Over nearly nine years (life of blog) there have been visits to Neolithic sites in Wiltshire, Malta and Moldova, reminiscences of visits to Newgrange and other sites in the Boyne valley and a Guest Blog about stone circles in Eskdale.
The Neolithic period makes our recorded history seem fleeting. I am reminded of St Bede’s wise words to King Ceolwulf of Northumberland.
“The present life of man upon earth, O King, seems to me in comparison with that time which is unknown to us like the swift flight of a sparrow through the mead-hall where you sit at supper in winter, with your Ealdormen and thanes, while the fire blazes in the midst and the hall is warmed, but the wintry storms of rain or snow are raging abroad. The sparrow, flying in at one door and immediately out at another, whilst he is within, is safe from the wintry tempest, but after a short space of fair weather, he immediately vanishes out of your sight, passing from winter to winter again. So this life of man appears for a little while, but of what is to follow or what went before we know nothing at all.”
The Neolithic Age spans at least five millennia, 7,000 to 2,000 BC. You could call it the New Stone Age, because that’s what it means; Neo for New and Lith meaning Stone. Now you know a Megalithic site means one where big, very big, stones have been used. Hold that in your mind, if you will, as Nick Robinson says too often on the Today programme.
In Scandinavian legend Wayland was a blacksmith enslaved by a king. He took his revenge by killing the king’s three sons. He fashioned their skulls into goblets, their eyes into jewels and their teeth into a brooch. He sent them to the king, queen and the king’s daughter, Böðvild. Furthermore he made Böðvild pregnant. The king was unable to exact retribution because Wayland made wings and flew away never to be seen again. Wayland was not a nice man.
If English Heritage is to be believed Wayland flew to Oxfordshire where he resumed work in a smithy: Wayland’s Smithy. The site is a Neolithic , circa 3,500 BC, chambered long barrow. It was excavated in the 1960s but frankly there’s not a lot to see today and you are only likely to visit if you are walking along the Ridgeway and stop to take a look, as I did on Monday with a niece and her terrier (Monty).
