Castlerigg disrespected

What happened to “take only photos, leave only memories”?

This year, some idiot(s) decided that they could light a fire in Castlerigg stone circle in Cumbria. Uh, no.

The BBC reported: 

English Heritage said: “It is extremely concerning to see that a fire has been lit within the stone circle, a thoughtless act that damages the scheduled monument and could have resulted in further serious consequences.”

The director of nearby climbing centre Newlands Adventure Centre, Gayle Brooks, said staff had to pick up faeces from their children’s playground before a school group arrived following the celebrations.
“I am not sure why out of all the surrounding fields anyone would choose a children’s play area to use as a toilet,” she said.

Last year there were too many people at the site, disturbing local residents.

The Keswick Reminder reported: 

The trust said in a statement: “In recent years, our ranger team has worked hard to build relationships with visitors to Castlerigg Stone Circle during the summer solstice, resulting in the majority now showing a huge amount of respect for the site, cleaning up and litter picking after visiting.

“There is however still a small minority who behave irresponsibly and leave behind mess, taking our ranger teams away from their vital nature conservation work. We respectfully ask that visitors dispose of their litter responsibly, camp in designated campsites and remind them that fires and disposable barbecues are not permitted anywhere in the Lake District National Park. We want to encourage people to get outdoors and to enjoy the Lake District, but to respect the landscape and the people and wildlife that call it home, by leaving no trace and following the Countryside Code.”

 I don’t know who these people are or if they identify as Pagans (I have come across assholes in the Pagan community who think they have an absolute right to drum all night at camps, and have even had stones thrown at my tent after asking them to stop—in Shropshire in 1998).

There has always been an element among Pagans who do not think about the wider context and consequences of their actions, and who don’t care about other people.

It’s also possible that the people who did this are part of rave culture or whatever has replaced it.

Either way, stone circles and the archaeology and natural environment around them are a priceless and irreplaceable part of everyone’s heritage, and need to be respected and protected.

I hope the people who commented on Just Stop Oil’s protest at Stonehenge will also comment on this. I doubt the effectiveness of JSO’s methods, since it just got people annoyed with them instead of actually talking about the climate emergency, but lighting a fire in the middle of a stone circle is worse than spraying orange cornflour on it.

Stonehenge and the Moon

 The Guardian reports:

Now a project has been launched to delve into the lesser understood links that may exist between the monument and the moon during a rare lunar event.

A “major lunar standstill”, which takes place once every 18.6 years, when moonrise and moonset reach their farthest apart points along the horizon, will take place in January 2025.

This will give archaeologists, astronomers and archaeoastronomers a rare chance to explore theories surrounding the event and the ancient people of Stonehenge. Some experts believe the people who built the monument were aware of the major lunar standstill and may have buried their dead in a particular part of the site because of its relationship to the phenomenon.

It is also possible that four “station stones” forming a rectangle at the site – two of which are still standing – may have been positioned to mark the major lunar standstill.

Rare lunar event to shed light on Stonehenge’s links to the moon

CFP: Actors, not spectators

 

Actors, Not Spectators. Community Representation in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage in the 21st century

A session at the

28th EAA Annual Meeting in Budapest, Hungary,

31 August - 3 September 2022

Call for papers

Session: #424

Theme

1. Archaeologists and Archaeology Here and Now

Session Format

Regular session

Title

Actors, Not Spectators. Community Representation in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage in the 21st century

Session Abstract

A shift in public and community archaeology and the way communities are engaged has resulted in numerous publications on how to actively involve various citizens in the entire research process. Despite the increased focus on participatory archaeological research and citizen science worldwide, projects are still often aimed at the “comfortable” audience. The dutiful spectator that obliges with “official” definitions, legislations, and heritage practices, such as “responsible” metal detectorists in many countries. Yet, detectorists and other parts of the public are still routinely by-passed in the citizen scientist realm because of the way they choose to engage with heritage; often hands-on, not within the museum setting nor in the passive role as a spectator. Due to this, they are frequently denied access to the archaeological field, and painted as a potential threat. In addition, there are the individuals who do not always conform with the normative views of an archaeological participator: the non-white, disabled, Indigenous, neurodivergent, LGTBQ+, those of ethnic and religious minorities. Specifically, people who are commonly denied access to their past and to be an actor in this narrative.

