Head To Head
Log In
Register
The Modern Antiquarian Forum »
For Ceremonial purposes?
Log In to post a reply

127 messages
Topic View: Flat | Threaded
tiompan
tiompan
5758 posts

Re: For Ceremonial purposes?
Aug 20, 2013, 23:32
GLADMAN wrote:
tiompan wrote:
GLADMAN wrote:
tiompan wrote:
GLADMAN wrote:

Basically the guy hypothesised that the first rings were timber demarcations of the perimeters of crop 'circles' caused by natural spiral vortexes, the farmers presumably attempting to capture the 'magic imprint' of visiting invisible earth spirits within their fields.the erection of wooden 'markers' around the circumference, later replaced with stone, provides a much more plausible explanation - for me - for the existance of many non circular rings than Thom's trigonometry theory.


I don't buy the Thom idea or this one . .
Some of the earliest timber monuments were huge e.g. Hindwell had a circumference of 1.4 miles ,that is prairie farming even by todays standards . A few sites with timber circles have been excavated but there is no indication from palynology or the old ground surface of cereal farming . Quite often timber circles are found in concentric rings Woodhenge , Sanctuary , Durrington , Stanton Drew etc that doesn't seem to fit with a marking out of the vortex . There is also the possibility that during the period when timber circles were being built cereal farming was not being practiced to anything like the extent that was believed ,granaries, storage pits and, field systems are absent and unknown before the Middle Bronze Age .Studies show that dental caries associated with cereal consumption were uncommon in the period and isotope analysis shows that diets were higher in animal protein .
Punters marking out enclosures as they had always done and continued to do , usually by eye seems more likely to me .


I reckon it's a very simple, elegant hypothesis explaining one way in which the origin of the idea of the 'circle' could have been inspired in the first place. Also explains why egg and oval shapes exist. Of course, doesn't mean it's right. But someone had to have the original idea.

Would also perhaps hint at one possible source leading to the development of the swirling trinity motifs found at Bru na Boinne etc......



The spiral motifs were around along time before cereal farming. The spiral can be found elsewhere in nature and being a phosphene form don't even require inspiration from nature .


My understanding of how the brain works, for what it's worth, is that humans actually don't 'see' reality anyway, our brain merely applying what it selects as the most appropriate (best fit) template passed down to us through the gene pool for that particular scenario... saves time in life or death situations. Perhaps our neolithic farmer might have had a profound moment resulting from a mesolithic hunter-gatherer rubbing his eyes at the passing of a vortex across a wild grass meadow millennia before. Or having a few mushrooms.
Mind you he would have had to make sure he fitted the archaeologists' dates...


I agree we don't see reality .
No need for mushrooms to see phosphenes ,they are our genetic inheritance .
Scroll to about 10 mins for a laugh .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr_mCsXX62I&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PL8EFC5E6EDE565CD8
Topic Outline:

The Modern Antiquarian Forum Index