Wonderful observation What do you think so many were for? Seems alot of work Just for ritual (a frequently used ...trendy term nowadays in archaeology) in and era when farmers were on edge of survival and probably had little time to space for the Esoteric. Cattle herding ?? But alot of work when a hedge or pallisade would be easier than building large earth bank with primitive tools.
I live in the US about 25 miles from the "Newark Earthen Works" the Octagon, Circle and Square. It is the newest UNESCO World Heritage Site, and about 75 miles from the Great Serpent Mound. I am 77 years old and neither of these extraordinary prehistoric monuments was ever on my radar. No, I pined for the deserts of Arabia (Petra, Jerash, Babylon), and later Avebury, Stonehenge, Holy Island and Cloud's Hill. We tend to look over the horizon instead of at the amazing things under our feet.
hi, i live in bishops tachbrook and my parents live at 82 bridgend or barn cottage to give it its full name......love your show.....i grew up on blue bell hill near maidstone kent and that area has a few ancient sites around the area ......we had a stone in our garden and a boundary marker was an avenue of yew trees that led up the hill to a solar temple. ive travelled a bit and usually go to places with history....inclueding last november when i went to Cairo and went into the pyrminds....ive also been to malta and brittany.....keep up the good work julian h.
@ThePrehistoryGuys I thought you lived in Bridgend Warwick....but its Barford....still local to me. I used to have a family friend that lived at no 1 Bridge St. Barford....I think she is dead now. Jh
Love this kind of on the ground detective work! I think you make a very strong case. It's exciting to think there could be prehistoric ghosts hidden all over the place for those with eyes to see. On Time Team Stewart Ainsworth was my favourite. He never dug a single hole, he just walked around the landscape and gave huge insights into the history of the area.
An interesting question is whether there is any "scientific" way to independently gather data to support a proposed cursus location. Since the size of many cursuses (cursi?) is large, then it is likely the builders would have cleared the vegetation from the area to make the cursus visible. By digging environmental test pits around a supposed cursus site, it might be possible to detect the sudden loss of vegetation simultaneously at the same ancient date. Is there any possibility that this might be feasible?
Thank you, Michael! I do remember some of this from the Prehistory Show, which by the way, I miss very much!!! Your "cursus theory" makes a lot of sense to me... .... It isn't that I don't think religion / rituals weren't a part of every day life, but the hunting of herd animals would have been essential to even have a community of people able to "give thanks" for the food (and every other useful thing that comes from an animal carcass) that they were able to catch, as well as the health and wellbeing of the hunters, and the hunted! I'm also pretty sure that those people didn't feel the need (or have the time) to make so many significant processions in so many places! Logic and common sense has to be applied to everything - in context! That's why "living archaeology" is such an important field, even though I understand it's not possible to test everything; like hunting migratory herds, nevertheless, we can use modern technology to help simulate theories. It is well past due-time that accepted theories, created by men who never even got their hands dirty though hard labour, were challenged. Live it - or at least look at other similar cultures and civilisations in the world. Humans are humans everywhere, and societies have the same needs. Keep up the good work, Guys, and "Question Everything"!!!!!
Neolithic henge recently discovered at Crowland in Lincolnshire. Could you do a segment on the prehistory of the East midlands? There's not so much stone available there, so the monuments are less well defined, but I would love for you to have a look at the available evidence.
My favourite video and the one that got me interested in you guys. And prehistory. And conflicted too because I agree with both of you even when opposed. There is no cut and dry. There is only information and enterpritasion (sorry for my bad spelling)
Funny you should say what's in the next village along as I'm almost convinced there are three unregistered barrow mounds in a field near me. I can't investigate them because, well I'm not an archaeologist and the field is full of sheep that my presence would disturb. But it would be nice to have an informed pair of eyes look at them from the road.
Hi: Just quick question more than a bit off subject. I've seen several bloggers using the same microphone your using --- what brand is it? By the way - now that I've found your site and watched two sessions I intend to watch some more of your work.
Northumberland, a few fields have piles of medium size stones , too heavy for one man to lift beside the fence of an oak tree. Anyone got any suggestions on how to find out more? I've searched the local library and found only named stoes in the area not these odd piles or sometimes just a large stone in the national park and beside it.
