fandomhigh | History of Medieval England - Thursday 6th Period: Discussion 1: Introduction and Pre-history to 500

Entry tags:

History of Medieval England - Thursday 6th Period: Discussion 1: Introduction and Pre-history to 500

Good afternoon, class. Now I get to torture you all by making you all stand up and introduce yourselves to your classmates. This is because I'm ~~sadistic~~ want to get you used to the concept of talking during our discussion sessions. Please give your name and what one thing you'd like to find out in this class.

Your homework, due next Tuesday ~~but to be posted in this post~~ is to pick a topic from the once-optional-now-mandatory reading list I gave you on Prehistoric Britain and Roman Britain and give me ETA a minimum of one hundred ~~Wikipedia~~ words on it. Got it? Good.

[[OOC comment threads are done!]]

[[ETA: OOC: At some point I stopped receiving comment notifications for this post. I'm scanning and trying to jump into discussions. But since I'm trying to foster discussion *amongst* all of you, I try not to jump in everywhere.]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"So," Cameron decided to jump right in with the one million dollar question because really someone ought to ask it, "who build Stonehenge?"

"Druids." Parker knows it's more complicated than that, and she grins as Buffy explains, then goes on, "But *why* was it built? That's what gets me. Were they so successful some decade that they thought, 'hey, time to build some standing stones'? Or did someone build it as a monument? And to what?"

"Maybe they were bored and they thought that you can never have too many phallus symbols around?" Cameron might just have no clue. "Or it could be that calender thing..."

"Maybe both?" Parker cocked her head. "Maybe they'd figured out something about crop rotations, and wanted a consistent calendar to refer to, in order to get the planting done. If the beginning of agriculture in Britain coincides with the building of Stonehenge, this would make sense."

"Big if, Parker. I'd have gone for something more pocket sized too. I think if it really was build in so many different stages that it makes sense that it'd be some sort of temple, ritual thingie."

"True. It's not like you couldn't get the same effect on a smaller scale. And using local materials, dear God." Parker shook her head. "I just wonder who spoke up at the local tribal meeting and said, 'hey, let's move the rocks from 240 miles away down here.' Who thinks of things like that?" She grinned. "But yeah, I'd guess it had greater significance than crop rotations too."

"Someone with penis envy..." Yeah, he definitely didn't just say that.

Parker chortled. "Yeah, the tribal elders were male, weren't they?"

"And very frustrated," Cameron nodded, but the tips of his ears were definitely turning pink.

"It's interesting how many structures get identified as phallic symbols and how few are identified as vulvar. For instance, the upright stones with the lintals in place rather more represent a doorway than a penis, don't you think?"

Parker chortled, then coughed, turning a little red. "Cam said it first. But now that you mention it, sure. Although maybe we're all too Freudian, and a rock is just a ... rock."

Re: DISCUSSION 1: Medieval English History: Prehistory the British Isles

prof-methos.livejournal.com - 2006-01-12 22:55 (UTC) - Expand

Re: DISCUSSION 1: Medieval English History: Prehistory the British Isles

mparkerceo.livejournal.com - 2006-01-12 23:01 (UTC) - Expand

Re: DISCUSSION 1: Medieval English History: Prehistory the British Isles

prof-methos.livejournal.com - 2006-01-12 23:05 (UTC) - Expand

This is exactly why he shouldn't have said that. Cameron coughs. "Well yeah, but the initial blue stone circle wasn't..." He hopes.

Re: DISCUSSION 1: Medieval English History: Prehistory the British Isles

aka-vala.livejournal.com - 2006-01-13 02:56 (UTC) - Expand

Re: DISCUSSION 1: Medieval English History: Prehistory the British Isles

cameronmitchell.livejournal.com - 2006-01-13 02:58 (UTC) - Expand

Re: DISCUSSION 1: Medieval English History: Prehistory the British Isles

aka-vala.livejournal.com - 2006-01-13 03:07 (UTC) - Expand

Re: DISCUSSION 1: Medieval English History: Prehistory the British Isles

cameronmitchell.livejournal.com - 2006-01-13 03:10 (UTC) - Expand

"Why do we build skyscrapers today? Why do we put so much stock in French wine, Italian leather and Belgian chocolate? It's an excellent example of conspicious consumption. *Anyone* can put up stones from the local area, but our tribe is wealthy enough -- which is to say, has enough surplus food -- to be able to afford the labor involved in floating blue stones down from northern Wales to the Salisbury Plain."

Since Parker indulges in every one of those three vices, she can *sort* of understand that. "I still think Cam's on to something, though. I would've built a bridge. But that's just me, so...."

"Built a bridge from where to where? For what purpose? Stonehenge can have a practical purpose -- judging where you are in the planting season, for instance -- but it also can have a spiritual significance. Instead of sacrificing maidens or animals to the gods... you sacrifice your labor. We can compare it to the building of cathedrals in the Middle Ages, both in terms of an external proof of how wealthy the community was and as a way of trying to bribe the gods to be favorable to you.

Re: DISCUSSION 1: Medieval English History: Prehistory the British Isles

mparkerceo.livejournal.com - 2006-01-12 22:42 (UTC) - Expand

Re: DISCUSSION 1: Medieval English History: Prehistory the British Isles

prof-methos.livejournal.com - 2006-01-12 23:03 (UTC) - Expand

Elizabeth shook her head. "Unless the Druids had access to time travel, they didn't build it. Stonehenge was completed at least a thousand years before the Celts ever inhabited the region."

Parker clearly didn't read this part carefully, so she goes back to the print-outs she made to check. "Damn, you're right. And I knew the Druids were into trees, I should have realized they wouldn't want a stone temple." She frowned. "It's so annoying that they didn't leave any writing of, 'hi, we're the Beaker People, we built this during the flood after the great fire after the plague, mostly to tell Dana Earth Mother not to mess with us so much.' Or something similar."

Elizabeth snickered. "Well, Stonehenge isn't the only henge around there; it's just the most well known. And technically, is the bank and ditch part of it, because the standing stones came after. But there's Woodhenge, and Avebury is a henge as well."

She grinned. "I think we'd get a much better handle on the situation if we actually visited these places. Don't you agree?" She winked at Parker.

Parker grinned back at her. "You know, I think we would. I think that a class trip would do an immeasurable amount toward broadening our understanding of megalithic structures."

"Excellent idea, Parker, Elizabeth. Are you two going to arrange it and buy the tickets?"

"Exactly. And it's a small place, so we'd certainly be able to do a variety of things. The British Museum in London would be great for the entire course."

"Actually, it's one of my Student Council platforms," Parker said, smiling sweetly. "Class Trip. Maybe we can raise enough for half the trip, and then get a discount. You'd know where to look for those, right?"

Re: DISCUSSION 1: Medieval English History: Prehistory the British Isles

notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com - 2006-01-12 22:30 (UTC) - Expand

"Wait. Who put up all the stones across the channel then?" Cameron is confused.

"No idea. We should hit France, too," Parker said, face angelic.

Jessica adds, "Ignoring whether they had a written language or not, there are plenty of lesser known henges. I suspect their reason for building was so well known that they would have been surprised to find that we're absolutely mystified by them."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only