Could Spring Finally Be On Its Way??

The first of two posts for the day is just a random collection of thoughts and observations. 

I still can't get out on the cycle-track.  I went for a walk with my husband this morning and we had a brief reconnaisance trip to see how things were doing.  There's a nice slim track of bare tarmac which can safely take a bike-rider travelling in single-file.  That means it's negotiable.  But add loose dogs, silly people, and other cyclists into the equation, then it's a disaster in the making.  I haven't been out on my bike for almost five months now.  I'm going crazy!!!!

On the plus side, the snows are receding and the garden's coming to life.  The senetti arrived from Thompson & Morgan on Friday.  I was a little disappointed with the selection - senetti come in a range of self- and bi-colours, comprising variants of blues, purples and magentas, with the bi-colours featuring white centres.  The T & M selection is restricted to magenta, blue and one bi-colour.  The plants themselves are lovely.  They'll be planted out into a pot on the patio next month,  Gardeners please note:  senetti are a terribly useful plant for late spring/early summer.  They're hardy to around freezing, and they flower very early.  Regular deadheading gives a second flowering, too.  I'll post photos once they're established and looking good. 

There's one or two crocus in flower now.  I've taken a few shots, but my camera just doesn't do them justice.

 

Both are examples of species crocus.  I much prefer these smaller, early-flowering varieties to the big blousy numbers that are so commonly seen in parks and gardens.  There's a lovely range of colours available, and when they open up in the sunlight like this, they're exquisite. Unfortunately, I get precious little opportunity to enjoy them.  By the time I get home from work every day, they're closed up for the night .  Today, I was lucky.

Some mysterious things have happened since the snows came and went.  The two baby hellebores I placed in their final flowering positions a month ago were found half-uprooted, which isn't good when the temperatures are dropping to around -4 every night.  They are still alive, and have been rescued.  I'm not sure whether the compost was pushed down due to the weight of the snow, or whether the blackbirds got a bit over-excited in their garden food forages. 

On a lighter note, my brunnera Jack Frost is still alive.  I accidentally dug it up when I was doing some weeding.  This is a truly gorgeous plant which I hope I'll be able to show you later on in the year.  Unfortunately, the slugs and snails love it just as much as I do, so it ends up getting chomped, despite a constant 'slug pub' in close proximity.  Here's hoping that the harsh weather will have helped cut down the number of hungry slimeballs that are prowling my garden. 

Oh, and the fieldfares appear to have moved on to pastures new.  The blackbirds are uttering sighs of relief, I can tell you!!
 

Could Spring Finally Be On Its Way??

The first of two posts for the day is just a random collection of thoughts and observations. 

I still can't get out on the cycle-track.  I went for a walk with my husband this morning and we had a brief reconnaisance trip to see how things were doing.  There's a nice slim track of bare tarmac which can safely take a bike-rider travelling in single-file.  That means it's negotiable.  But add loose dogs, silly people, and other cyclists into the equation, then it's a disaster in the making.  I haven't been out on my bike for almost five months now.  I'm going crazy!!!!

On the plus side, the snows are receding and the garden's coming to life.  The senetti arrived from Thompson & Morgan on Friday.  I was a little disappointed with the selection - senetti come in a range of self- and bi-colours, comprising variants of blues, purples and magentas, with the bi-colours featuring white centres.  The T & M selection is restricted to magenta, blue and one bi-colour.  The plants themselves are lovely.  They'll be planted out into a pot on the patio next month,  Gardeners please note:  senetti are a terribly useful plant for late spring/early summer.  They're hardy to around freezing, and they flower very early.  Regular deadheading gives a second flowering, too.  I'll post photos once they're established and looking good. 

There's one or two crocus in flower now.  I've taken a few shots, but my camera just doesn't do them justice.

 

Both are examples of species crocus.  I much prefer these smaller, early-flowering varieties to the big blousy numbers that are so commonly seen in parks and gardens.  There's a lovely range of colours available, and when they open up in the sunlight like this, they're exquisite. Unfortunately, I get precious little opportunity to enjoy them.  By the time I get home from work every day, they're closed up for the night .  Today, I was lucky.

Some mysterious things have happened since the snows came and went.  The two baby hellebores I placed in their final flowering positions a month ago were found half-uprooted, which isn't good when the temperatures are dropping to around -4 every night.  They are still alive, and have been rescued.  I'm not sure whether the compost was pushed down due to the weight of the snow, or whether the blackbirds got a bit over-excited in their garden food forages. 

