Another wonderful exhibit at Union Station. Lots of cool multi media in this one.
I've loved the world of British Archeology ever since I first watched Time Team on YouTube years ago. Here in the US our sites are sparse; especially in the Plains states, where our Neolithic peoples were nomadic with very limited material culture that survived. If you are VERY lucky, you might find arrowheads or a stone axe while field walking, and there's one burial site out by Salina and a modest pueblo down in the very south-west corner of the state. But in Britain, it seems you can't go for a walk without tripping over a Bronze Age barrow or a Roman villa or a Norman castle or a Saxon hoard or something else wonderful.
And Stonehenge! Avesbury, Durrington Walls - so much archeology. So many cool artifacts. One very interesting tidbit that I learned is that the experts think that a natural geological feature that occurred due to glaciation is why Stonehenge is where it is and how it is aligned. It just so happened that this feature is oriented with the summer and winter solstice. And Neolithic people noticed and used it a processional way into the area that would become Stonehenge.
I knew that Stonehenge was made in stages - and reworked several times with several types of materials, but learned about the fact that the blue stones - from Wales were used and re-used probably three or four times. Just fascinating.
The exhibit was curated by Mike Parker Pearson, and the public lecture was by the director of the Wiltshire Museum, David Dawson.
I've loved the world of British Archeology ever since I first watched Time Team on YouTube years ago. Here in the US our sites are sparse; especially in the Plains states, where our Neolithic peoples were nomadic with very limited material culture that survived. If you are VERY lucky, you might find arrowheads or a stone axe while field walking, and there's one burial site out by Salina and a modest pueblo down in the very south-west corner of the state. But in Britain, it seems you can't go for a walk without tripping over a Bronze Age barrow or a Roman villa or a Norman castle or a Saxon hoard or something else wonderful.
And Stonehenge! Avesbury, Durrington Walls - so much archeology. So many cool artifacts. One very interesting tidbit that I learned is that the experts think that a natural geological feature that occurred due to glaciation is why Stonehenge is where it is and how it is aligned. It just so happened that this feature is oriented with the summer and winter solstice. And Neolithic people noticed and used it a processional way into the area that would become Stonehenge.
I knew that Stonehenge was made in stages - and reworked several times with several types of materials, but learned about the fact that the blue stones - from Wales were used and re-used probably three or four times. Just fascinating.
The exhibit was curated by Mike Parker Pearson, and the public lecture was by the director of the Wiltshire Museum, David Dawson.
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