Göbekli Tepe has received more press coverage in recent years than perhaps any other archaeological site, including Stonehenge. Some of this coverage is due to the simple fact that Göbekli is the oldest megalithic site in the world. For this reason alone, it deserves our attention. It seems, however, that much of this attention has [...]
Tags:Catalhoyuk·cathedral·earliest religion·first religion·Garden of Eden·Gobekli Tepe·Gordon Childe·Ian Hodder·Klaus Schmidt·megaliths·Neolithic Revolution·Neolithicization·paradise·ritual center·shrine·Stonehenge·temple·Turkey
If you have ever suffered through an episode of “Ancient Aliens” on the History Channel, you might believe that every megalithic structure in the world was constructed by extraterrestrials:
Apparently inspired by the show, one credulous soul posted this question over at Answers.com: “Can scientists prove that Stonehenge was not built by ancient astronauts?” The pithy [...]
Tags:ancestors·ancient aliens·ancient astronauts·archaeoastronomy·Aubrey Holes·Benjamin Ray·Bronze Age·chieftains·cycles·Durkheim·elites·form·function·Giorgio Tsoukalos·lunar·megalithic·megaliths·neolithic·power·ritual·sarsen stones·solar·Solstice·Stonehenge·Wessex·Woodhenge
The British government has, after a lengthy vetting process, recognized Druidism or Druidry as a religion and granted it charitable status. The commissioners in charge of such decisions apparently had a hard time getting their collective heads around the idea that not all religions are monotheistic, textual, dogmatic, priestly, hierarchical, institutionalized, or systematic.
As the Toronto [...]
Tags:Anglican·animism·animist·anthropomorphic deities·Celtic·Charity Commission·city-states·deism·divine kings·Druidism·Druidry·Druids·Gallic·Great Britain·human sacrifice·megalithic structures·Melanie Phillips·nature worship·neo-pagan·Neolithic Revolution·pagan·polytheism·Stonehenge·United Kingdom
Over at the New Scientist, Trevor Cox has written a splendid article about the relatively new and somewhat controversial field of acoustic archaeology. Although it is easy to see how acoustical interpretations might run amok, the basic ideas are sound (sorry but I just had to) and thought provoking. It hardly beggars the imagination to [...]
Tags:acoustic archaeology·acoustical archaeology·Bruno Fazenda·burial chambers·David Lubman·Gregorian chanting·Iegor Reznikoff·Julian Thomas·Mayan temples·Nicole Boivin·Paul Devereux·prehistoric soundscape·resonating chambers·resonating fields·ritual chanting·Rupert Till·sound symbolism·Stonehenge·supernatural sounds·Trevor Price
As I stated in The Supernatural and Stonehenge, it is “incredible that ninety percent of the area surrounding one of the most famous megalithic sites in the world has remained largely unexplored. No wonder there are so many different theories and arguments about who built Stonehenge, why it was constructed, and how [...]
Tags:barrow·barrows·categories·Druids·gobsmacked·Great Britain·henge·henges·Maev Kennedy·Marden Henge·Mardenhenge·midden·mysticism·neolithic·Neolithic religion·paganism·pagans·religious·secular·Stonehenge·supernatural·Wiltshire
As you can see from Texas A&M’s anthropology aggregating site (which is one of my favorite places on the net), at least a dozen stories have appeared in the past week about new archaeological finds near Stonehenge. Using ground penetrating radar and other non-invasive technology, archaeologists have discovered another henge — which was wooden, approximately [...]
Tags:Aztecs·Babylon·barrows·burial grounds·chieftains·city-states·cosmology·Druids·Egypt·elites·empires·ground penetrating radar·materialism·Mayans·megalithic·megalithic architecture·megalithic structures·pagan·pyramids·royal family·Stonehenge·Sumeria·symbolism·temples·unilineal evolution·Woodhenge·ziggurats
