The cleaner clootie campaign

Many people choose to interact with sacred sites by leaving clooties - small bits of cloth tied to trees.

Unfortunately these cause problems for wildlife, because small birds can get tangled in them, animals can choke on them, and they can damage the tree that they are tied to.

Clooties on a tree (source: Cleaner Clootie Campaign)

That's why the Cleaner Clootie Campaign was started, to try to get people to use biodegradable clooties. My personal preference would be for people not to leave any kind of clootie, but if you feel you have to, at least use biodegradable fabric. It is more in keeping with the folklore anyway, as the traditional view was that you left a clootie as an offering to take your illness away, and as the clootie rotted away, the illness faded too.

If you want to perform a meaningful service or offering for a sacred site, clean up the litter. 

In the 1990s a group of local Pagans (including me) cleaned out the litter from Nine Wells near Cambridge, and it stayed tidy for years afterwards, because it seems that if people see a tidy site, they don't drop litter.

You could also do the site a favour by removing the clooties that other people have left.

Temple of Bast found

The BBC reports on the finding of a temple of Bast in Egypt:

The temple is the first trace of the royal quarters of the Ptolemaic dynasty to be revealed in Alexandria.

The find confirms the Greek dynasty of Egyptians continued the worship of ancient animal deities.

The Greek-speaking Ptolemaic dynasty ruled Egypt for almost almost 300 years, after the foundation of the city by Alexander the Great in 305BC until Queen Cleopatra was ousted by the Romans.

The temple is 60m (200ft) high and 15m (50ft) wide.

Archaeologists found statues of Bastet, worshipped by the Greek-speaking Egyptians as the moon goddess.

(via William Gibson on Twitter)

new ceremonial complex discovered

Given away by strange, crop-circle-like formations seen from the air, a huge prehistoric ceremonial complex discovered in southern England has taken archaeologists by surprise.

A thousand years older than nearby Stonehenge, the site includes the remains of wooden temples and two massive, 6,000-year-old tombs that are among "Britain's first architecture," according to archaeologist Helen Wickstead, leader of the Damerham Archaeology Project. For such a site to have lain hidden for so long is "completely amazing," said Wickstead, of Kingston University in London.

Archaeologist Joshua Pollard, who was not involved in the find, agreed. The discovery is "remarkable," he said, given the decades of intense archaeological attention to the greater Stonehenge region.

"I think everybody assumed such monument complexes were known about or had already been discovered," added Pollard, a co-leader of the Stonehenge Riverside Project, which is funded in part by the National Geographic Society.

Let's get active

At the weekend, I went to a conference about community archaeology - that's archaeology done by and/or for the community. All very inclusive.

So, if you would like to get more involved in archaeology, here are some ideas for stuff that we could do under the banner of Pagans for Archaeology - because part of the aim of this group is to raise awareness among archaeologists that there are moderate Pagans out there, in fact we're the majority.

T-shirts: I am thinking of getting some T-shirts via Café Press but would like to know that people would buy them. Also, suggestions for motifs and slogans would be welcome.

I would like to create a list of volunteers and skills - perhaps on the PFA Yahoo group, as that is more private than Facebook.

I think it would also be good if people could invite archaeologists from their local university to give talks at Pagan moots, and do a bit of awareness-raising. Also, PFA members could offer to speak at county archaeological societies about Paganism and Pagans for Archaeology (if you would like to do this, I have Powerpoint slides you could use).

If you want to try your hand at experimental archaeology, digging, potwashing, recording, drawing etc, join your local county archaeology society. Don't forget to mention that you are a member of Pagans for Archaeology and explain what it is. If you message me with your email address, I can supply you with a leaflet to print out and distribute - either at your local moot or at the county archaeological society.

There are also opportunities to take part in archaeological research on an informal basis (on your own if you like) in to landscapes and their archaeology, which can result in a deeper connection with the site.

