New Views over Megalithia

[Boreades]

Why Are These 32 Symbols Found in Caves All Over Europe?

Paleoanthropologist and rock art researcher Genevieve von Petzinger has studied and codified these ancient markings in caves across Europe. The uniformity of her findings suggest that graphic communication, and the ability to preserve and transmit messages beyond a single moment in time, may be much older than we think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJnEQCMA5Sg

An interesting TED talk, once you get past the long waffly introduction. Just jump to 06:40 in the video if you want to avoid the "what we did on our holidays" sort of stuff.

Now then, how well do these 32 symbols in caves correlate with what we find above ground?

[hvered]

TED speakers have ten minutes to expound on their research. One might not unreasonably conclude that spending five minutes on background waffle means a speaker doesn't have a lot to go on.

Picking up at the half-way point, we hear the investigation focused on places that haven't "been visited for half a century or more"....plenty of time then for other people to visit, these sites being not in generally unvisited areas but in France, Spain, Italy, Sicily.... Just because the researcher describes her finds as "undocumented" doesn't automatically mean they are undiscovered. Less than half a century ago, say.

[Boreades]

King Arthur is back on Facebook after falling foul of Facebook's Real Name policy.

King Arthur (or Rev Arthur Uther Pendragon to give him his full title) was kicked off Facebook because they didn't believe he was using his real name. But now the king is back. Having given Facebook a copy of his driving license, to prove his identity, the once and future king (Rex Quondam Rexque Futuris) has had his account restored under his legal name of Arthur Uther Pendragon.

This was an unnecessary distraction for Arthur Uther Pendragon. He is still is battling with English Heritage over much more important matters i.e. an alcohol ban at Stonehenge. What's the world coming to when you can't rock up at Stonehenge and get shit-faced like any other pagan King?

[Boreades]

Megalithic sites in the Western Isles and Highlands seem to have the very great added attraction of new sources of Uisge beatha springing up every year.

Tisi tells me I have a family connection to one of the new sources - http://rbdistillers.com/about-rb-distillers/ - I should get a family discount, but it's a 1,200 miles round trip for me, so perhaps I'll have to make do with what's available in the local Waitrose. :-(

Meanwhile, King Arthur and other megalithic tourists Darn Sarf will still have to make do with less pure drinks.

For example, Dirty Rucker, from Wadworths in Devizes.
http://shop.wadworth.co.uk/product/dirt ... k-5-litre/
£21.50 for the Micro Cask (5 Litre).

[Boreades]

For those that really aren't satisfied unless their megaliths are really really out of this world, the British are leading the way again.

The Ordnance Survey has just published their map of Mars.

See https://www.flickr.com/photos/osmapping/25012985956/

Map designer Chris Wesson said: "We have set out from the start to treat the Mars data no differently to how we would treat OS GB data or any other Earth-based geography. Even though the principles are the same, the design and the aesthetics of an Earth map differ considerably.

"The cartographic style is something that is very different to your typical planetary map and is identifiable as an OS map. The key ingredients to this style are the soft colour palette of the base combined with the traditional map features such as contours and grid lines, and the map sheet layout complete with legend."

Prizes for which Earth areas are the closest in kind.

Edit: Even higher resolution image here: https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1598/250 ... ba_o_d.jpg

[Boreades]

Soon, we'll be able to enjoy a New View Under Megalithia

From Hansard, 1st March:

“John Glen: I am extremely grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way. There seems to be some ambiguity concerning the process at this time, given that Highways England is examining alternative routes. Will the Minister clarify the purpose of that evaluation?

Andrew Jones: It is always appropriate to consider options broadly to ensure that the scheme is absolutely the right one, but there is no doubt whatsoever here; we are committed to delivering a 1.8-mile tunnel at Stonehenge.“

Stand by for a lot of ground-roots protest that this (the short tunnel option) is not good enough for a World Heritage Site.

[Boreades]

It seems we're not the only ones interested in lumps of stone decorating the countryside in pretty patterns.

Here's a new site on Stone Rows of Great Britain.
https://stonerows.wordpress.com/

To view what they are indexing, see the map:
https://stonerows.wordpress.com/gazetteer/region/

Places like Bodmin Moor, Dartmoor, Wales and the west of Scotland seem to dominate.

[Boreades]

Never before mentioned on TME?

The Carinish Stone Circle on North Uist.
Possibly the most north-west stone circle in the whole of Britain?
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/n ... index.html

Just added to the TME map, along with the Teampull na Trionaid (or the Trinity Temple)
https://tme.cartodb.com/tables/the_mega ... empire/map

[Mick Harper]

Not sure whether I've mentioned this before, Borry, but your map -- though a hugely impressive piece of work -- could do with being a bit more user-friendly.

[Mick Harper]

The Megalithic Portal has brought out an app along the same lines, Borry, perhaps you might use this as a guide for yourself and/or report on whether it is worth getting. If it costs, use TME's petty cash.
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=2146414271