On a lighter note, my brunnera Jack Frost is still alive.  I accidentally dug it up when I was doing some weeding.  This is a truly gorgeous plant which I hope I'll be able to show you later on in the year.  Unfortunately, the slugs and snails love it just as much as I do, so it ends up getting chomped, despite a constant 'slug pub' in close proximity.  Here's hoping that the harsh weather will have helped cut down the number of hungry slimeballs that are prowling my garden. 

Oh, and the fieldfares appear to have moved on to pastures new.  The blackbirds are uttering sighs of relief, I can tell you!!
 

Houses For The Ancestors

I promised a blog-post on Neolithic long barrows, and it's Saturday.  I have time on my hands.  I should be writing novels, but hey, I'll take some more time out getting embroiled in a displacement activity instead.

I've visited a few Neolithic long barrows in my time, but West Kennet has to be my favourite.  I first visited it in a very cold April in 1989 as part of a University field trip.  It's one of the reasons why I took up Archaeology (and Prehistory!) in the first place!

Long barrows have several chambers along their length which were used to inter the dead.  Since they would have needed the labour of an entire community to build, for many years it was thought they were communal monuments.  When excavated, they revealed human remains piled up in anonymous heaps.  It was thought that if people were treated in exactly the same way when they died, these monuments demonstrated a communal existence in life. 

Then along came the Bronze Age, where society was individualised and elitist...

Contemporary theories have questioned this assumption.  It now seems likely that not everyone made it into the communal burial chamber.  And, even though the dead become equal, the architecture of the monument is intended to differentiate between those who are entitled to interact with the ancestors, and those who can merely look on.

Here's a view of the facade of West Kennet:-

 

You can get an idea of the scale of the stones that make up the facade - they're massive!! The biggest one blocks the entrance - it was a later addition, perhaps placed there as an act of closure at the end of the site's active use. 

It's thought that the late Neolithic burial rite involved initial excarnation of the deceased.  Once the bones were defleshed (a lovely word!) they were brought into the tomb, but they weren't necessarily left there undisturbed.  Instead it's possible that they played active roles in the community, being brought out into the realms of the living on festivals or whatever.

The earliest date for a chambered tomb is from an example in Brittany which has produced radiocarbon dates of 7000BC.  The tombs themselves are similar in shape to early Neolithic timber buildings - big, rectangular structures,  The current view is therefore that they represent 'houses' for the ancestors. 

To quote Michael Parker Pearson: They set up markers which would stand for ever to represent the permanent link between a community, its ancestral land and the land which they farmed.  These were not simply places to dispose of the dead but monuments where the ancestors resided, giving their sanction to the use of that land by their descendants.  (Bronze Age Britain, Batsford, p. 41)

And of course, once a whacking great structure like this gets built, everything that follows has to take into account what has come before.  Monuments cannot be understood in splendid isolation, but only in relation to those around them.

Here's another view of West Kennet.  To the right of the stone facade you can just see the top of Silbury Hill, a man made hill which is also late prehistoric in date.  Its purpose remains unknown.
 

 

Next time, I'll talk henges...

Houses For The Ancestors

I promised a blog-post on Neolithic long barrows, and it's Saturday.  I have time on my hands.  I should be writing novels, but hey, I'll take some more time out getting embroiled in a displacement activity instead.

I've visited a few Neolithic long barrows in my time, but West Kennet has to be my favourite.  I first visited it in a very cold April in 1989 as part of a University field trip.  It's one of the reasons why I took up Archaeology (and Prehistory!) in the first place!

Long barrows have several chambers along their length which were used to inter the dead.  Since they would have needed the labour of an entire community to build, for many years it was thought they were communal monuments.  When excavated, they revealed human remains piled up in anonymous heaps.  It was thought that if people were treated in exactly the same way when they died, these monuments demonstrated a communal existence in life. 

Then along came the Bronze Age, where society was individualised and elitist...

Contemporary theories have questioned this assumption.  It now seems likely that not everyone made it into the communal burial chamber.  And, even though the dead become equal, the architecture of the monument is intended to differentiate between those who are entitled to interact with the ancestors, and those who can merely look on.

Here's a view of the facade of West Kennet:-

 

You can get an idea of the scale of the stones that make up the facade - they're massive!! The biggest one blocks the entrance - it was a later addition, perhaps placed there as an act of closure at the end of the site's active use. 

