San people performed world's oldest ritual

Apollon: World’s oldest ritual discovered. Worshipped the python 70,000 years ago
A startling archaeological discovery this summer changes our understanding of human history. While, up until now, scholars have largely held that man’s first rituals were carried out over 40, 000 years ago in Europe, it now appears that they were wrong about both the time and place.

Associate Professor Sheila Coulson, from the University of Oslo, can now show that modern humans, Homo sapiens, have performed advanced rituals in Africa for 70,000 years. She has, in other words, discovered mankind’s oldest known ritual.

The San (a branch of the Bushmen) are persecuted in their homelands. Hopefully this news might draw attention to their plight, and how you can help.

ancient lentils

No, not the ones that Neil from the Young Ones left at the back of the kitchen cupboard: these are really ancient lentils. A 4000-year-old lentil seed found in Turkey on an archaeological dig has germinated, and it is hoped that it will produce a viable plant and more seeds, so that a strain of the plant that has never been cross-bred can be studied.

Ancient seed sprouts plant from the past — Megalithic Portal
A 4,000-year-old lentil seed found during an archeological excavation has germinated, exciting scientists as the event might lead to invaluable data for comparisons between the organic and genetically engineered plants of today. ‘It would be the first seed from very old times whose genes were never modified,’ say the scientists.

Project leader and Dumlupınar University archeology faculty Professor Nejat Bilgen said they found the seeds during an excavation undertaken last year in Kütahya province.

Bilgen said a layer from the container in which they found the seeds was determined to be from the middle bronze age. His team found many seeds, but most had been burnt. They had failed to make the others turn green before the recent success.

“A seed dug from underground and dating back approximately 4,000 years sprouted. The plant that came out of this seed is under examination and will be presented to the scientific community [so they can] make various analyses over it,” Bilgen said.

Future archaeology

Internet Archaeologists Discover Ancient "Friendster" Civilisation - The Onion (video)

Internet archaeologists stumbled upon the perfectly preserved ruins of an ancient civilisation called "Friendster".

As the person who posted this to the BritArch mailing list pointed out, you can see this happening in the not-too-distant future.

One day, there will also be lunar archaeology, as the perfectly-preserved remains of previous lunar expeditions can be examined by future visitors.

This also reminded me of the classic article about ley-line congestion from 2002.

America's ancient rock art

The New York Times has an article about a magnificent collection of rock art in California.

Everywhere we looked, for a mile or so down canyon, there were images pecked or scratched into the rock faces: stylized human figures in a variety of headgear, stick figures with bows and arrows, dogs or coyotes, bear paws with extra digits, all manner of abstract geometric patterns, zigzags and circles and dots, and hundreds upon hundreds of what looked like bighorn sheep, some small, some larger than life size.

Via Disinformation and catvincent.

Climate change petition

Copenhagen's last-ditch summit to stop catastrophic global warming is failing; world leaders are appealing for massive public pressure to save it. Sign the giant petition below - it may be the largest in history:

With just 2 days left, the historic Copenhagen climate summit is failing.
World leaders have begun the final hours of direct negotiations. The UK Prime Minister has directly appealed to Avaaz to build the tidal wave of public pressure needed to reach a deal that stops catastrophic global warming of 2 degrees.

Sign the petition for a real deal -- the campaign already has a staggering 11 million supporters -- over the next 48 hours let's make it the largest petition in history! The name of every signer is being read out right now in the summit hall.

We are making history in Copenhagen. A group of young people have sat down in the middle of the summit and begun reading the names of every person who signs the petition for a real deal. Another group is doing the same 'petition reading sit-in' in the Canadian Prime Minister's office, and rumours are that more such actions will happen tomorrow. On an emergency conference call with 3000 Avaaz members today, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said:

"What you're doing through the internet around the world is absolutely crucial to setting the agenda. In the next 48 hours, don't underestimate your effect on the leaders here in Copenhagen"

Earlier, millions watched the Avaaz vigil inside the summit on TV, where Archbishop Desmond Tutu told hundreds of delegates and assembled children:
“We marched in Berlin, and the wall fell.
"We marched for South Africa, and apartheid fell.
"We marched at Copenhagen -- and we WILL get a Real Deal.”
Copenhagen is seeking the biggest mandate in history to stop the greatest threat humanity has ever faced. History will be made in the next 48 hours. How will our children remember this moment? Let's tell them we did all we could.

Save our canals

URGENT

Inland Waterways Association News Flash

BRITISH WATERWAYS PROPERTY PORTFOLIO

Sign the petition on the Number 10 website

Did you know that over half the population of this country lives within 5 miles of an inland waterway?

You may also know about the media speculation that the Government intends to include the British Waterways’ property portfolio as a component of the £16bn asset sale.

The Government has made no announcements and is steadfastly refusing to be drawn on the subject.

However, we have good reason to believe that Government is seriously considering taking British Waterways’ assets and selling them in a Treasury ‘fire sale’ to raise cash - a decision will be taken in the next few days.

Selling off its assets would mean that BW would be £85 million short of the £120 million it needs to run the canals and waterways of this country.

That will mean inevitable decay and disrepair and will undoubtedly lead to closure as the organisation contracts to preserve a core network- this impact may include the locks and tow path on a canal or river near to you.

I love walking along canals and seeing the narrow boats going up and down. Canals are also wildlife havens. Don't let them fall into disrepair again.

