Download or read book The Avebury Cycle written by Michael Dames and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Avebury parish in Wiltshire contains the most amazing collection of Stone Age monuments to be found anywhere in the world. Taking into account recent discoveries, this new edition of Michael Dames's acclaimed study explores the mystery of the Avebury monuments and reveals their collective purpose. Making skillful use of archaeology, ethnography, and folklore, Dames argues that the monuments were key elements in the worship of the Great Goddess, each representing a different aspect of the annual fertility cycle corresponding to the chronological year"--Back cover.
Download or read book Archaeologies of Consciousness written by Gyrus and published by Dreamflesh. This book was released on 2008-02-03 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Collected for the first time, these essays delve into the mysteries of the prehistoric human mind with intelligence, passion and a radical approach to the unknowability of the evocative but obscure early chapters of the human story. Starting from personal experiences with megalithic monuments and sites of ancient rock art, Gyrus unfolds implications and speculations that keep one eye on the latest academic research, the other on the unproven possibilities that intimacy with prehistoric relics affords. Also includes a foreword by acclaimed antiquarian, Julian Cope.
Download or read book Secrets of the Avebury Stones written by Terence Meaden and published by Frog Books. This book was released on 2000 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Avebury, less than 20 miles from its more famous neighbor, Stonehenge, is rich in symbols linked to pre-Christian Goddess religions. This book reveals the wonders of the site, the largest and most complex prehistoric monument in Britain, through a lavishly illustrated guided tour encompassing history, archaeology, spirituality, and art.
Download or read book Prehistoric Avebury written by Aubrey Burl and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2002-01-01 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This magnificent book is a fascinating account of the prehistoric stone circles at Avebury, which not only II date from an earlier era but are also larger than the more famous sarsen stone circle of Stonehenge. Written by a leading archaeologist, the book considers every aspect of Avebury's history and construction and discusses the probable purpose of these massive structures, in the process creating a vivid and moving picture of their creators -- a primitive people whose lives were brief, savage, and fearful.
Download or read book Avebury and the Cosmos of Our Ancestors written by Nicholas Mann and published by John Hunt Publishing. This book was released on 2011 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fresh look at the World Heritage Site that includes Avebury henge, West Kennet long barrow and Silbury Hill. Mann combines archaeology, astronomy and anthropology to offer an original and convincing account of the building of these extraordinary Neolithic monuments. The ancient Britons were inspired by a profound knowledge of the heavens when they erected the monumental stones of Avebury. Mann throws light on the motive behind the creation of its awe-inspiring mounds and megaliths by demonstrating that they were aligned to the cycles of the Sun, Moon and stars. This book will help visitors and readers to see Avebury in a wholly new light - the light of the heavenly bodies that guided its Neolithic builders. Avebury Cosmos will reawaken our ancient reverence for the stars and deepen our respect for the extraordinary abilities and forgotten knowledge of our prehistoric ancestors.
Download or read book The Avebury Landscape written by Graham Brown and published by Oxbow Books Limited. This book was released on 2005 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is over one hundred years since the publication of the wide ranging archaeological field investigation undertaken on the Marlborough Downs by the Rev A C Smith. His work Guide to the British and Roman Antiquities of the North Wiltshire Downs in a Hundred Square Miles round Abury was originally published in two volumes in 1884 by the Marlborough College Natural History Society, then reprinted and bound into a single volume and published in 1885 by the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society after half the original print run was destroyed in a fire. As in most works of inventory the volume has certainly stood the test of time and is still one of the basic reference texts for students of the area. Since then, apart from a few notable exceptions, archaeological literature about the area has been largely site-based and there has been little concerning the Marlborough Downs as a whole. In order to try and redress this imbalance, a day conference was organised in April 2002 at the University of Bath, Swindon, where it was possible to acknowledge and mark the ongoing validity of Smith's work and where a number of papers on various aspects of recent research on the Marlborough Downs were presented. The results of the conference are presented in this volume, together with a number of other commissioned contributions from individuals who have undertaken research in the area during the last decade or so. Each essay stands alone, but they are connected by a common theme, that of the land and how it has changed over millennia.