It's thought that the late Neolithic burial rite involved initial excarnation of the deceased.  Once the bones were defleshed (a lovely word!) they were brought into the tomb, but they weren't necessarily left there undisturbed.  Instead it's possible that they played active roles in the community, being brought out into the realms of the living on festivals or whatever.

The earliest date for a chambered tomb is from an example in Brittany which has produced radiocarbon dates of 7000BC.  The tombs themselves are similar in shape to early Neolithic timber buildings - big, rectangular structures,  The current view is therefore that they represent 'houses' for the ancestors. 

To quote Michael Parker Pearson: They set up markers which would stand for ever to represent the permanent link between a community, its ancestral land and the land which they farmed.  These were not simply places to dispose of the dead but monuments where the ancestors resided, giving their sanction to the use of that land by their descendants.  (Bronze Age Britain, Batsford, p. 41)

And of course, once a whacking great structure like this gets built, everything that follows has to take into account what has come before.  Monuments cannot be understood in splendid isolation, but only in relation to those around them.

Here's another view of West Kennet.  To the right of the stone facade you can just see the top of Silbury Hill, a man made hill which is also late prehistoric in date.  Its purpose remains unknown.
 

 

Next time, I'll talk henges...

The End of the Line

I've just watched the most depressing documentary called The End of the Line on Channel 4.  The subject was over-fishing, and it was utterly horrific.

I'm a vegetarian.  I don't eat fish.  And I have no time for so-called 'vegetarians' who do.  Given the choice, I'd rather sink my teeth into something cute, woolly and fluffy than eat an endangered species, thank you very much.

The Blue Planet was my first wake-up call with regards to the over-exploitation of our oceans.  The End of the Line went further to demonstrate just what a mess the human race is making for future generations with their greed and reluctance to curb their excesses.  For example, small-scale fishermen in Senegal can no longer make a viable living because their fishing grounds are being hoovered clean of fish by huge fishing vessels registered in developed countries (fishing rights being bought and sold by governments).  When their incomes fall so low that they can no longer support their families, the fishermen leave to find employment abroad in western countries and so become illegal immigrants.

I'm glad I don't eat fish.  If I did, I'd probably hate myself after watching that.  The case of the Blue Fin Tuna is particularly bad.  In terms of population decline, it's up there with the white rhino in terms of its status as an endangered species.  Restaurants don't serve up white rhinos on dinner plates, do they?  There'd be an outcry if they did... 

Fish-farming didn't fare much better - farmed fish are fed on ground up wild fish (our puffins and gulliemots are starving to death because of over-fishing of sand eels for use in animal fodder...), with 5 kilos of wild fish being used to produce 1 kilo of farmed salmon.

If you can still catch this programme, watch it.  It's depressing, it's harrowing, but it presents a horrible reality that must be looked in the eye and acknowledged.  And if you do eat fish, please try and make it sustainable...

The End of the Line

I've just watched the most depressing documentary called The End of the Line on Channel 4.  The subject was over-fishing, and it was utterly horrific.

I'm a vegetarian.  I don't eat fish.  And I have no time for so-called 'vegetarians' who do.  Given the choice, I'd rather sink my teeth into something cute, woolly and fluffy than eat an endangered species, thank you very much.

The Blue Planet was my first wake-up call with regards to the over-exploitation of our oceans.  The End of the Line went further to demonstrate just what a mess the human race is making for future generations with their greed and reluctance to curb their excesses.  For example, small-scale fishermen in Senegal can no longer make a viable living because their fishing grounds are being hoovered clean of fish by huge fishing vessels registered in developed countries (fishing rights being bought and sold by governments).  When their incomes fall so low that they can no longer support their families, the fishermen leave to find employment abroad in western countries and so become illegal immigrants.

I'm glad I don't eat fish.  If I did, I'd probably hate myself after watching that.  The case of the Blue Fin Tuna is particularly bad.  In terms of population decline, it's up there with the white rhino in terms of its status as an endangered species.  Restaurants don't serve up white rhinos on dinner plates, do they?  There'd be an outcry if they did... 

Fish-farming didn't fare much better - farmed fish are fed on ground up wild fish (our puffins and gulliemots are starving to death because of over-fishing of sand eels for use in animal fodder...), with 5 kilos of wild fish being used to produce 1 kilo of farmed salmon.

If you can still catch this programme, watch it.  It's depressing, it's harrowing, but it presents a horrible reality that must be looked in the eye and acknowledged.  And if you do eat fish, please try and make it sustainable...