Thursday, 11 December 2014

Neolithic Enthusiasm


So, I started this project early...I really should have started it at Midwinter or Yule, which was important to preChristian  people and is around the 23rd of December. This early winter festival was an ancestor of Christmas, featuring lots of feasting and decorative evergreens.

So far I have really enjoyed The Modern Antiquarian by Julian Cope. Julian is a hugely charismatic rock singer, poet and stone circle enthusiast. His encyclopaedic book covers all the neolithic sites in the UK, he has personally visited over five hundred and photographed all of them. You can enjoy him on youtube too in his TV programme of the same name. (slight crush).

A rather more academic and less enjoyable book, but useful book covers the unique stone circles of Aberdeenshire ; Great Crowns of Stone by Adam Welfare. I also enjoyed Hengeworld by the  appropriately named Mike Pitts (lots of detailed archaeology dig stories on Avebury and Stonehenge).

No comments: