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Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

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To the Heart of the Matter
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Littlestone
Littlestone
5386 posts

Edited Jan 11, 2008, 10:13
The irreverent day
Jan 02, 2008, 16:38
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/img_fullsize/65185.jpg

Four small sarsen stones lying alongside some of the steelwork taken from the Atkinson Tunnel, and now in the English Heritage/Skanska compound at the base of Silbury Hill.


Presumably these sarsens are some of those recently mentioned in the press that have been found within Silbury. According to latest theories the stones may represent the souls of those who died at the time Silbury was being constructed.

The question now is, will these sarsens be returned to their right place within Silbury or be left exposed to 'the irreverent day' on a wooden pallet (along with 1960's steelwork form the Atkinson/BBC tunnel) before being deposited in a museum - or somewhere even worse? Will English Heritage confirm, either here or on their Silbury Updates website, that they intend to adhere to accepted principles of conservation and the religious concerns of some members of our society (concerns which do demand the proper treatment of these objects) or are we to expect yet again (and in the words of Lord Avebury) that they will be guilty of offending accepted, "...conservation principles, as well as the spiritual beliefs of some people."?

Looking at these stones (the religious equivalent of modern headstones perhaps) that were no doubt placed with care and reverence in Silbury by our ancestors more than 4,000 years ago, Emmeline Fisher's Silbury poem of 1849 takes on a new, sad and almost prophetic meaning -

Bones of our wild forefathers, O forgive,
If we now pierce the chambers of your rest,
And open your dark pillows to the eye
Of the irreverent day...
In reply to:
Re: A Puzzle. (nigelswift)		 Replies:
What knackers ... (StoneGloves)
the spiritual beliefs of some people. (moss)
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