Another idea is to start a collaborative website of Pagan sites of interest, both ancient and modern, and hopefully walking trails to join them up (like a Pagan version of JTrails).

You could also collect some oral history from the older members of your local Pagan community, and take photographs of Pagan altars, costumes and artefacts (with permission from the owners of course).  You can post them in the Pagans for Archaeology Flickr group.

Please post a comment if you are interested in taking part in any of these initiatives.

Conflict or co-operation?

It is a commonly-held idea among archaeologists that they will automatically be in conflict with contemporary Pagans.  This is simply not true.

The Holme-next-the-Sea timber circle was contentious for a small number of so-called Pagans, and some members of the general public. I (a Pagan) wrote to Francis Prior and Maisie Taylor to say that I supported the dig, and was sorry they had been harassed over it. They wrote back and said that quite a few Pagans had approached them after the TV cameras had gone, and that these Pagans had also said that they supported the dig. I also chatted with non-Pagan friends who were opposed to the dig. The picture is always more complex than it appears on TV.

A couple of years ago I attended a conference where a number of Pagans reported that they had been involved in (had possibly set up themselves) a community archaeology project studying archaeological sites in their area and had compiled a website of information about them. (NB the study was non-invasive.)

Also some archaeologists are also Pagans.

Also, this group, Pagans for Archaeology, has 204 members (and the Facebook page has 473 fans). All members have signed up to the statement of what we stand for.

The majority of Pagans who visit archaeological sites and digs do not announce themselves as Pagan by wearing funny outfits, and leave no trace (indeed many of us clear up the tea-lights left by the idiots).  Maybe those of us who are moderates should insist on being logged every time we visit something, just to make the point that not all Pagans are nutters.

Happy solstice

Astronomy Picture of the Day has a wonderful image of the solstice light at Newgrange in Ireland and another of an analemma (the path of the Sun throughout the year) over the Porch of the Maidens in Athens. You can also see a webcast of the Newgrange sunrise.

Czech archaeological finds

clipped from www.praguemonitor.com

Czech archaeologists have uncovered a torso of a unique female statue created about 7000 years ago near Masovice, which is the second similar find in this locality

Of course, we don't know if these statues are goddesses; the "Great Goddess of Antiquity" myth has been pretty thoroughly debunked. But they are beautiful and interesting pieces of art made by our distant ancestors.

clipped from en.for-ua.com

The 14-meter sculpture of a pregnant woman is the most valuable discovery of archeologists. It be the only one in the world.

According to archeologist Mykola Kogutyak, the sculpture is 5-6 thousand years old. “It is the interweaving of north Black Sea civilizations,” he said.

Follow the link to the article for some amazing photos of this unique find.

damage to ancient sites

Recently some damage was caused to the turf at Castlerigg stone circle by someone lighting a fire in the circle. It turned out that the person involved was doing something from their own culture with the consent of local people. But does the consent of 50 randomly-selected people count as informed consent with awareness of the implications? The organisation and person involved have apologised unreservedly. However, it is never okay to light a fire directly on the ground at an ancient site, because it might damage the archaeology, and in some cases, the rare lichens on the stones.

On Sunday I visited Arbor Low in Derbyshire and found a firepit scar just outside the henge. I hope that it wasn't Pagans who were responsible for it - but we are the ones who will end up getting the blame in the minds of the general public unless we take a very clear stand against this sort of thing.

At the Rollrights, there is a large metal fire-dish available for use when you hire the site for rituals; this does not scar the turf or damage the archaeology.

We don't ultimately know exactly what the purpose of stone circles was (though we can make educated guesses based on ethnographic parallels), or whether the practices and beliefs of their builders bear any resemblance to any current culture, whether it is "PaleoPagan" or part of the Pagan revival. So we can't just waltz in and use these places just as we like (this also works in our favour, as for example, in 2000 when some Christians wanted to place a rock carved with Alpha and Omega right in the middle of Mayburgh Henge, and planning permission was rightly refused; there was also a peaceful Pagan protest at the installation of the stone 100 yards from the henge). Stone circles are part of the heritage of everyone in this country, and are not there to be hijacked by any particular group.