Across the world, individuals, communities, stakeholders, knowledge keepers and other members of the public are demanding to be allowed to not only view the end process of archaeology. They want to have access; to be actively involved in the heritage-making process and have a say in how the archaeological heritage is displayed and used. This session welcomes those who seek to challenge our view of what true participation can or should be. We particularly encourage individuals from the LGTBQ+ communities, citizen scientists, Indigenous persons, and people who can present on case studies, offer practical examples or theoretical approaches to these exclusionary practices in archaeology and heritage studies.

Keywords:

Representation, Heritage-making, Community, Public archaeology

Organisers

Main organiser:

Kiara Beaulieu (Canada), University of Antwerp

Co-organisers:

Suzie Thomas (Belgium), University of Antwerp
Irmelin Axelsen (Norway), University of Oslo
Jordan Jamieson (Canada), Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation

Email for informal inquiries: kiarabeaulieu@gmail.com or use our contact form.

To submit an abstract: go to the EAA website.

Statement against racism and bigotry

Pagans for Archaeology completely rejects racism, fascism, Nazism, white supremacism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, ageism, ableism, body-shaming, and all forms of bigotry.

Inclusive Pagans celebrate life and love in all its beauty and diversity, and seek to protect and preserve the Earth and Nature, and to cultivate virtues of compassion and respect for all life.

For this reason, following the recent events in Charlottesville, USA, Pagans for Archaeology utterly condemns the ideology and actions of the white supremacists and Neo-Nazis who have caused such suffering there. Remove

A Dissenter graveyard

In Manchester, there is a defunct Unitarian church, and next to it a graveyard where many Unitarians and their dissenting predecessors are buried.

Asda want to build a car-park on it.

A local group, Friends of Swinton Unitarian, has been formed to protest the loss of this piece of heritage.

I thought this whole issue was rather illuminating of the issues around ancient 'pagan' burials.

How this is different from reburying ancient 'pagan' burials

• the burials are considerably more recent; direct descendants may still be around
• if the burials need to be relocated, the rituals with which they would have been interred are still extant
• there is still a Unitarian religion with direct and unbroken descent from the Unitarians of the 19th century and their dissenting predecessors
• the graves are still in situ and we don't really need another supermarket - the remains are not being dug up for rescue archaeology purposes

The Unitarian response

The response to this from contemporary Unitarians is also interesting and sensible.

In the UK Unitarians group on Facebook, one member commented:

Graveyards and cemeteries are for the living. That we live in a time when we don't see a graveyard as sacred space and don't value them is to my mind a real shame. This is not about where the bodies may be buried but about the meaning of this space. Our history should not just be confined to written or electronic records but should be around us for all to see. If this becomes a debate about where bones are buried, I think that we are missing a more profound issue about the value of sacred space within our communities.

I think the history is important. The fact that there were separate dissenters' graveyards is a significant aspect of British history. Also, this is a green space in the heart of a city, which is another reason for caring about it. And there may be individual graves of historic significance, as well as the whole thing being a bit of our history. But I am heartened to see that most commenters have said that the living are more important than the dead, and that the history and the sacred space are the most important aspects.

Cultural continuity?

People from other religions, and occasionally archaeologists, refer to contemporary Pagans as "neopagans". I personally find this condescending. I have outlined the reasons for this before, in a blogpost entitled "Stop calling us NeoPagans".

I think the reason "neopagan" bothers me so much is (1) the other terms that the prefix "neo"appears in; (2) the fact that no-one ever refers to Protestants and the like as "Neo-Christians"; (3) it implies a lack of authenticity - why can't people be Pagans (as long as we don't claim to be direct heirs of ancient pagans, because there are both similarities and differences); (4) it's usually said in a snidey way.

I am not saying that there is cultural continuity between contemporary Pagans and ancient "pagans" (who did not self-identify as pagan - the term was applied to them by the early Christians).

The only connection between contemporary Paganism and ancient polytheisms is that we honour the same deities. The philosophical basis of the Pagan revival is different - even in the case of reconstructionist Paganisms. Our philosophical basis is either reconnecting with Nature, or recovering the lost wisdom of the past. The philosophical basis of much of ancient polytheism was mainly propitiating the deities. Of course there must have been those who participated in the rituals out of love of the deities, and because they wanted to connect with the world-soul, but these were probably in the minority (as they sadly are today in most religions).

