megalithic Poems  He called himself Littlestone and loved poetry.