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Climbing on Standing Stones
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Sanctuary
Sanctuary
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Re: Climbing on Standing Stones
Feb 29, 2012, 22:48
Rhiannon wrote:
"empty talk about respect but no substance about why.."

come come surely it's about the fact that these places have been there longer than any one of us, that they represent something bigger than individuals, that they represent (well more than represent, they are actually) this country's past, built by the ancestors of many of the people that live in this country today, maybe my ancestors or your ancestors. That we can choose to leave those structures as intact as we can, rather than dig into them or flatten them or plough them or steal the bones out of them or whatever indignities so many of them have suffered in the past. So then they might exist for our own descendents to look at 100s or 1000s of years hence. Is it not about accepting that the whim of an individual to satisfy their immediate desire to (say) climb up Silbury should actually be subordinate to the Greater Good of looking after the hill for the future?

Actually I think quite a few people have said that sort of thing.

(and don't think I'm being all sanctimonious, I wouldn't climb Silbury or carve my name on a standing stone, but I've sat on stones and walked along long barrows, patted rock art and stood on round barrows. But it doesn't have to be a black and white thing to make it not worth drawing a line?)


Any form of excavation into a mound/tomb/barrow by archaeos can be seen as violating a sacred place, but in the main it is being done for a good purpose and not purposefully being disrespectful to the people buried there or the site itself. I personally don't approve of removing bodies from a neolithic tomb any more than I approve of a grave today being disturbed because it is a last resting place and should be respected. Just because a grave or tomb may be robbed out does not remove the 'sacredness' from a site as far as I am concerned because I believe they were built in special places of their time. I have the greatest of respect for our ancestors because as you say, they are us and without their presence we would not be here today. When I climbed over sacred stones/mounds/tombs when I was younger I was doing it because I didn't choose to understand quite what our ancestors meant to me but as I've got older I have since learnt the true meaning of respect as far AS I AM CONCERNED! What others do is down to them but of course the problem there is that if my belief is ignored and sites damaged by those that don't care, I and others like me suffer because of it while the abusers just walk away unperturbed because we are not spoiling their beliefs. BUT, if we did as they all do and don't care for our ancestors last resting places then of course they win again because their beliefs are being upheld.
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