The rituals of ancient polytheisms, and the reasons behind them, are largely lost to us. What understanding of death did the Iron Age Celts have? We simply don't know, because they didn't write it down. Nor do we know with what rituals they disposed of their dead, even if we can see the results. Our knowledge of the Iron Age priesthood known as the druids comes mainly from the propagandist writings of Julius Caesar, as Ronald Hutton points out in his excellent book The Druids. (Presumably also in Blood and Mistletoe, but I haven't read that yet.)

Information about what the Saxon and Norse rituals were like is considerably better, and so Heathen reconstructionists have far more hope of producing something accurate.

Obviously there is also no unbroken line of initiatory descent from ancient polytheisms (unless you trace it through the Christian church, ironically enough). And the genetic link between contemporary Pagans and ancient pagans is shared by every other inhabitant of the British Isles.

So contemporary Pagans cannot claim exclusive jurisdiction over sacred sites or human remains, because everyone is the heir of the ancient past. But when someone wants to desecrate a sacred site (as when some Christians wanted to place a rock with Alpha and Omega carved on it in the middle of Maybury Henge), then we should have a voice alongside others who would want to prevent such a thing from happening.

Guardian article about human remains

Liz Williams, science fiction author and druid, has written an article in The Guardian Comment is free  entitled How to honour the ancient dead: The pagan debate about the treatment of ancient remains sheds light on our own beliefs as well as those of the past. It is an excellent article and well worth a read. I would like to add that Pagans for Archaeology is entirely opposed to the reburial of British human remains (although some of our membership may be undecided, that is our original founding position statement, for reasons outlined previously). Anyway, well done Liz, good article. The comments are interesting too, albeit sprinkled with the usual militant atheists dismissing all beliefs as "woo". There are some good comments from archaeologists and also a discussion about the repatriation of remains from other countries (such as Australia, New Zealand and the Americas). Native American and indigenous Australasian remains are much more recent, and often come from named individuals with living relatives. They were often collected under colonial rule, and the people who want them back generally haven't changed their culture that much, so there is cultural and genetic continuity. In the case of the much older British human remains, there is no cultural continuity between them and contemporary Pagans, and everyone in Britain (including the archaeologists) has genetic continuity from them. Therefore I think the repatriation of these remains is an entirely different issue, which should be decided by the indigenous groups concerned.

museum accessibility

Tiffany Jenkins has just reviewed the redevelopment of the Museum of Scotland. I found it fascinating that the kids she went with noticed that the museum had been dumbed down, and that she had great difficulty finding out where a large spider-crab that was on display came from and how big it was - simple facts that you would expect to appear in its caption. Also, the museum has introduced those awful audio-guides, which I personally dislike intensely.

This reminded me of another issue with museums that I identified about five years ago, and even wrote to curators' mailing lists about.

Museum displays frequently have poor usability and accessibility, namely the way they label their exhibits. Frequently there is a number next to the object, and this refers to a panel with explanatory text. This is OK for small objects where there is no room to add captions next to the objects, but frequently it is employed for large objects, where the aesthetic value of the object is often seen as more important than its meaning.

Unfortunately this makes it very difficult for people with dyslexia to enjoy the exhibition, because by the time they have transferred their gaze from the exhibit to the interpretation panel, they have forgotten the number, and have to go back again. I myself am not dyslexic but frequently have this problem anyway! In one museum we visited, there was a costume exhibition, and the distance between the numbers and the explanatory text was so great that a lady who was both short- and long-sighted had to change her glasses each time.

The solution is simply to place a short explanatory caption next to the object (e.g. 14th C English spoon), and a longer piece giving the context below or beside the display case.

Medieval graffiti website

The Norfolk Medieval Graffiti Survey is pleased to announce that their website is now fully updated and revised. The new site now contains the first elements of a visual catalogue that showcases some of the more interesting and unusual discoveries made by the project. It is currently organised by parish but, as the site expands, we hope to make all the information searchable by subject as well as by site. The new site also contains a link to the new Medieval Graffiti twitter feed - which allows you to learn about new discoveries as they are made. Real-time church archaeology.

Some churches have apotropaic marks and other esoteric graffiti, which whilst not actually Pagan, derives from the pagan worldview which the Christian order inherited. To quote Ronald Hutton:

medieval and early modern Europeans constructed their world-picture out of materials taken from both Christianity and ancient paganism, making a mixture of both which they believed to be a form of Christianity.

PfA and HAD

A comment from "Anonymous" appeared in the comments following Caroline Tully's recent interview with Ronald Hutton.