Beaker Folk wisdom

Her Reverence the Archdruid Eileen has posted a marvellous exposition of how the Christians "stole" the Pagan festivals - including some less well known ones like the feast of the Norse god of hangovers, Bleindin.

January 1 - "The Feast of the Holy Name" was originally a feast dedicated to the Norse god of headaches, Bleindin. Believers would stay in their houses, with the blinds down and the lights off. A day of fasting and silence - the fast only broken by special ceremonial food such as raw egg yolks with Worcestershire sauce, and fry-ups.

Anyone who still thinks that the Christians stole the Pagan festivals would do well to read the excellent book Stations of the Sun by Ronald Hutton, which carefully examines the evidence for the origins of the modern Pagan festivals. It's a lot more complicated than you think.

It's also worth reading the following articles from the Association of Polytheist Traditions:

Ritual and Festivals

• Lupercalia: adapting an ancient Roman festival for modern times
• The Victory of Lugh: a short study on the meaning of Lughnasadh
• Winternights
• Samhain myths
• The eight fold wheel of the year

Why reburial won't work

Some people claim that reburying ancient "pagan" bones is more respectful.

There are several problems with this:

• We don't know what burial rites they would have preferred
• If you rebury them with their grave-goods, it's very likely that the grave may be looted
• Even if we know where and how they were buried, we do not necessarily know if they subscribed to the religious rites according to which they were buried, nor do we know what liturgy was used
• We do not know that any ritual we perform for them would be acceptable
• We do not know if contemporary Pagan beliefs are similar to Neolithic, Bronze Age, or even Iron Age beliefs
• The original site is often no longer available as a burial place
• Studying them means we can find out more about them - how they lived, where they were born, what illnesses they had - which is the nearest you can get to reconstructing their actual identity
• Scientific techniques that will be available in the future for bone analysis will be better than those available now
• If you accept the hypothesis that the bones have some "spirit" residing in them, that spirit might be pleased to be getting all the attention from archaeologists and museum staff
• Respect does not automatically equate to reburial - it can also mean remembering the dead
• Some cultures believe that once the grave site has been disturbed, it cannot be re-consecrated
• There were radically different burial customs in the past - excarnation, display in burial mounds, cremation, and so on - which presumably reflected different beliefs about the body and consciousness (though we can only guess what those beliefs might be by using ethnographic parallels)
• Many ancient cultures (e.g. the Egyptians and the Norse) believed that the continuation of the name of the deceased was very important. When the Egyptians wanted to erase someone from history, they removed their name from all the monuments. Reburying the ancient dead resigns them to oblivion once more.
• Everyone in modern Britain is descended from ancient people, and no cultural affinity between modern Pagans and ancient people can be proven, so Pagans have no more right than anyone else to say what happens to the bones of ancient people

Protect First Nations' heritage

An article in the Vancouver Sun points out the shameful neglect and destruction of First Nations' heritage in British Columbia.

In North Cowichan on Vancouver Island, for example, a site on Somenos Creek shows evidence of being occupied since before the pyramids. There are both human remains and remnants of a mysterious structure whose significance still isn't understood but which might be part of some larger complex.

Yet, despite 17 years of requests from local first nations that it be protected and that the owner of the land compensated by the province, Somenos Creek still languishes in land use limbo without formal protection. Renewed requests by Cowichan first nations to discuss the matter have been repeatedly been put off by the province.

Canadians: please write to your MP and ask them to support the private member's bill to protect First Nations heritage.

Prehistoric Oxford

Archaeologists uncover prehistoric landscape beneath Oxford

Archaeologists excavating the former Radcliffe Infirmary site in Oxford have uncovered evidence of a prehistoric monumental landscape stretching across the gravel terrace between the Thames and Cherwell rivers.

A team from Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) has been excavating parts of the 3.7 hectare site. The excavation has revealed evidence of three large prehistoric ‘ring ditches’ along with some evidence of possible associated cremation burials and an enigmatic rectangular enclosure, finds from which are currently being subjected to radio carbon dating.

A triumphal progress

Ten Years of Triumph of the Moon
Academic approaches to studying magic and the occult: examining scholarship into witchcraft and paganism, ten years after Ronald Hutton’s The Triumph of the Moon

A collection of essays edited by Dave Evans and Dave Green

Contributions by: Ronald Hutton, Amy Hale, Sabina Magliocco, Dave Green, Henrik Bogdan, Phillip Bernhardt-House, R.A. Priddle, Geoffrey Samuel, Caroline Tully & Dave Evans

Congratulations to all involved in this - it looks great.

Pagans and academics alike should find this anthology useful, as it explores the changes in contemporary Paganism brought about by the publication of Triumph of the Moon - not least among these changes being the abandonment (by the vast majority of Wiccans) of any idea that Wicca is ancient.

Romani ite domum

A new website has been launched to mark the 1600th anniversary of the end of Roman Britain. There will be digs, conferences, lectures, festivals and exhibitions. Proposed digs include Binchester Fort, Caerleon Fortress, Carr Dyke, Colworth Villa, St Albans, and Vindolanda Fort. There's also a lot of lectures and conferences lined up already. There will also be festivals at Caerleon, St Albans, and Hadrian's Wall.

As you can see from this photo I took on Oxford station in 2007, it's still a live issue...



Life of Brian - Romani ite domum