This is what wiki has to say about your question: "In archaeology, a ring ditch is a trench of circular or penannular plan, cut into bedrock. They are usually identified through aerial photography either as soil marks or cropmarks. When excavated, ring ditches are usually found to be the ploughed‐out remains of a round barrow where the barrow mound has completely disappeared, leaving only the infilled former quarry ditch.[1] Both Neolithic and Bronze Age ring ditches have been discovered. The term is most often used as a generic description in cases where there is no clear evidence for the function of the site: for instance where it has been ploughed flat and is known only as a cropmark or a geophysical anomaly. The two most frequent monument types represented by ring ditches are roundhouses (where the 'ditch' is actually a foundation slot or eaves drip gully) and round barrows. The term is not normally used for larger features than these. Larger features would instead be described as 'circular enclosures'. Also related to ring ditches, is the causewayed ring ditch, which is a roughly circular ditch with a central area and multiple causeways which cross it. The causewayed ring ditch is a subcategory of the ring ditch." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_ditch About cursus: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursus
Hey there - @anorhex beat me to it. Yeah, 'ring ditch' is a hugely generic term and could also be ascribed to some of the huge European roundels or kreisgrabenanlage de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreisgrabenanlage However, a cursus is distinguished by comprising of two straight, parallel banks and ditches, with termini of varying types rounding or closing off each end. Rupert and I believe them to be for the entrapment and enclosure of herding animals enabling 'hunting' and despatch to be undertaken on a more effective and efficient manner. M.
I'm sure there are no cursi close to where I am in Cagayan de Oro City Mindanao Philippines. However, only a couple of kilometres up the hill from here is the site of the first victory of the Filipino forces over the American Bluecoats in 1900. Modern, rather than ancient, history. Undoubtedly there would be places inhabited in ancient times, but there's nothing monumental that's evident around here.
Cursus! foiled again
Would've got away with it if not for those pesky kids....
lol
Wonderful observation
What do you think so many were for?
Seems alot of work Just for ritual (a frequently used ...trendy term nowadays in archaeology) in and era when farmers were on edge of survival and probably had little time to space for the Esoteric.
Cattle herding ?? But alot of work when a hedge or pallisade would be easier than building large earth bank with primitive tools.
Tea, chocolate digestives and The Prehistory Guys: what more could I wish for?
I know, 😂 Rupert Soskin and a longer episode. I've only just settled down and had one! biscuit.
Back with a 25 minute show with Rupert in a couple of days! M.
Love the videos showing the location from a bird’s eye view and on the ground!
Fascinating stuff...I live in a desert ... I know there is history all around me..... yet deserts don't leave many signs.....
Loving the retrospective viewpoint ❤
Ooooo thank you for this one. Like an espresso shot of history to gimme a boost! Yaayu
I live in the US about 25 miles from the "Newark Earthen Works" the Octagon, Circle and Square. It is the newest UNESCO World Heritage Site, and about 75 miles from the Great Serpent Mound. I am 77 years old and neither of these extraordinary prehistoric monuments was ever on my radar. No, I pined for the deserts of Arabia (Petra, Jerash, Babylon), and later Avebury, Stonehenge, Holy Island and Cloud's Hill. We tend to look over the horizon instead of at the amazing things under our feet.
hi, i live in bishops tachbrook and my parents live at 82 bridgend or barn cottage to give it its full name......love your show.....i grew up on blue bell hill near maidstone kent and that area has a few ancient sites around the area ......we had a stone in our garden and a boundary marker was an avenue of yew trees that led up the hill to a solar temple. ive travelled a bit and usually go to places with history....inclueding last november when i went to Cairo and went into the pyrminds....ive also been to malta and brittany.....keep up the good work julian h.
Hey Julian - I was living in Wellesbourne when the film was made. In Barford now. Greetings! M.
@ThePrehistoryGuys I thought you lived in Bridgend Warwick....but its Barford....still local to me. I used to have a family friend that lived at no 1 Bridge St. Barford....I think she is dead now. Jh
Thank you for this revival.
Love this kind of on the ground detective work! I think you make a very strong case. It's exciting to think there could be prehistoric ghosts hidden all over the place for those with eyes to see. On Time Team Stewart Ainsworth was my favourite. He never dug a single hole, he just walked around the landscape and gave huge insights into the history of the area.
An interesting question is whether there is any "scientific" way to independently gather data to support a proposed cursus location. Since the size of many cursuses (cursi?) is large, then it is likely the builders would have cleared the vegetation from the area to make the cursus visible. By digging environmental test pits around a supposed cursus site, it might be possible to detect the sudden loss of vegetation simultaneously at the same ancient date. Is there any possibility that this might be feasible?
