Ancient Stone Bothering…...The Knowes O’ Trotty….BBC Pics of Scotland…..
by Bernie Bell - 07:48 on 21 September 2024
Ancient Stone Bothering….
Having resisted, and roundly condemned, Facebook for years - I gave in and signed up.
I’ve found a lot of interest, entertainment and good things there – some questionable stuff – but I keep away from that and make FB work for me, instead of letting it work me.
I followed a link on a friend’s FB page, to a site which has much of interest….
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2003881253140331/
…and am now looking up pieces I’ve written which might be of interest to others in the group. I came across an exchange with Aaron Watson….
https://www.aaronwatson.co.uk/
…..which I’d never written up/about. I hope he doesn’t mind if I do so now. Here goes…
Firstly…me to Aaron….
“Mike came home from work yesterday with a book which he'd got in the Stromness Red + shop for 30p! It’s called.....'Ancient Stones on Old Postcards' - compiled by Jerry Bird. It does what it says on the tin! I think it's a hoot, and it's also very interesting. Some of the old postcards have photos of stones which the text in the book then tells you have been moved since – so the postcard could be the only existing evidence of where the stones were originally placed.
They also have some strange interpretations of what the places were - for example the text on the card for Wayland's Smithy describes it as… "WaylandSmith's Cave is one of the Pigmy dwellings of the stone age."
There are also a lot of pictures of people in their Sunday Best, standing on or by stones, looking very serious.
I thought you might like to see a picture of an Ancient Stone on an Old Postcard…..
You may be familiar with it already but, you know my policy - if I find something of interest I send it on to those who might be...interested.
The things you can find in charity shops!”
Aaron’s response…
“I think you’ve stumbled onto a gem with this book! I’d heard about this stone in the pic - and there are others - where natural holes in sarsen can make sound. It is not clear whether any of these features were enhanced by people in prehistory because sarsen weathers in ways that can make this difficult to determine. Natural holes are certainly common in this geology, and may be fossil remnants of plants growing upon the desert surface from which this stone derives. That’s a bit mind boggling in its own right. It is always possible that people in prehistory were aware of the sound effects.
Any postcards from Orkney in the book? While it’s not a postcard, your email did put me in mind of that classic pic of the Ring of Brodgar in 1941:
What would Neolithic people have made of this, I wonder?”
And, finally, me again…
“Blimey - that's a worrying picture - different times!
The idea of the holes being the 'remains' of fossil plants is, as you say, mind-boggling. The fact is, Aaron, I find much of life mind-boggling.
Some things are scarcely believable, but they are simply so. So, when folk find it hard to accept some ideas I tend to think they should have a look at what is un-questionably so.......there's a lot of stuff that you couldn't make up if you tried.
I do believe in folk questioning though - it's the beginning of science, and wonder, to question. What I'm talking about is when folk dismiss something because it's not obviously plausible, then you look at some of the things in nature and the world around us - one example being the exact measurements that produce an eclipse! And, and, and..........
I did wonder about the reference to the sound being used to summon people, and the link with the choosing of kings - might that be a memory of something that the stone was used for/seen as, in the distant past? There are lots of stones with links like that - such as the Stone of Destiny at Tara. You know that stuff, so I needn't go into it ....it just made me wonder, as many things do!
There aren't any postcards in the book from Orkney. It looks like he's mostly concentrating on England. There is a pic. of the original 'Rock of Ages'! It really is worth having a look at this book - and he has a good way of writing about how/why places are so often the 'Devil's such and such', in some areas and attributed to giants in other areas. It is a gem, and a find.
I've sent on that picture of Brodgar, under the heading of "EEEEEEEEKKKKKKK!" - I should imagine that's what the Neolithic folk would have said, too!”
https://www.therealbookshop.com/products/ancient-stones-on-old-postcards-by-jerry-bird
******************************************************************
The Knowes O’ Trotty…
Oh! to have been there….
https://archaeologyorkney.com/2024/09/20/knowes-trotty-2024/
And, my tuppenceworth….
https://theorkneynews.scot/2019/10/16/the-knowes-and-thens-of-trotty/
Since this article was published the preferred access route has changed…….
https://www.northlinkferries.co.uk/orkney-blog/knowes-of-trotty/
And here’s more info. from the ever-informative Ness of Brodgar Trust blog…..
https://www.nessofbrodgar.co.uk/knowes-of-trotty/
It really is an ace, place.
BBC Pics of Scotland…
13th – 20th of September 2024….
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2550pxl07o
Jessica Bruce ‘snapped’ an anchor at St. Mary’s, Orkney – a place which is very familiar to us…
https://theorkneynews.scot/2024/06/03/woodland-magic/
Not so familiar to us– but left a lasting impression - Loch Eriboll, also appreciated by Jim and Sheila Beck…
https://theorkneynews.scot/2018/01/25/our-trip-to-the-isle-of-lewis-1/
Drew Mallon’s image taken at Millport, Cumbrae also brought back memories of a visit….
https://theorkneynews.scot/2022/03/30/cumbrae-memories/
Add your comment
