Francis Pryor became famous as part of the 'Time Team' archaeology series on Channel 4. Pryor's speciality being prehistory, the 'Bronze' and 'Iron Ages.' His own work is based near Peterborough in the 'Fens.'
'Paths to the Past' however, is not about prehistory though it may be mentioned, this book covers much of the land and seeks out specific areas with something to tell of times past, and not too far past at that.and
Beginning way back at 'Star Carr,' and then the 'Orkney's,' we move through 'Avebury,' 'Hadrian's Wall,' and on a few short pages at a time. Thus enabling five or ten minutes to be spent considering one aspect of UK heritage.
The four or five pages given to the subject, be it 'Romney March' or 'Ironbridge,' are a very good example of constructing a short story which covers much ground. An excellent overview is given of the subject and at the end of the thin book there are further reams to study if wished.
Whether you agree with his opinions or not the view from 'Birkenhead Park,' to 'Kings Cross & St Pancras,' is well worth looking into. A book of short chapters, well written and full of interest, well worth a read.
I find early man fascinating. These people wandering about the earth had to feed themselves by the 'sweat of their brow' and those with gardens know how hard that work can be. Yet ancient man fed himself, sheltered and clothed himself, and eventually built cities and expanded across the globe.
I find using the hoover hard enough...
However some thing's puzzle me, who was first to drink cows milk? Who discovered flax could be turned into cloth? Who stood looking at grass and worked out which grasses could be made into bread? Let alone who ploughed into the water and discovered rice! We take such things for granted but for many years early man had to work them out for himself. Looking at the grass the gardener has allowed to grow in the gardens I began to puzzle over such important questions, this of course not being connected to Francis Pryor's book 'Home' which I just happen to have begun reading.
Imagine yourself growing up in a family somewhere on earth, you needed a family to give you birth, and with the whole world before you the search for existence begins. Already the family have discovered much, a nomad existence following the herds, killing one every so often as required, seeking water, carrying all the treasures of the house, if you had one. Are there pet animals? Donkeys were not domesticated until around 5000 BC or was it later? If you possess anything it must be carried as you move. How often do you move? I suspect that each day means an effort to seek an improvement in the tools and materials you use and eat. Fruits come in season, who plants them? Experimenting all the time with new foods and materials how quickly does your technology advance?
Then there is pain and sickness. Early man has been shown to have attempted brain surgery in many parts of the world. Sickness would kill children early as it does still in too many places, and what pain relief do you have? A nomadic existence has its drawbacks but this does not mean you do not think, indeed the opposite as considering the options is often urgently required. There must also be many philosophic questionings when looking at the world around you or the heavens late at night.
And what about those living by the sea, the view from there must change the mind set and be very different from those living high in the hills or in a desert.
Francis Pryor and his type find a great deal of information regarding such as those living in the Fens in days gone by but what about those so much further back, so little is known about them. Leaving no writing is a bind really as the diaries would be very interesting and travelling about hinders research into them. Times and dates are often spurious, these change from one 'dig' to another I notice and opinions vary according to taste often enough.
I think I must have been on the grass this afternoon...!
A trip round all the charity shops today did not aid me in my quest for an outfit for next weeks opening. The suggestion of Mr Grumpy could not be achieved neither could the Child snatcher from some film I have not seen however that appears a good suggestion. Some sort of nasty children's story character sounds good if I could think of one. However the walk through the parched gardens was uplifting, big fish as well as Goldfish in the pond, some flowers bright and cheerful and this rose on the way down there hanging over a wall. It makes you wonder when you consider the variety of 'grass' that fills the earth.
As I made my way towards the museum yesterday I came upon a thousand schoolchildren plus teachers heading my way. These it appeared were happy excited kids going into the museum for a day of fun and learning, I joined them much worrying for the teacher in front who had not realised I was working there.
Soon after they had trooped through the door a woman followed with a query re her house. She wanted to know its history, people etc, and foolishly I offered to search for her after showing several sites she needs to investigate. This has left me with a few hours of staring at maps, census returns which provided some answers, searching through books was less successful but one answer did arise. It appears the web is better than books at some things.
This followed on from a similar check on some info given re a dead soldier, I had failed to realise there were ten children in his family not eight, I would suggest his mother knew how many there were right enough. Another census check, another ''Ancestry' search, and another amendment to the site.