Thank you, Michael! I do remember some of this from the Prehistory Show, which by the way, I miss very much!!! Your "cursus theory" makes a lot of sense to me... .... It isn't that I don't think religion / rituals weren't a part of every day life, but the hunting of herd animals would have been essential to even have a community of people able to "give thanks" for the food (and every other useful thing that comes from an animal carcass) that they were able to catch, as well as the health and wellbeing of the hunters, and the hunted! I'm also pretty sure that those people didn't feel the need (or have the time) to make so many significant processions in so many places! Logic and common sense has to be applied to everything - in context! That's why "living archaeology" is such an important field, even though I understand it's not possible to test everything; like hunting migratory herds, nevertheless, we can use modern technology to help simulate theories.
It is well past due-time that accepted theories, created by men who never even got their hands dirty though hard labour, were challenged. Live it - or at least look at other similar cultures and civilisations in the world. Humans are humans everywhere, and societies have the same needs.
Keep up the good work, Guys, and "Question Everything"!!!!!
Neolithic henge recently discovered at Crowland in Lincolnshire. Could you do a segment on the prehistory of the East midlands? There's not so much stone available there, so the monuments are less well defined, but I would love for you to have a look at the available evidence.
Thanks @fenrisgrins - we'll be doing our best to have a look at Crowland soon. Agree, there's so much to cover - choices, choices! M.
This was really well done for your first episode!
My favourite video and the one that got me interested in you guys. And prehistory. And conflicted too because I agree with both of you even when opposed. There is no cut and dry. There is only information and enterpritasion (sorry for my bad spelling)
Excellent detective work!
Hidden in plain view should be our motto.
Extremely interesting!!
Reposting your earlier vids is a great idea chaps.
👍
Has no one thought of the "gates" on the Arabian peninsula, which had something to do with keeping cattle?
Someone definitely has thought about it and I totally agree, but the consensus differs (and is wrong) XD
I really enjoyed this format. Great production of an interesting topic.
Funny you should say what's in the next village along as I'm almost convinced there are three unregistered barrow mounds in a field near me. I can't investigate them because, well I'm not an archaeologist and the field is full of sheep that my presence would disturb. But it would be nice to have an informed pair of eyes look at them from the road.
God I love this channel!
😎
Hi: Just quick question more than a bit off subject. I've seen several bloggers using the same microphone your using --- what brand is it? By the way - now that I've found your site and watched two sessions I intend to watch some more of your work.
Are cursuses found only in the UK?
This should have been a regular feature on Sesame Street.
Northumberland, a few fields have piles of medium size stones , too heavy for one man to lift beside the fence of an oak tree. Anyone got any suggestions on how to find out more? I've searched the local library and found only named stoes in the area not these odd piles or sometimes just a large stone in the national park and beside it.
Quick question..... are curses the same thing as ring ditches?
This is what wiki has to say about your question:
"In archaeology, a ring ditch is a trench of circular or penannular plan, cut into bedrock. They are usually identified through aerial photography either as soil marks or cropmarks. When excavated, ring ditches are usually found to be the ploughed‐out remains of a round barrow where the barrow mound has completely disappeared, leaving only the infilled former quarry ditch.[1] Both Neolithic and Bronze Age ring ditches have been discovered.
The term is most often used as a generic description in cases where there is no clear evidence for the function of the site: for instance where it has been ploughed flat and is known only as a cropmark or a geophysical anomaly. The two most frequent monument types represented by ring ditches are roundhouses (where the 'ditch' is actually a foundation slot or eaves drip gully) and round barrows. The term is not normally used for larger features than these. Larger features would instead be described as 'circular enclosures'.
Also related to ring ditches, is the causewayed ring ditch, which is a roughly circular ditch with a central area and multiple causeways which cross it. The causewayed ring ditch is a subcategory of the ring ditch."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_ditch
About cursus:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursus
Hey there - @anorhex beat me to it. Yeah, 'ring ditch' is a hugely generic term and could also be ascribed to some of the huge European roundels or kreisgrabenanlage de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreisgrabenanlage
However, a cursus is distinguished by comprising of two straight, parallel banks and ditches, with termini of varying types rounding or closing off each end. Rupert and I believe them to be for the entrapment and enclosure of herding animals enabling 'hunting' and despatch to be undertaken on a more effective and efficient manner. M.
Alien landing strips?
Edit: Better point out that was a joke.
The voices from Venus told me to say it.
I'm sure there are no cursi close to where I am in Cagayan de Oro City Mindanao Philippines. However, only a couple of kilometres up the hill from here is the site of the first victory of the Filipino forces over the American Bluecoats in 1900. Modern, rather than ancient, history. Undoubtedly there would be places inhabited in ancient times, but there's nothing monumental that's evident around here.