common era
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Re: Britain's Ancient Capital: Secrets Of Orkney
Jan 04, 2017, 09:58
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Doesn't say when episode 3 is, but 2 is next Monday at 9 pm. Episode 1 also repeats on BBC 2 this Saturday at 7:30 pm - or watch via iPlayer of course:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08819tl
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tjj
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Edited Jan 04, 2017, 11:33
Re: Britain's Ancient Capital: Secrets Of Orkney
Jan 04, 2017, 11:31
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Its a 'must watch' isn't it. What they did with the seaweed (an Orcadian suggestion) to move the stone was fascinating. And I applaud the cameraman who filmed Andy Torbet climbing up the sea stack.
I went to Orkney at midsummer in 2009, the day started off with a bitterly cold wind and turned into a wonderful warm summer's day - quite rare judging by the wind burnt look of everyone in the programme. Later that summer, back home - I went on a guided walk around Avebury organised by the NT. The walk was led by an archaeologist who had previously lived and worked on Orkney (if I recall correctly, her name was Matilda) she was the first person to point out to me that the Ring of Brodgar was the same dimension as one of the inner circles at Avebury and that Avebury seemed to mirror the Ring of Brodgar but on a much larger scale. Even back then there was a clear school of thought that it all started in Orkney and cascaded south.
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jonmor
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Re: Britain's Ancient Capital: Secrets Of Orkney
Jan 04, 2017, 11:49
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"Even back then there was a clear school of thought that it all started in Orkney and cascaded south."
If they're correct, perhaps all they have to do is work out why: Doing so could massively increase interest in the subject area and that could boost funding for archaeological projects.
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ironstone
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Re: Britain's Ancient Capital: Secrets Of Orkney
Jan 04, 2017, 19:46
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Brilliant first episode; hopefully in one of the next two they'll answer a question which has long bugged me about Orkney and the Neolithic, namely what estimate do they have of the size of the population when these astonishing monuments were being built? Someone said something about the man-hours required to build Maes Howe but didn't elaborate.
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Dog in fog
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Re: Britain's Ancient Capital: Secrets Of Orkney
Jan 04, 2017, 20:08
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I visited last year: I certainly had great interest in the history but personally experienced it from more of a spiritual bent on balance.
I'm not very knowledgeable and so this might be a stupid question, but I understand that 60 stones originally made the Ring of Brodgar, and 12 stones formed the Stones of Stenness circle. This made me think of 'time'. Is there any connection, does anyone know?
Thanks.
Will watch the prog when I visit Blighty!
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tiompan
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Re: Britain's Ancient Capital: Secrets Of Orkney
Jan 04, 2017, 21:00
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Hi DIF .
We don't really know how many stones there were at either site , the 12 and 60 are estimates .
12 is quite a common number , but just as the diameters vary so do the number of stones .Sometimes there are gaps ,sometimes they are contiguous . Depending on preservation , diameter and distance between stones you can anything from an original 4 at four posters lots of 5 and 6's to upper teens ,those with 11 may have originally had 12 , maybe not ,but those with 13 like Dromroe and Cairnwell ,Hatton etc clearly didn't .
Average diameters with like Rollright can have 80 where something bigger can have a lot less e.g. two of the Hurlers at approx 29 each .
Brodgar at much the same diameter as Avebury south had approx. twice the number .
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Dog in fog
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Re: Britain's Ancient Capital: Secrets Of Orkney
Jan 04, 2017, 23:21
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Okay, thanks a lot for the info, Tiompan. It's quite mindblowing!
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Markoid
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Edited Jan 05, 2017, 19:13
Re: Britain's Ancient Capital: Secrets Of Orkney
Jan 05, 2017, 19:09
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Orkney is a place I shall go to in the Summertime. I just got back from Scotland yesterday. I didn't go to any islands this time, but there is a certain energy and relaxness about the country and our cities which is hard to describe.
It is one brilliant place.
It's pure baltic though!
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Dog in fog
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Re: Britain's Ancient Capital: Secrets Of Orkney
Jan 05, 2017, 19:47
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A friend and I drove up in mid-Sept 2015 and were damn lucky. It was almost hilariously windy with a good swell when making an evening crossing from Scrabster to Stromness. Once there, the rain was horizontal and the wettest I've ever known.
Come the next morning it was blue skies and sunny all day and we managed to drive around and see many of the sites. We also had a night on Westray, but had to go as foot passengers as it was full of vehicles (only a tiny ferry). The crossing back to the main island the next day is the best boat ride I've ever had. We sat on the floor with our legs dangling over the side and watched the sky and sea changing. It was like a giant kaleidoscope of blues, whites and greys. Beautiful.
Still, I'm quite hardcore. Just been to Tromsø ;-)
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Markoid
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Edited Jan 05, 2017, 22:05
Re: Britain's Ancient Capital: Secrets Of Orkney
Jan 05, 2017, 21:55
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The skies were quite amazing even in Glasgow last week on some days. You can literally see for miles on a good day, and see astounding stars on a good night.
We don't get that in London. I expect Orkney would be even better!
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