Download or read book The Serpent Symbol in Tradition written by Charles Dailey and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2022-01-24 with total page 646 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Serpent and dragon symbolism is ubiquitous in the art and mythology of premodern cultures around the world. Over the centuries, conflicting hypotheses have been proposed to interpret this symbolism which, while illuminating, have proved insufficient to the task of revealing a singular meaning for the vast majority of examples. In The Serpent Symbol in Tradition, Dr. Dailey argues that, in what the symbolist Rene Guenon and the historian of religions Mircea Eliade have called 'traditional' or 'archaic' societies, the serpent/dragon transculturally symbolizes matter, a state of being that is constituted by the perception of the physical world as chaotic in comparison to what traditional peoples believed to be the 'higher' meta-physical source of the physical world or 'nature.' In the course of Dr. Dailey's investigations into the meaning of traditional serpent/dragon symbolism, the following contributions have proved invaluable: 1) Guénon's interpretation of the language of traditional symbolism and the metaphysics that underlies it, as well as his interpretation of the terminology of the 'Hindu Doctrines,' 2) Eliade's interpretation of traditional/archaic societies by means of his concepts of chaos, creation, Axis Mundi (World Axis), and 'Sacred and Profane,' and 3) the insights of various other researchers of serpent/dragon symbolism. Beyond purporting to resolve some of the mystery of the ancient and varied symbolism of the serpent/dragon, The Serpent Symbol in Tradition strives to serve the related functions of interpreting the symbolic meanings of a wide variety of premodern artifacts and narratives as well as providing a study of the origination, and ancient human awareness, of the mentioned state of matter.
Download or read book The Adventurer s Guide to Britain written by Jen Benson and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-05-17 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This exciting, inspiring and informative guide is perfect for anyone who loves a challenge and an adventure. There are soaring ridgelines to run, exciting river descents to swim, secret coves to explore by boat, and achievable interesting scrambles, all in stunning locations. Each of the 150 featured adventures, which are arranged by geographical region, has been carefully chosen for being exhilarating, achievable by any reasonably active person, and as safe as possible. You'll be taken on a tour of the country and discovering where to do things you never thought possible in the UK – exploring the caves and creeks of Cornwall by kayak, sleeping under the stars surrounded by the towering mountains of the Cuillin Ridge, or swimming in the faery pools at Glen Brittle on Skye. The Adventurer's Guide to Britain puts together some of the very best experiences from the different worlds of adventure sport, to create the ultimate outdoor bible for those who love getting outside, challenging themselves and exploring beautiful Britain.
Download or read book Sacred Space Sacred Sound written by Susan Elizabeth Hale and published by Quest Books. This book was released on 2013-11-01 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Visionary singer Susan Hale believes that early peoples deliberately built their structures to enhance natural vibrations. She takes us around the globe-from Stonehenge and New Grange to Gothic cathedrals and Tibetan stupas in New Mexico-to explore the acoustics of sacred places. But, she says, you don't have to go to the Taj Mahal: The sacred is all around us, and we are all sound chambers resonating with the One Song.
Download or read book Reading Between the Lines written by Kenneth Brophy and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-10-05 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reading Between the Lines: The Neolithic Cursus Monuments of Scotland is the first systematic analysis of Scotland’s cursus monuments and is written by one of the foremost scholars of the Neolithic in Scotland. Drawing on fifteen years of experience of cropmark interpretation, as well as his involvement in several excavations of cursus monuments and contemporary sites, Kenneth Brophy uncovers some of the secrets of the Neolithic landscape. While outlining the physical characteristics of the cursus, this book also addresses the limitations of this kind of typological description when applied to monuments which varied so remarkably in terms of materiality and size. Moving beyond a morphological account, Brophy considers what can be said of this diverse group of sites, and how they were actually built and used in prehistory, in light of several decades of aerial reconnaissance and excavation in Scotland. Through a close study of the differences, as well as the similarities, between these structures, this book offers a nuanced account of cursus monuments, finally allowing this important monument type to be better understood and placed alongside others of the period. Offering exciting new ways of thinking about these enigmatic yet important monuments, Reading Between the Lines: The Neolithic Cursus Monuments of Scotland is an essential resource for students and specialists in British prehistory, providing an introduction to the Early Neolithic archaeology of lowland Scotland as well as a meditation on broader aspects of monumentality and architecture.
