Alternative Science & History News

For your late summer reading pleasure, below is a pile of rock articles.

1) An archeoastronomical study of the Ales Stenar site in Sweden

http://www.alesstenar.com/eng/indexeng.htm

2) Hundreds of stone cylinders are scattered across the Plain Of Jars in Laos

http://www.theage.com.au/travel/its-a-mystery-plain-and-simple-20090730-e2mq.html?page=1

3) A limestone cave system beneath the Giza pyramid field is discovered and explored.

http://www.andrewcollins.com/page/news/EQ12%20_2_beneath.htm

4) Etchings on a piece of sandstone could represent the world's earliest map

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327204.400-found-a-pocket-guide-to-prehistoric-spain.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/5978900/Worlds-oldest-map-Spanish-cave-has-landscape-from-14000-years-ago.html

5) Another article on Gobekli Tepe. Check out the video clip.

http://www.examiner.com/x-11199-Archeological-Travel-Examiner~y2009m8d3-Gobekli-Tepe-Standing-stones-from-humanitys-oldest-temple

6) Was the Cahokia Mound a site of human sacrifice? A review of a new book "Cahokia: Ancient America's Great City on the Mississippi,"  by Timothy Pauketat

http://www.salon.com/books/review/2009/08/06/cahokia/

7) Evidence that the Australian Aborigines studied the stars.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2009/07/27/2632463.htm?site=science/starhunt

8) Research from South Africa pushes back the date of the earliest use of heat treatment for tool making from at least 45,000 years, to more than 70,000 years ago.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/science/18obfire.html?_r=3&ref=science

9) U.S. and Puerto Rican archaeologists say they have found the best-preserved pre-Columbian site in the Caribbean.

http://www.sunjournal.com/node/102989

10) A huge Neolithic cathedral has been found in Orkney

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6795316.ece

11) An interesting and detailed examination of the symbolic significance of dolmens in Britain (scroll down).

The following quotes from the article could very well describe chambers and other stone structures found on this side of the Atlantic.

“ Clearly, these stone monuments are inherently symbolic and so should reflect in some fundamental way the central beliefs of the religious practice concerned. These beliefs are materialised in the architecture and orientation of these monuments, and in their use-history. While the design of these monuments has functional possibilities (to receive offerings, to hold burials, to congregate people), the consistency of its execution over a wide geographical area suggests a deeper religious significance.” William O’Brien (2002, 160)

“ A rock or a pebble would be the object of reverent devotion because it represented or imitated something, because it came from somewhere. Its sacred value is always due to that something or somewhere, never to its own actual existence… Their role was generally more magical than religious. Invested with certain sacred powers as a result of their origin or their shape, they were not adored, but made use of.” Mircea Eliade (1958, 216)

http://heritageaction.wordpress.com/

12) Stone walls throughout the northeast are being plundered and pilfered. Thanks Norman

http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2009/08/10/nh_law_touted_as_weapon_against_stone_wall_raiders/?s_campaign=8315

Keep on freein' up the rock world.

Rob