It alleged that Ronald Hutton is "behind" Pagans for Archaeology. He's not some eminence grise, you know. Ronald Hutton is not associated with Pagans for Archaeology; I asked him to be a patron and he gracefully declined, on two grounds: (1) to preserve his neutrality; (2) because it would imply that he endorses everything we do (whether he does or not). I founded Pagans for Archaeology, and have asked two Pagans who are interested in archaeology to help me run the Facebook group.

Anonymous further alleges that PfA is seeking to undermine HAD. Far from it; we have cordial relations with HAD, and I regard HAD as the moderates in the reburial debate, as they are only calling for reburial of some remains, not all remains, and are building dialogue with the heritage, archaeology and museum sector. I have had cordial conversations with Emma Restall-Orr on the subject of reburial, and interviewed her on the Pagans for Archaeology blog. The extremists in the reburial debate are CoBDO (West), who want to rebury all remains.

Pagans for Archaeology represents those Pagans who do not agree with reburial, and who are interested in archaeology, and want to improve relations with the heritage, museum and archaeology sector.

Faith heritage trails

Many different faiths and cultures have made a mark on Britain, and this should be celebrated. Today I visited the amazing Hindu mandir in Neasden, which was very beautiful. But there are many places associated with different faiths.

The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies is gathering a Hindu archive which explores Hindu influence in Britain and beyond.

Hindu heritage sites include The Maharajah's Well in Berkhire, the tomb of Rammohun Roy in Bristol and the Chattri near Brighton (which is dedicated to Sikh and Hindu soldiers who were cremated there).

The first Indian restaurant in England was opened in 1810 by Sake Dean Mohamed. The oldest surviving Indian restaurant, Veeraswamy, was opened in 1926.

Some information on Muslim heritage, including blue plaques and old mosques, can be found on the British Muslim heritage site. A history of Muslim science is on the Muslim Heritage website.

Sikh heritage in Britain is celebrated on the Anglo Sikh Heritage Trail website.

The BBC has some information on Buddhism in Britain.

The Institute of Jainology has a list of Jain temples in the UK.

Jewish heritage can be explored on the Jewish trails website.

Inspired by the Jewish trails site, I also started a Pagan trails website, which needs contributions.

There's a Unitarian heritage trail in London. Also the Humanist Heritage website mentions several Unitarian sites connected with the early history of Humanism. The Unitarian Communications blog has now gathered a list of Unitarian heritage websites.

Aggregates Levy will no longer fund archaeology & environment

DEFRA have just announced that the Aggregates Levy, which was previously used (in part) to fund rescue archaeology and environmental projects, will now go straight to the Treasury and not be used to restore the environment.

Damian Carrington writes in The Guardian environment blog:

Having united the Socialist Workers Party with the National Trust, the UK's department for environment (Defra) has pulled off another unlikely pairing: the Mineral Products Association (MPA) and the Wildlife Trusts.

The issue is the pocketing by the Treasury of about £20m a year in taxes from the aggregates industry – gravel and sand quarrying – that had until now been spent on conservation schemes.
"I can't understand why the government has cut this funding. The money comes from a tax that encourages industry to reduce the amount of quarrying, and the industry is happy to see this money used to put something back, for nature and people," Jeremy Biggs told me.

He is director of Pond Conservation, which, along with the RSPB and others, has joined the campaign to reverse the cut. "Cutting the aggregates fund will reduce the quality of habitat restoration after quarries are worked out, and seems unbelievably short-sighted and counter-productive."

Yes indeed, it's quite an achievement to have united such disparate bodies.

And a commenter on his blog, Xemxija, writes:

A small part of the Aggregates Levy was given to English Heritage to distribute in order to fund excavations when unexpected finds were made in quarries, and to analyse and disseminate the results of these excavations.

In general the quarry companies have been quite accepting of the 'polluter pays' idea - that if they are destroying natural environments and archaeological remains then they must make a contribution towards recording the archaeology and restoring the landscape (although not surprisingly, as the effects of the credit crunch have bitten deeper, they have become less and less happy).

It is extraordinarily grasping of the government to just keep the small part of the Aggregates Levy which went to English Heritage and to English Nature. It transforms the Levy from compensation for damage caused to a simple tax.

And it makes it very clear to the quarry companies that despite what the government says, it places it very little value on our environment and heritage.

What you can do: write to DEFRA and to your MP, pointing out that the Aggregates Levy was a valuable contribution to the environment and to rescue archaeology; that it was only a small proportion of the total Aggregates Levy; and that it is an expression of the principle that the polluter pays to clean up after themselves.