Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

Hi Branwen

There's 2 Time Team shows about crannogs. One is a special about Loch Tay and the other is a cracking epsiode filmed on the shores of Loch Migdale. They find a henge and a toppled standing stone which was aligned to the setting sun and a notch in the hills.

They also rediscover the spot where the bronze age Migdale hoard was found. They're both watchable on 4OD and others are on you tube. Well worth downloading

I'm a fan but sadly in the Migdale prog some suggestions were wrong ,it wasn't a henge and the astro alignment didn't do what it was supposed to do .

From that I assume that someone checked the alignment out. Did it turn out to be a barrow?

The astro bit was done in a hurry and a possibility became a certainty in a few minutes .

Standing stones to notches are dodgy at the best of times but this one didn't "work" anyway .

Yeah. Some things have a habit of doing that on TV.



Not sure the dodgy tag can be applied with a broad brush. Everything is suspect until proven/observed anyway, but once observed it is fact whether intentional or otherwise. Until then they have to be taken as iffy (even if likely from preliminary observation). The intentionality of many alignments will never be established without the presence of a second marker. For me a notch can be a second marker, though. You have three points in a line: the stone, the notch and the sun. When these happen on 'random' dates it can cause a problem, but then you have to look at instances such as Labbamologa church in Cork. Here the original church does not face due east, but points to the sun rise on the Saint's Day. A stone/notch/sun rise alignment could just mark someone's birthday.

I assume someone checked this one out to know that it doesn't work? I'm only repeating my question because you have stated categorically that it's wrong. We both agree that Time Team jumped the gun in declaring it to be so. As you're being so definite I assume you're stating from observed fact.

Yeah. Some things have a habit of doing that on TV.



Not sure the dodgy tag can be applied with a broad brush. Everything is suspect until proven/observed anyway, but once observed it is fact whether intentional or otherwise. Until then they have to be taken as iffy (even if likely from preliminary observation). The intentionality of many alignments will never be established without the presence of a second marker. For me a notch can be a second marker, though. You have three points in a line: the stone, the notch and the sun. When these happen on 'random' dates it can cause a problem, but then you have to look at instances such as Labbamologa church in Cork. Here the original church does not face due east, but points to the sun rise on the Saint's Day. A stone/notch/sun rise alignment could just mark someone's birthday.

I assume someone checked this one out to know that it doesn't work? I'm only repeating my question because you have stated categorically that it's wrong. We both agree that Time Team jumped the gun in declaring it to be so. As you're being so definite I assume you're stating from observed fact.

The person who was rushed into suggesting it in the first place I know categorically to have said it is wrong .

I would imagine they wanted Time Team to consider the possibility the upside down tree was a shaft burial, and not an altar.

"Time team started life as an idea that came out a series of four programmes called Time Signs broadcast in 1991. Produced and directed by Time Team series producer Tim Taylor, they were presented by Mick Aston, who had previously discussed the idea of devising a popular archaeology programme with Tony Robinson. So when a pilot Time Team programme was made in October 1992, it was Mick`s suggestion that Tony should present it. The pilot episode was never screened, but the idea was good enough to persuade Channel 4 to comission a four programme series of Time Team, which was filmed in 1993, and broadcast the following year. The rest as they say, is history... or should that be archaeology".


Notches are very interesting phenomena, it would seem. Particularly when they've been enhanced artificially. That would leave a distinct archaeological profile, one would think. I don't think anyone's looked for it yet, but ... When there was a circle or something, with an open featureless horizon, then there may have been wooden or temporary foresights, that have lately been removed. In the pennines there was, until recently, a habit of making drystone standing stone-shaped piles of stone, that could have done the trick perfectly. They could easily have been adapted into wall during inclosure, without leaving a trace. But those notches are long-lived.

I'll start downloading 2009 Time Team in a day or two allegedly. I claim to have found a henge that isn't (mine's rectangular) and the currog programme sounds interesting.