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The Modern Antiquarian Forum » Ron Hutton lecture, Bristol |
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Wiggy 1507 posts |
Feb 09, 2010, 13:47
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Maybe see a few of you there tomorrow night?
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tjj 1677 posts |
Feb 09, 2010, 19:33
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Wiggy wrote: Maybe see a few of you there tomorrow night? I really wanted to attend this and had a place booked. Unfortunately I had to cancel my place yesterday so hope someone else gets the opportunity to go in my place. If you have time, would appreciate hearing some of the highlights of Ronald Hutton's talk - please take a notebook.
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Wiggy 1507 posts |
Feb 10, 2010, 09:55
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Will do my best.=;o)
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Wiggy 1507 posts |
Edited Feb 12, 2010, 14:55
Feb 11, 2010, 15:05
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Probably stuff yr all familiar with here, really, but very entertaining none the less. A gentle gallop through 32,000 years of spiritual belief (and the evidence to support it's existence) in the British Isles, starting with "The Red Lady of Paviland" (now thought to be the oldest ceremonial burial known to us anywhere in The World) and finishing with a few thoughts on how the variety within our Pagan tradition is very uncommon elsewhere, and how this offers modern British society some unique advantages when compared to other parts of Europe (have to say I disagree as Greek pagan history, for example, is far less homogenous than Hutton has us believe). Hutton is suggesting that the old division of time by the available technologies ("stone age" etc) is outdated, and that we would be better to date by the kind of ceremonial practices that appeared to be current("The age of Chambers", "The age of Circles", "Water-Hoards" etc), which might also be a bit simplistic as Hutton himself makes the point that things were not the same everywhere, but it's still an interesting alternative. The Prof painted a really vivid picture of life in these Islands over the years, and I learned a few things too, eg: "Stonehenge was jerry built, and might not have even been finished", and that Irish and Welsh literature relating to "the Dark Ages" and further back is looking more and more unreliable by the day (for instance the number of Irish heroes depicted as riding chariots when not a single piece of evidence for chariots has ever been found there - it's more likely that the monks writing this stuff down were familiar with ancient Greek writing/heroes, hence the chariots). Anyway, all in all it was a good evening, so worth seeing him "live" if you haven't before.
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tjj 1677 posts |
Feb 11, 2010, 16:02
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Wiggy wrote: Probably stuff yr all familiar with here, really, but very entertaining none the less. A gentle gallop through 32,000 years of spiritual belief (and the evidence to support it's existence) in the British Isles, starting with "The Red Lady of Paviland" (now thought to be the oldest ceremonial burial known to us anywhere in The World) and finishing with a few thoughts on how the variety within our Pagan tradition is very uncommon elsewhere, and how this offers modern British society some unique advantages when compared to other parts of Europe (have to say I disagree as Greek pagan history, for example, is far less homogenous than Hutton has us believe). Hutton is suggesting that the old division of time by the available technologies ("stone age" etc) is outdated, and that we would be better to date by the kind of ceremonial practices that appeared to be current("The age of Chambers", "The age of Circles", "Water-Hordes" etc), which might also be a bit simplistic as Hutton himself makes the point that things were not the same everywhere, but it's still an interesting alternative. The Prof painted a really vivid picture of life in these Islands over the years, and I learned a few things too, eg: "Stonehenge was jerry built, and might not have even been finished", and that Irish and Welsh literature relating to "the Dark Ages" and further back is looking more and more unreliable by the day (for instance the number of Irish heroes depicted as riding chariots when not a single piece of evidence for chariots has ever been found there - it's more likely that the monks writing this stuff down were familiar with ancient Greek writing/heroes, hence the chariots). Anyway, all in all it was a good evening, so worth seeing him "live" if you haven't before. Thank you very much Wiggy, I am really sorry I had to miss the lecture but had to travel in the other direction to Oxford yesterday so getting to Bristol and back in the evening would have been a journey too far (I don't have a car). It sounds like a very interesting talk indeed; personally I am fascinated but noncommital about 'old religions' as they are a jigsaw with many pieces missing. All you can do is look at bits and pieces of folklore, legend, and ancient customs taking what is helpful to yourself from them. I recently read a library book by Marian Green called 'A Witch Alone' - she dedicated it to Ronald Hutton with great deal of appreciation, so that spoke for itself; it was an enjoyable read containing lots of 'old' knowledge.
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goffik 3526 posts |
Feb 11, 2010, 16:42
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Cheers, Wiggy! Really didn't expect you to go ot the bother of reporting back so comprehensively - nice one! :) Sounds really interesting, actually. I've always liked Ronald Hutton. Seems like such a nice bloke, and so damned intelligent! (He's a friend of a friend, don'tcha know! KER-LANGGG!!! Ooh - did ya hear that rather tenuous link to a name being dropped???) :D Thanks again, matey. :) G x
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Littlestone 4320 posts |
Feb 11, 2010, 17:08
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Yes, many thanks for that Wiggy - it's always good to get an abstract of a talk, dig etc, hot off the press. You're right about Ronald Hutton being a nice bloke Goff. At the risk of repeating myself, I once walked into a pub in Devizes and Prof H was sitting in a corner on his own. We didn't know each other from Adam but he waved me over and we had a nice lunchtime chat. Nice fella, very nice fella indeed.
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Wiggy 1507 posts |
Feb 12, 2010, 12:42
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He did a handfasting for some old friends of mine (my ex's mates really) many years ago, and he was lecturer to a couple of my Bristol educated friends. Seems like a nice chap, and dammned clever too.
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Wiggy 1507 posts |
Edited Feb 12, 2010, 14:55
Feb 12, 2010, 12:48
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Forgot to mention; there seems to be an increasing amount of evidence to suggest a rather violent transition from a culture using round barrows, circles etc to a culture of water hoards as part of it's belief system, this may also have been accompanied by severe environmental pressure caused by climate change! Food for thought. =:0(
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moss 1985 posts |
Feb 12, 2010, 13:26
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Wiggy wrote: He did a handfasting for some old friends of mine (my ex's mates really) many years ago, and he was lecturer to a couple of my Bristol educated friends. Seems like a nice chap, and dammned clever too. I went to a lecture a couple of years ago, when he 'exploded the myth' of the goddess theory ;), he was'nt well at the time but a lovely gentle personality. Saw him also walking round Silbury on Lammas day maybe a year or two ago. He was probably there to witness the druid ceremony on top of the mound. What is a 'water horde' by the way?
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