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12 bar
24 posts

America's Stonehenge
Jun 03, 2002, 17:58
I'm travelling to New England in the near future and was taken by a place with the above title. I knew there were mound builders in Ohio and around St,. Louis but never realised the indigenous population of America created this kind of work. America's Stonehenge here I jolly well come.
FourWinds
FourWinds
10943 posts

Watch out, watch out there's nutters abt
Jun 03, 2002, 19:49
Hi 12bar

There is a thread on this below with some wild and whacky links in it. Well worth hunting for.

You will soon see that the US 'enthusiast' is one that still will not accept that the indiginous population has any claim to these creations. Actually, the American Indians do say that they are from another time too, but the modern, white US citizen still tries to link these monuments with Europe in some bizarre ways.

A friend of mine had an e-mail regarding an Ogham stone in Ohio for crying out loud!!

They call their stone altars 'dolmens' and all sorts of madness.

Americans still can't get to grips with the concept of ancient history!

Enjoy your trip and try to enlighten a few folk on your travels.
Pete G
Pete G
3506 posts

Re: Watch out, watch out there's nutters abt
Jun 03, 2002, 19:53
Fourwinds,
Did you see the time team episode when they went to America?
I nearly cried with laughter. They wanted to strip top soil with a jcb but the american archaeologist wouldn't let because all the archaeology they are interested in was contained in the top 3 to 4 inches!
PeteG
Aspinall
40 posts

Re: Watch out, watch out there's nutters abt
Jun 03, 2002, 20:35
Please have a look at today's news posting on the Megalithic Portal.

Also the Vikings are supposed to have colonised North America, once upon a time. They also built mounds. As we do yet.

We put our aboriginal culture down just as much as Amerikans do.

(I've just found another stone row - but in Northumbria this time. As it's just little stones I'll eventually put it back up.)

David
12 bar
24 posts

Confused thanks
Jun 04, 2002, 16:30
But are the stones of America's Stonehenge much smaller than ours or just much more recent? Sorry to appear like such a dil.
FourWinds
FourWinds
10943 posts

Re: Confused thanks
Jun 04, 2002, 16:39
Definitely the former and very likely the latter.
:-)
AgentOrange
AgentOrange
221 posts

Re: Confused thanks
Jun 05, 2002, 09:32
Ah but it ain't size that counts. Whats more, thanks to the ignorance of much of the populace of america, it may well be that these sites are in a condition much closer to their orignal state than what we have here...
Scott7
174 posts

ah....sweeping generalistations......
Jun 06, 2002, 10:01
I think people should be careful in saying things like "the ignorance of most of the population of america"

Shall we not rise above these jingoistic, semi-nationalistic little phrases? People use this board to share ideas and thoughts, not to spread knee jerk phrases.

I disagree that Americans can not get to grips with ancient history. On the contrary, those Americans who are interested in this stuff have an intense desire for more knowledge.

Being from the States, but living in London I find just as many British who haven't a clue about the ancient sites that are abound in their own country. On many occasions I've been the one telling them about this site or that site, or this period of history.

So, let's try and remember there are some things we are trying to transcend here.

Scott
Martin
401 posts

Re: ah....sweeping generalistations......
Jun 06, 2002, 11:00
Well said Scott! I've been to America's Stonehenge and chatted for ages to the folks who run the place/shop. We arrived late in the day, but the guy was so keen to learn about Scottish megaliths he stayed around so we could chat.
I get the feeling that folk who make these sweeping generalisations have never actually been to the States, cos if they had they would hopefully have been as surprised as I was at just how friendly and sincere most Americans are.
FourWinds
FourWinds
10943 posts

Re: ah....sweeping generalistations......
Jun 06, 2002, 11:12
Sorry to raise your wrath Scott. I know there are people like yourselves and that the majority of the UK are just as ignorant as I suggested Americans are.

Here's the difference though (and what makes me stick to what I said - although a lot more focused):

Most of the web sites that portray these US sites are bollox. They are full of crap. 90% of them seem to want to equate the monuments with the Euro-Asian phenomenon in a way that just isn't there. They do not want to accept that they 'could' be related more to the indiginous population thatn to some long gone race of early European invaders.

I have not yet come across a well informed and balanced web site (or book) that discusses them.

If you know of one please, please tell me !! I would love to see such a thing and learn from it.

So problem is that the people who know things about the US sites are badly represented in the public domain. One can only form oppinions on what information one is presented with.

This of course applies to the UK in a way because of the over representation of New-Age stuff.

Hope this clears up my very sweeping generalisation.

<makes a note to qualify everything properly in the future>
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