Download or read book Claiming Sacred Ground written by Adrian J. Ivakhiv and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2001-07-26 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Claiming Sacred Ground Pilgrims and Politics at Glastonbury and Sedona Adrian J. Ivakhiv A study of people and politics at two New Age spiritual sites. In this richly textured account, Adrian Ivakhiv focuses on the activities of pilgrim-migrants to Glastonbury, England and Sedona, Arizona. He discusses their efforts to encounter and experience the spirit or energy of the land and to mark out its significance by investing it with sacred meanings. Their endeavors are presented against a broad canvas of cultural and environmental struggles associated with the incorporation of such geographically marginal places into an expanding global cultural economy. Ivakhiv sees these contested and "heterotopic" landscapes as the nexus of a complex web of interestes and longings: from millennial anxieties and nostalgic re-imaginings of history and prehistory; to real-estate power grabs; contending religious visions; and the free play of ideas from science, pseudo-science, and popular culture. Looming over all this is the nonhuman life of these landscapes, an"otherness" that alternately reveals and conceals itself behind a pagenant of beliefs, images, and place-myths. A significant contribution to scholarship on alternative spirituality, sacred space, and the politics of natural landscapes, Claiming Sacred Ground will interest scholars and students of environmental and cultural studies, and the sociology of religious movements and pilgrimage. Non-specialist readers will be stimulated by the cultural, ecological, and spiritual dimensions of extraordinary natural landscapes. Adrian Ivakhiv teaches in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University in Toronto, and is President of the Environmental Studies Association of Canada. April 2001 384 pages, 24 b&w photos, 2 figs., 9 maps, 6 1/8 x 9 1/4, index, append. cloth 0-253-33899-9 $37.40 s / £28.50 Contents I DEPARTURES 1 Power and Desire in Earth's Tangled Web 2 Reimagining Earth 3 Orchestrating Sacred Space II Glastonbury 4 Stage, Props, and Players of Avalon 5 Many Glastonburys: Place-Myths and Contested Spaces III SEDONA 6 Red Rocks to Real Estate 7 New Agers, Vortexes, and the Sacred Landscape IV ARRIVALS 8 Practices of Place: Nature and Heterotopia Beyond the New Age
Download or read book Heimatkunde written by Mairéad Nic Craith and published by LIT Verlag Münster. This book was released on with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An integrative Heimatkunde – defined as the holistic study of localities and regions – has been a core interest in Ullrich (aka Ulli) Kockel’s research since he first graduated with a double primary in 1984. Frequently described as an interdisciplinary – and sometimes undisciplined – academic, his research draws liberally on art, geography, human ecology, philosophical anthropology, political economy, and social anthropology, with its primary focus located in the field of Empirical Cultural Science / European ethnology. The contributions to this collection celebrate Ulli’s explorations of place and belonging at different junctures on his quest for Heimatkunde. Laid out in four thematic sections – Borders, Regions and Frontiers; Human Ecology; Creative Ethnology; and, Memories – they feature creative work along with research essays. Given Ulli’s love of cooking and food, we describe our offering as a ‘feast-script’.
Download or read book When Time Began Book V written by Zecharia Sitchin and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 1994-03-01 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Night and day, month after month, year after year, our ancestors dutifully recorded the passage of time on clay tablets, watching the heavens from stage towers and pyramids and from megalithic monuments whose incredible size and precise architecture boggle the mind. . . . Who were the builders of these mysterious structures? What was their purpose? Whose signature is indelibly written on these timeless stones, and who was the Divine Architect? Why was Stonehenge and its likes built by ancient civilizations at the very same time--4,100 years ago? What is their message for our time? With these questions in mind, Zecharia Sitchin, renowned researcher of past ages, takes us on a journey through the records of time in this, the fifth book of his Earth Chronicles series. Drawing deeply on Sumerian and Egyptian writings, millenia-old artifacts, and sacred architecture ranging from ancient Mesopotamia to pre-Columbian civilizations in the Americas, this bestselling scholar provides astounding insights into the origins of the calendar, astronomy, and astrology. He takes readers to the climax circa 2100 b.c. when Marduk, the Babylonian national god, attained supremacy on Earth and proclaimed the New Age of Aries--after which society, religion, science, and the status of women were never the same.
Download or read book William Stukeley written by David Boyd Haycock and published by Boydell & Brewer Ltd. This book was released on 2002 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: William Stukeley was the most renowned English antiquary of the 18th century. This study discusses his life and achievements which he shared with his illustrious friend Isaac Newton and with other natural philosophers, theologians and historians.
Download or read book The Living Goddesses written by Marija Gimbutas and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2001-01-12 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents evidence to support the author's woman-centered interpretation of prehistoric civilizations, considering the prehistoric goddesses, gods and religion, and discussing the living goddesses--deities which have continued to be venerated through the modern era.
Download or read book Craft of the Wise written by Vikki Bramshaw and published by John Hunt Publishing. This book was released on 2009 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bringing together both practical experience and innovative research, 'Craft of the Wise' communicates a balance of accepted Craft methods together with a wealth of information relating to the origins, beliefs and tools of this ancient Craft.
Download or read book Religious Statues and Personhood written by Amy R. Whitehead and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2013-09-12 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Objects such as statues and icons have long been problematic in the study of religion, especially in European Christianities. Through examining two groups, the contemporary Pagan Glastonbury Goddess religion in the Southwest of England and a cult of the Virgin Mary in Andalusia, Spain, Amy Whitehead asserts that objects can be more than representational or symbolic. In the context of increasing academic interest in materiality in religions and cultures, she shows how statues, or 'things', are not always interacted with as if they are inert material against which we typically define ourselves as 'modern' humans. Bringing two distinct cultures and religions into tension, animism and 'the fetish' are used as ways in which to think about how humans interact with religious statues in Western Europe and beyond. Both theoretical and descriptive, the book illustrates how religions and cultural practices can be re-examined as performances that necessarily involve not only human persons, but also objects.
