Greats

Good to see that BRAC finally has a Rock Arts greats section:

http://rockartuk.fotopic.net/c1269861.html

Season Greetings

Best wishes for 2008 and beyond

Lets celebrate the return of the light

for all the good reasons!

Gus & Jan

(Photo: Linda Gordon, 12/2007)

Callanish, forget the Lunar events!

Hi Folks,

Thought you might like to know there was a very special event that happened at Callanish a couple of weeks ago, and it hasn’t got anything to do with lunar activities..

Can you guess?

Brian & Suzanne

RAM 2007

Thanks to the WolfyPebbly ones for hosting, guiding & preparing of what was a fantastic day.

Once again the RAM turns out to be the event of the year, wonderful carvings, wonderful company and weather sent by the gods.

Apologies for boring folks about fissures

Call for Papers

 

Hi Folks! I received the following e-mail from George Nash. Unfortunately I’m not able to submit a paper. Maybe one of you might be interested to do so. And although George didn’t mention a dead-line, it sounds a bit urgent. George’s email-address is: georgenash add btinternet dot com

Hi Jan,

Enclosed is an abstract for a proposed rock-art session at the forthcoming EAA in Croatia. I would be most honoured if you would consider submitting a paper for this session. As I have left this rather late, I need an answer sooner rather than later. If you know anyone who would like to contribute to this session, can you please forward this message.

I Look forward to seeing you there.

George

Title: Rock-art as Social Statements

Abstract

There has been a long held view that prehistoric rock-art is associated with symbolic and ritual practices, sometimes linked to death, burial and ritual. However, there are many thousands of sites that are located in open landscapes that portray little evidence of these activities. The subject matter from many of the rock-art core areas of Europe usually displays mundane activities such as gender relations, herding, hunting and warfare. Based on what is portrayed can these activities constitute symbolic and ritual meaning?

In this session, participants will describe, discuss and argue various aspects of this enormous enigmatic assemblage. It is clear from the anthropological record that the mundane and symbolic are indelibly linked. Therefore, can the same case be put forward for rock-art that was produced by prehistoric societies?

Following the session an open forum will take the arguments part forward into what should be a healthy and worthwhile debate.

Session Organizer: George Nash, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Bristol and SLR Consulting (Shrewsbury , England)

RAM’07

Hi Folks,

You all know that the 2007 Rock Art Meeting, hosted by Brian and Suzanne, will be held on Sunday 10th of June in the Kirkcudbright area in Dunfries and Galloway, Scotland. Maybe its handy to have a web area for travel arangements, etc.

To start with, here’s an e-mail from Linda Gordon:

Hello again
Just to say our latest plan is to hire a car from Glasgow and just turn up for the day. But it is by no means decided, so would still like to hear if anyone else is driving our way. Thanks and hope to see you soon.
All the best - Linda

Stan’s new poem

Stan Beckensall gave me permission to publish his following new poem to the blog. It will also be published in Paul Brown’s forthcoming ‘Tempus’ book.

STANDING STONES

Rooted teeth, the hunter’s hold on flesh
That once roamed free
Pursued by points of flint
Broken from the ground and shaped.

We need to rearrange the universe
To suit ourselves;
To drag stones, sometimes shape them,
Plant them in the earth
In rows, in circles, single sentinels
Enfolding, leading, isolated,
Each according to our need.
The circle pulls the sun and moon
Down from the rhythmic flow of sky,
Ensuring that their magic works for us.

Stone rows lead the rising and the setting of the sun,
An avenue of our own creation,
And when crops fail, beasts sicken,
Fever strikes and children die,
Our faith is vested in recycled rock
Born of the earth but pointing to the sky,
Invested with acknowledgement
That without god’s assistance
We are but specks of dust, and powerless
Within the vastness of a universe.
Stones, planted properly will help our crops to grow.
Stones guarantee the flow
Within bow’s reach or slingshot’s range
Of beasts that clothe and nourish us.
When nature fails us,
Bringing death, disease, the breaking up of tribes.
We do not blame the stones,
But offer them new bribes.

BRAC Milestone

Hi Folks,

This photo of Glenreasdell Mains, Argyll & Bute (Kintyre), recently taken by George, was the 10.000 th photo which I uploaded to BRAC.

A good moment in time to thank our contributors for getting all these nice images from out the fields, hills, museums, gardens, etc. on to the world wide web.

Together we’ve created a picture book about British prehistoric rock art with nearly 1000 pages showing, on average, 10 photos per page.

In publishing the litho’s and drawings from the early times of rock art studies and the black-and-white photos by people like Ronald Morris, we also pay tribute to their invaluable contribution to the good course of rock art.

Over 150.000 photo views on BRAC proof that our passion is also appreciated by many over the world.

Thanks for all the good work, folks! We hope to carry on as usual.

Cheers,

Gus and Jan

 

 

BRAG Conference 5-6 May 2007

Hi Folks,

Probably not a conference for “fieldworkers” but besides the subject I felt attracted to the conference fee of only 5 Pounds for “morning coffee, lunch and afternoon tae for two days and a wine reception on Saturday”. Hmmm….. sounds good!

Abstract and application form (pdf)

Rhind Lectures 2007

Probably needless to announce -as it was already done on TMA and TMP- but I like the poster (click to enlarge) and the title; “Living in an Age of Stone”. We still do, don’t we?

More information on The Megalithic Portal webpage.