New Views over Megalithia

[Boreades]

Winterborne Kingston hasn't been mentioned here, so I'm wondering why they chose that unlikely spot for a summer dig?

Edit: It's part of their "Durotriges Project".
http://courses.bournemouth.ac.uk/course ... ode=PSCAFS

[Boreades]

If I had to guess where this is, I would have said Cornwall or Brittany.



In fact, it's in the Assam region of India.

Reportedly:
In a significant development, a team of archaeologists from the State’s Directorate of Archaeology discovered several new megalithic remains in Karbi Anglong district in a recent exploration drive. Megaliths have high archaeological value in knowing the cultures of the tribes of the NE region....the practice of erecting megaliths is so far found only in a few isolated pockets among the tribes of Northeast India.

More: http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/det ... 5/state050

I am asking my Indian relatives for any news on anything like Avebury and Stonehenge in India, pretty damn jeldi.

No need for punkhawallahs on sites like that?

[Boreades]

Continuing our world tour, we now take you to Mexico, where they have only just discovered what they now say is the tallest pyramid in Mexico.

How can you lose a pyramid for c.1700 years+?

Or to rephrase that, this is an excellent item to keep in mind when trad.archeos say "it" (whatever) must be a natural feature.

News article in Spanish for Hattie: http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2010/05/14/cultura/a03n1cul

[Boreades]

And, as flick as a quash, we zoom back home to The Orkneys, which is getting a Big Up from The Scotsman

A groundbreaking excavation of a 5,000-year-old temple complex in Orkney has uncovered evidence to suggest that prehistoric people were a great deal more sophisticated than previously thought.

The archaeological excavation, which is featured in the August edition of National Geo­graphic magazine, has yielded thousands of priceless artefacts – ceremonial mace heads, polished stone axes, flint knives, a human figurine, miniature thumb pots, beautifully crafted stone spatulas, highly-refined coloured pottery, and more than 650 pieces of Neolithic art, by far the largest collection ever found in Britain. Card pointed out that only 10 per cent of the Ness has so far been excavated, with many more stone structures known to be present under the turf nearby.




http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/herit ... -1-3490079

[Boreades]

News from my Indian correspondent:

I had forgotten the huge rocks I remember seeing as a child near Guwahati, Assam - where I lived for a while when my father was posted there. Of recent times I am more familiar with the megaliths (stone circles and all) in Goa, Kerala and in South India generally.

http://goanarchitecture.blogspot.fr/200 ... giant.html

also - where there is also the legend of the ancient trail of the three kings:

http://wikimapia.org/21599204/Site-of-m ... sim-Cuelim

http://whenonearth.net/umbrella-shaped- ... ala-india/

and here is a whole site devoted to this subject,

http://www.megalithindia.in/

The ring-and-cup engravings found on stones in Goa seem very familiar.

Edit: one of the best sites seems to be Nilurallu at Murardoddi, with vernal equinox alignments.

http://www.docsford.com/document/2922781

[Boreades]

On the Pantelleria Vecchia Bank, the remnants of a giant megalithic site have been found at a depth of 40 meters. This includes one 12 meter long menhir, that is conservatively estimated to weigh 15 tons and to have been submerged by rising sea levels more than 9,000 years ago.



http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 9X15300535

[hvered]

Most exciting, Borry. The authors are adamant that the megalith is man-made and see a parallel with Gobekli Tepe in Turkey, adding:

The discovery of the submerged site in the Sicilian Channel may significantly expand our knowledge of the earliest civilizations in the Mediterranean basin and our views on technological innovation and development achieved by the Mesolithic inhabitants. The monolith found, made of a single, large block, required a cutting, extraction, transportation and installation, which undoubtedly reveals important technical skills and great engineering. The belief that our ancestors lacked the knowledge, skill and technology to exploit marine resources or make sea crossings, must be progressively abandoned. The recent findings of submerged archaeology have definitively removed the idea of “technological primitivism” often attributed to hunter-gatherers coastal settlers.

The authors are also fairly certain that the megalith-builders were from Sicily rather than Tunisia even though the island is half-way between the two, based on the difficulty of crossing the sea-way. Not especially difficult I'd have thought for a maritime people.

When will the notion of a universal 'hunter-gatherer' society be finally abandoned? There seems to be some uneasiness setting in, at least vis-a-vis Gobekli T:

Göbekli Tepe has revolutionised archaeological and anthropological understanding of the Middle East Mesolithic. It demonstrates that the construction of a monumental complex was within the capability of a hunter-gatherer society, although scientists do not yet understand exactly how its builders managed to mobilize and feed a force large enough to complete the project. It's worth noting, for instance, that during the first two phases of construction, over two hundred large pillars, each weighing up to 20 t, were erected and topped with huge limestone slabs. No other hunter-gatherer society has been able to match this feat.

Closer to home we have a 'drowned land', the fabled Lyonesse. There seems to be a correspondence between Scilly and Sicily, not just in their names but the shared 'three-legged cross' or triskele emblem.

[Boreades]

When will the notion of a universal 'hunter-gatherer' society be finally abandoned? There seems to be some uneasiness setting in, at least vis-a-vis Gobekli T:

Good question. Maybe it's another form of cognitive dissonance. Perhaps the Trad.Archaeos. in their grant-maintained university jobs have to maintain this unmaintainable position. Otherwise they will have to start admitting that there were people thousands of years ago who knew more about astronomy and engineering than they do! Hunter-Gatherers are easier to dismiss as ignorant and less-sophisticated than us.

A bit like us country-folk compared to you clever city folks. Ohh-arr, where's moi combine 'arvister? 'Scuse me while I go and get a few crops circles ready.

[Boreades]

Closer to home we have a 'drowned land', the fabled Lyonesse. There seems to be a correspondence between Scilly and Sicily, not just in their names but the shared 'three-legged cross' or triskele emblem.

We also have Doggerland, which "must" have been a region of hunter-gatherers.

Mesolithic hunter-gatherers followed the fauna into Doggerland, as first evidenced in 1931 when a commercial fishing trawler off the east coast of England scooped up a barbed antler point – the tip of a spear used for hunting. Not only have an assortment of prehistoric tools been dredged up from the seafloor, but skeletons of many different types of animals, even lions.

http://basementgeographer.com/doggerlan ... nderwater/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... z21BrrZNQM

[TisILeclerc]

The BBC's all aflutter this morning about the latest discoveries at Durrington Walls. But not as much as the Daily Mail, the thinking person's guide to all things stone.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -site.html

We're looking at one of the largest stone monuments in Europe and it has been under our noses for something like 4,000 years,' said Professor Vince Gaffney, from the University of Bradford, one of the archaeologists leading the research. 'It's truly remarkable.

Perhaps it was a trial run before finally mastering the circle in the landscape.

They do admit they don't know who built them or why but it may be to do with ritual perhaps.