Stonehenge goes down-under
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Professor Tim Darvill heads to Oz |
Professor Timothy Darvill will presenting a series of lectures on Stonehenge and its interpretation as a prehistoric centre of healing and pilgrimage in Australia and New Zealand during May 2008.
Sydney, Australia: Tuesday 13th May 2008
Tercentenary Lecture
"MERLIN'S MAGIC CIRCLES: STONEHENGE AND THE USE OF THE PRESELI BLUESTONES"
6.30pm at the Palladium Theatre, Sydney Grammar School, College Street, Sydney (adjacent to the Austalian Museum). Light refreshments will be provided in the Courtyard outside the Palladium Theatre from 6pm. Parking will be available in the middle playground (entry off Stanley Street) on a first come first served basis and signs will direct you to the Theatre.
[Contact: Dan Potts at <Dan.Potts@usyd.edu.au>]
Canberra, Australia: Thursday 15th May 2008
Tercentenary Lecture / Golson Lecture
"MERLIN'S MAGIC CIRCLES: STONEHENGE AND THE USE OF THE PRESELI BLUESTONES"
7.30pm, Manning Clark Centre, Australian National University, Canberra
[Contact: <CAR@anu.edu.au>]
Centre for Archaeological Research Seminar
"RIGHT HERE! RIGHT NOW! ARCHAEOLOGY IN POPULAR CULTURE"
4.10pm, Hayden-Allen Tank, The Australian National University, Canberra
[Contact: <Matthew.Spriggs@anu.edu.au>]
Melbourne, Australia: Monday 19th May 2008
Tercentenary Lecture
"MERLIN'S MAGIC CIRCLES: STONEHENGE AND THE USE OF THE PRESELI BLUESTONES"
4pm, Age Theatre, Melbourne Museum, Melbourne
[Contact: Tim Murray at <T.Murray@latrobe.edu.au>]
Auckland, New Zealand: Thursday 22nd May 2008
Tercentenary Lecture
"MERLIN'S MAGIC CIRCLES: STONEHENGE AND THE USE OF THE PRESELI BLUESTONES"
6.30pm, Lecture Theatre 84, Business School, University of Auckland
[Contact: Harry Allen at <h.allen@auckland.ac.nz>]
Dunedin, New Zealand: Friday 23rd May 2008
Tercentenary Lecture
"MERLIN'S MAGIC CIRCLES: STONEHENGE AND THE USE OF THE PRESELI BLUESTONES"
5.10pm, Archway 1, University of Otago, Dunedin
[Contact: Glenn Summerhayes at <glenn.summerhayes@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>]
The lectures form part of the tercentenary celebrations of the Society of Antiquaries of London (1707-2007) and include the 2008 Golson Lecture at the Australian National University in Canberra.
For information on recent investigations at Stonehenge by Timothy Darvill and Geoff Wainwright see:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/stonehenge/
Timothy Darvill is Professor of Archaeology in the School of Conservation Sciences and Director of the Centre for Archaeology, Anthropology and Heritage at Bournemouth University, UK. The author of over a dozen books, including Prehistoric Britain (Routledge, 1998), Prehistoric Britain from the air (Cambridge University Press. 1996), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (Oxford University Press. 2002), Stonehenge World Heritage Site Archaeological Research Framework (English Heritage: 2005) and Stonehenge: the biography of a landscape (Tempus, 2006) he has served as Chairman of the Institute of Field Archaeologists, was a Member of the Council of the National Trust, and is currently a Vice-President of the Society of Antiquaries of London. Current research interests focus on archaeological resource management and the Neolithic of northwest Europe.
Lecture Abstracts
Merlin’s Magic Circles: Stonehenge and the use of the Preseli Bluestones
Stonehenge in central southern England is known the world over as an iconic symbol of Europe’s prehistoric past. In this lecture Professor Timothy Darvill of Bournemouth University, UK, will show that while Stonehenge’s origins as a ceremonial monument were conventional enough its later history was exceptional. Key to the transformation was the arrival of about 80 pillars of Bluestone rock brought a distance of around 250km from the Preseli Hills of southwest Wales to Salisbury Plain. But why were these stones important? And what did they mean to Neolithic people? Using archaeological evidence from Stonehenge itself and from recent work in the Preseli Hills, and folklore and oral tradition dating back to the 13th century AD, a new picture of Stonehenge is emerging in which the stones themselves can be seen to have perceived magical properties connected with healing. Their re-use in later and ever more elaborate structures at Stonehenge show something of their power and significance and illustrate how the landscape of the Preseli Hills is constructed in microcosm at Stonehenge. People were attracted to the area from continental Europe, and what started out as a local focus became a celebrated place for prehistoric pilgrimage.
Right here! Right Now! Prehistory in popular culture
From Fat Boy Slim to XTC, the Beatles to Pink Floyd, rock musicians the world over have taken images, iconography, and ideas from prehistory as themes for their music, marketing, appearance, and mystique. In this lecture Professor Timothy Darvill of Bournemouth University, UK, dips into topics as diverse as rock art, the Pyramids of Egypt, and Stonehenge to show how ancient sites have taken their place in the development of rock and roll!
23/04/08