It never fails to amaze me how many people look for dead soldiers. Whether out of interest, family research, military interest or just simply wandering what it is all about I every so often get comments, requests or interesting info on the men who marched away. I find them more interesting than those around me. One thing becomes more clear, they are no different to those around me, culture changes but human nature does not, in fact I am convinced now that meeting the grandsons and great grandsons of men who died gives a decent idea of what kind of men they were, this I am sorry to say is not always pleasant. These 'heroes,' these 'brave boys,' were men just like the rest, if only we regarded them as such instead of cutting them down to our image.
There is a lot of talk about Pankhurst's terrorist women these days, I wonder if it is possible to chain today's version to railings throughout the nation, for the good of the nation...?
Much fuss has been made today re 'Cheddar Man,' Apparently this chap, who died around 10,000 years ago, is thought to have been kind of black. "This is what Britons looked like just after the last ice age," is what is sort of said. Hmmm. An examination along with professional guesswork reaches this conclusion, this of course may be right, and this may indicate that living in the cold north we lost our pigmentation and became white. However some indicate the chap fund in the Alps dating to 5000 BC was indeed white, unless they will soon discover different, and it is doubtful pigmentation would change so soon.
There are so many intelligent guesses in such work. Conclusions on limited and often difficult evidence may lead to thoughtful and possibly correct understandings but on the other hand may be wildly erroneous. For myself I would love it to be true that the members of the 'English Defence League' are indeed descended from an African. The UKIP faction stopping foreign Joghnny's at the border may be better asking "Are you my long lost brother?" I doubt they will however and the 'Daily Mail' reader is having a fit as he reads.
We are after all 'All Jock Tamson's bairns.
Reading in this book by H.V.Morton I was struck by something he said when on an ancient roadway. He was discussing a building erected generations before to protect traders as they reached the half way point on the journey. It had been standing there in one form or another there about three thousand years, possibly following on a resting place going back much, much further. This got me thinking about something those colonials in the Americas sometimes say regarding old UK buildings being 'ancient,' and 'historical.' Many Americans touring the free world do find the age off buildings fascinating and it brought to mind Soub's picture of a building in Texas dating from I think 1848. This wooden structure, reminiscent of a 'cowboy' TV set, was classed as the 'Oldest building in town.' Now 1848 is not that far back, my Grandfather was born a mere three years earlier in 1845 and I am only 25 so it is only two generations, yet in the USA the early 1800's are ancient history. Of course man has been living on that land for thousands of years but the mind forgets this and concentrates only on present culture when considering the past. Our view is often limited by ourselves.
History is seen in the buildings. Edinburgh, towering above the world was built of solid stone structures reaching for the sky ten or twelve stories high. This reflected the available materials, the numbers crowding inside the walls and the need for walls to defend against the nasty English invaders. The 'closes' contain housing reaching back several hundred years each with its own history, each worthy of a blog all by themselves. Digging back further prehistoric man lived in several places around the city, both on Castle Rock and Arthur's Seat and in the Pentland Hills nearby.
In the part of paradise in which I dwell houses arose from the wood that covered the land. Made of wood and plaster with only castles made from stone and the churches flint and rubble, contained in a form of 'clinker,' often containing Roman brickwork. The latter showing how happy many Britons were to accept Roman standards. Many building in this small town go back to well before the 1800, one in the High Street has a pillar dated to 1395 I was told. Dating trees is an interesting insight into the age of buildings. Quite a few began their life in the early Medieval period and have been transformed according to contemporary needs and still serve their purpose today. The stairs creak a wee bit mind! People were known to be farming in this district at least four thousand years ago, some of their leftovers have been found. Before them as the Ice Age receded man trekked this land from the south of Cornwall across what became the North Sea to northern Germany following the herds hunting and gathering. No buildings were left but signs of habitation are abundant. The melting ice gave us the North Sea and fishermen still dredge up mammoth Tusks and the like daily.
While such nomads dragged their weary way in the cold north the peoples of Mesopotamia were already beginning to farm, gathering cattle, sheep and goats, and no doubt dogs and cats also, to produce a more settled life. The cities of Ur and Uruk had something like 60,000 citizens five thousand years ago. Their mud brick buildings lie in the south of what is now Iraq. This seems ancient to us who consider the Greek and Roman period as far distant yet Mesopotamia is a rich cultural heritage ignored for the most part and contains, so they say, our beginnings. Further back settled life arose Jarmo at least 7000 years before Christ and hunter gatherers walked for millennia before that. Man spread out quickly over the earth and similar finds occur in China, India and South America going back thousands of years.
It makes the history of this wee town appear quite recent. It also makes me feel quite young.
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