THE BOOK
Some of the ideas discussed in this blog are published in my new book called "The Stonehenge Bluestones" -- available by post and through good bookshops everywhere. Bad bookshops might not have it....
To order, click
HERE

Saturday 14 May 2011

Another bluestone boost for the tourist industry

The Great Stones Way

Another example of how the tourist industry just LOVES the traditional bluestone myth, and indeed pushes out press releases flagging it up all the time.  The author of this piece is fairly well informed, and he has clearly done some research, while keeping his mind as closed as possible to anything inconvenient.  He has tuned in on the latest nonsense about the stones from Preseli having been brought to the Cardigan Bay coast and then right round the Pembrokeshire Peninsula and right round Land's End, before being brought ashore at Christchurch.  I wonder why he has homed in on this version?  No doubt he has been reading the press release put out by the group promoting the new trail called the Great Stones Way.  And yes, the more spectacular the better -- thus enhancing the value of the myth and the status of the British Neolithic tribes.  Not so much has changed since the 1920's, when archaeologists were intent upon proving that OUR Neolithic ancestors were a good deal cleverer than their rather stupid cousins on the continent......

Magic circles: walking from Avebury to Stonehenge

A new walking path links Britain's two greatest prehistoric sites, Avebury and Stonehenge, and is as epic as the Inca Trail
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/may/14/stonehenge-avebury-great-stones-way-walking-trail

Quote: 
"The trail curves below to cross and then follow the Avon, a river that loomed large in the affairs of Neolithic man. It was along the Avon that the bluestones of the Preseli hills in Wales are thought to have been transported by boat to Stonehenge, after being moved an almost unimaginable distance around both the Pembrokeshire and Cornish peninsulas to the river mouth at Christchurch".

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"Everyone Must Get Stoned" [Bob Dylan, born 1941 and 70 this month].He never wrote a truer song, especially if you work for the English or Welsh Tourist Boards. Jackanory come back, all is forgiven.