Bob Trubshaw notes how culture requires imagined scenarios that reflect both the present and the past, while constructing alternative narratives On the one hand there’s the real world. And on the other there’s how we – or others – imagine the world to be. However, only in the Western world has the imagination been […]
The View from the Henge Bank: All is change Read More »
The September issue of Northern Earth will be finding its way to subscribers and shops by the end of August. Our lead article comes from Ceri Houlbrook, with an investigation of the attentions paid to the imaginary grave of Dobby, the house elf in the Harry Potter series. Other features address the fascinating appearance of
NE 173 coming soon Read More »
Our latest upload is a collection of articles written for NE by Mark Greener across a range of topics. Just put ‘Greener’ in our search box.
Mark Greener describes how research is pointing to humans’ own magnetic compass Every time I get close to certain Avebury stones, an area I know and love, I experience a definite, palpable sensation lurking on the edges of my perception. Sadly, I wasn’t thrown back like Roj Blake (OK, it was Adam Brake in
A sense of direction Read More »
Lichen growth is a perennial but rarely remarked feature of a megaltihic site visit. Mark Greener explains why we should take notice Lichens are easy to overlook: seemingly nondescript splodges on megaliths, insignificant against the scale of the stone let alone compared with the grandeur of the sacred landscape. Yet they’re integral to megalithic beauty:
Megaliths and Lichenoglyphs Read More »
A homespun pharmacopeia was once more than simple folklore, as Mark Greener shows Folklore often contains kernels of truth. In 1568, for example, gardeners in England began cultivating Goat’s Rue (Galega officinalis). First recorded in the wild in 1640, Goat’s Rue (also called French Lilac or Italian Fitch) is now a common wildflower.1 Healers
Britain’s herbal heritage: Folklore and a kernel of truth Read More »
Mark Greener reviews recent findings on ‘megalithisme’ The 35000 remaining megaliths scattered across Europe – from Sweden to Sicily, from Poland to Portugal – include tombs, standing stones, stone circles, alignments and buildings.1,2 Despite this widespread distribution, megaliths share numerous features.1 As long ago as 1719, the Swiss antiquary Jacques Christophe Iselin remarked on
On the origins of megaliths Read More »
In NE145, a review of the ‘Celts’ exhibition that took place in London and Edinburgh observed the curiosity of a wooden keg assumed to have held drink being made from the highly toxic yew. Mark Greener considered the implications. At first sight, yew isn’t the wood you’d choose for a tankard, bucket or barrel.
Yew’ll drink to that? Read More »
Senegambia in West Africa has a remarkable collection of megalithic monuments and corresponding narratives, shared here by Mark Greener Even setting the pyramids aside, Africa is home to rich and diverse megalithic traditions. The Ntondomo complex in western Mali, for instance, consists of almost 150 barrows and stone circles.1 One Ghanaian complex contains at least
The Curse of the Senegambian Stones Read More »
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Northern Earth 172 Read More »