Recent research on the role of caves in funerary ritual around prehistoric Britain is here summarised by Mike Haigh From the earliest times, caves have held a fascination for humans. During the Ice Ages, they were both a sheltered dwelling place and an arena for ritual. However, in spite of the art produced by our
Cave Ritual in the Peak Read More »
Mike Haigh draws our attention to a group of monuments in North Yorkshire A curious archaeological group stands half-hidden in the bracken on the edge of Great Ayton Moor in Cleveland. Unfortunately, it has been extensively damaged over the millennia, but enough has survived to allow a reasonable interpretation of the complex. At its centre
The Tailed Cairn of Great Ayton Read More »
Gabriel Blamires suggests Cumbria’s Kirk Stone is a key link in a route system to the peaks of the Langdale Pikes The Langdale Pikes, in the Lake District, were the site of a Neolithic axe factory whose products were prized all over Europe. Its remote location raises a number of questions, among which is how
King Arthur has made his mark on Britain’s landscape, and not surprisingly left his name on numerous ancient sites. Here, Dave Weldrake considers Arthur’s relationship with Round Tables and maidens… Arthurian place names A lot of time and effort has been spent on trying to site the battles of King Arthur. (See for instance Alcock
The Mystery of the Round Table Read More »
Should we take seriously legends about ‘retribution’ coming to humans who violate ritual sites? Robert W E Farrah has been wondering the same thing… It was during the campaign to stop a Christian ‘Millennium Monument’ being erected in the vicinity of Mayburgh henge (see NE 84 and 85) that I was reminded that my own
The Legend of Mayburgh Henge Read More »
Richard Thornhill on the strange shenanigans that made a man into a god in ancient Japan, and a legend that recalls Britain’s ‘screaming skulls’ and Lleu Llaw Gyffes As I cycle to work through the Otemachi banking district of central Tokyo, I pass the Masakado Kubizuka (‘Masakado Head-Mound’), a little square of garden, with a
Taira no Masakado: Rebel god of Tokyo Read More »
John Palmer introduces a sacred site in an unfamiliar territory to NE readers Perhaps the best-known ancient sacred site in Romania is the circular temple observatory and quadrangular sanctuary (one of seven, two of which are circular) of Sarmizegetusa Regia in Thrace – this was known in Roman times as Dacia, the ‘capital’ of Dacia
A Sacred Site in Romania Read More »
Hawaiian petroglyphs and the general cultural sanctification of stones in parts of Polynesia have not received a great deal of attention in British earth mysteries magazines, but Graeme Chappell’s report on the carvings he and Paul Bennett located in Northumberland
There is life in the stone and death in the stone…: Petroglyphs of Hawaii Read More »
Much press and public attention has attended discovery of an ancient site in Miami, Florida, dubbed with typical media disdain for fact as an American Stonehenge. Christine Rhone summarises the findings The Miami Circle was discovered in late 1998 through a routine investigation by urban archaeologists of a plot of land on the S shore
William Glyn-Jones takes another look at an ancient image in Crete The Bull Leaper fresco from the palace of Knossos in Crete has always been a particular favourite of mine. The graceful power of the bull, with its sensuous flowing curves, the lithe beauty of the dark-limbed dancers, and the overall sense of movement combine
The Cretan Bull Leaper Fresco Read More »