Stonehenge

The seemingly endless round of consultations about what to do about Stonehenge is apparently being given new impetus by, of all things, the 2012 Olympic Games. A rich irony considering that heritage funding is being taken away to fund the sporty nonsense.

King Arthur is camping near Stonehenge in an attempt to embarrass the government into doing something about the ghastly visitor centre (which, if you haven't seen it, looks like some kind of Stalinist monstrosity).

The problem is, whatever they decide to do about visitor access to Stonehenge, someone is going to be unhappy about it. If they dig a tunnel for the A303 it will disturb other archaeology. Personally I liked the idea of taking away all the roads and fences and making people walk from a couple of miles away. That way the experience would be more like a pilgrimage and less like a gawp-fest. The merely idly curious would be satisfied with a visit to the visitor centre, and only those who really cared would bother to walk the two miles to the actual site.

Morris, megaliths and beer

The University of Bristol's Morris Dancing side, Rag Morris, are doing a special dance to mark the Summer Solstice, on Saturday 21st June at the Stanton Drew Stone circle. They will be dancing among the stones from around 7.00pm onwards, then going to dance outside the Druid Arms pub from 8.00pm onwards.

Morris dancing, megaliths and beer - an irresistible combination for Pagans and archaeologists.

Multi-purpose sacrality

There has recently been a re-evaluation of what Stonehenge was for. Professors Timothy Darvill and Geoff Wainwright have said that they think it was a place of healing, because they have found a large number of skeletons with evidence of trauma.

Professor Timothy Darvill and Professor Geoff Wainwright ... are not convinced, as others have been, that Stonehenge was a holy place or a secular tool for calculating dates. Instead, they think Stonehenge was a site of healing.

"The whole purpose of Stonehenge is that it was a prehistoric Lourdes," says Wainwright. "People came here to be made well."

Other archaeologists (such as Mike Parker Pearson) still think that

"Stonehenge... was built not for the transitory living but for the ancestors whose permanence was materialised in stone."

The New York Times (in less than serious mood) agrees:

Now, me well aware of controversy surrounding new Og Memorial Complex, also known as Massive-Rocks-Arranged-in-Mysterious-Circle. Some say it eyesore. Some say it waste of massive rocks. Some like concept of mysterious circle but find execution pedestrian. On behalf of Memorial Committee for Remembering of Og, me want to take opportunity to address concerns directly, and unpack some of artistic decisions involved in approving project like Massive-Rocks-Arranged-in-Mysterious-Circle.

But seriously folks, why can't it be a place of healing, and a place of the dead, and a place of spirituality and/or worship, and a big stone calendar?

Most sacred sites are multi-functional. If you go to Epidauros in Greece, it has a big theatre for performing sacred drama; there is a healing complex, and some tombs. If you visit a cathedral, it has tombs and it's a place of worship. Lourdes is a sacred place as well as a place of healing. Monasteries were places of prayer and healing and learning.

People didn't (and to some extent, still don't) separate these functions into sacred and secular. In the past, the boundary between sacred and secular was far more blurred than it is now (if it even existed), as archaeologists have told us. And healing was often associated with sacredness, as sickness was often held to be caused by spiritual forces or entities. For example the Asklepion (temple of Aesculapius on the Greek island of Kos) had dream incubation chambers, healing areas, and a huge temple. Why wouldn't Stonehenge be similarly multi-functional? Maybe aligning the stones on the solstices was believed to help with the healing process by bringing people back into harmony with the cosmos, or something (just a thought). Maybe the blue-stones, being brought from Preseli where there are lots of "ringing rocks" (Devereux, 2001) were held to have particularly good vibes or resonance with the spirit world, which would help with the healing; and infrasound affects both brain and body (Cook et al, 2008) so it could have beneficial effects.