Many years ago I found a book, or at least requested it from the Bath library because it was too expensive to buy. It was the top book written by Alistair Whittle. Just the sort of title I would lust over;). In it I found fascinating facts about Silbury Hill and the plants that were discovered under the hill on the land surface. I copied them out into a blog. But yesterday on looking for the book I found that it had been copied onto the web for free. And it gladdened my heart to see useful information on the net.
Steve Marshall's book is just as interesting, Avebury comes alive again for me as he methodically rounds up the many, many prehistoric sites and gives easy writing on them. One of the things I had been interested in was the Palisaded Enclosures not too far from West Kennet Long barrow. Trump could have learnt a thing or two from these 20 foot tall oak trunks placed almost touching each other, with pig bones (an offering maybe) in the holes they were placed in. There is no signs of course of the timber only the skim of evidence in the soil. But they were massive long walls, there curvature probably meaning defensive and yet a meeting place for the building of Avebury, which would need a lot of labour.
Durrington Neolithic settlement near to Stonehenge may have had a similar function. The function being the construction of a religious centre. Though the many pig bones on site at the Palisaded Enclosures could be put down to feasting or long stay as people came in from the surrounding areas to build.
A not so good photo of Marshall's photo of the plants that were there 5000 years ago not so different from the plants we see today and so reassuring in their ordinariness.
It's good to celebrate the things we still have rather than mourn the (many) things that are now extinct.
ReplyDeleteWell it may be that Darwin was right about the survival of the fittest. When you look at plant propagating the varieties that can be grown shows the way they can develop over time.
DeleteIt's nice that those plants are still around. Gives me hope that somehow we will survive all of the craziness going on.
ReplyDeleteOne of the exciting things about plants is the way their seeds will often survive in the soil Ellen. Though people curse weeds one day we may need them.
DeleteThank you for the link. Will check it out tomorrow, when I'm not so tired.
ReplyDeleteThat is fine Jennie.
Deletehhmmm .... How do we know whether those plants were around 5k years ago?
ReplyDeleteit is from plant dna?
Yes Liam, the seeds and plant material will have recognisable structure to interpret, just like forensic scientists analysis the contents of one's stomach if you have been killed ;) I think they take the dirt and sieve it meticulously to its finest degree.
ReplyDeleteisn't it good to know that out there.... amongst the bile and detritus of the interweb, there are still some things that actually enrich our lives..... well done on finding the reading materials!!
ReplyDeleteThere is good stuff the internet A/F if you look for it. Watched people on a sea marsh trying to save a small marsh sparrow by lifting the nests out of the water by floating them on a submergible which rose with the water and the fledglings were then saved from drowning.
ReplyDelete