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

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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.]]

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"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."

"Not when we're talking about religion, Parker. There are hundreds of stone openings all over Europe and passing through them represents rebirth ~~and OMG can you tell I just read Marija Gimbutas~~. West was traditionally the direction of death and the afterworld, since that's where the sun set. So stones from the west, arranged like a birth canal, could represent the hope of rebirth from death. Immortality has always been an obsession for humans."

Parker's blush faded as she considered this. "So it's almost like an attempt at magic, as well as religion. At least, it would be in some worlds. Sorry, I can't help relating new facts to what I now know about Fandom. But this is sort of like a code in architecture, the same way some of the Egyptian pyramids have significance about which way they face or the exact dimensions, then."

Methos smiled faintly. "The distinction between magic and religion is an extremely recent development."

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

Vala just snerks and slides a piece of paper to him when Methos is talking to Parker.

Maybe we need to work on your recognition skills with a little more private tutoring in that particular area?

Cameron blushes and writes underneath it, sliding it back to Vala when the coast is clear.

Might be a good idea. I'm thinking a more detailed study might help.

Vala returns it with.

We'll definitely have to see that you spend more time down there then.

Cameron writes back with the cheesy cliché that he actually means.

Nowhere I'd rather be.

"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.

Which is such an alien concept that Parker never would've thought of it herself. "Okay. That's got a point, then." She cocked her head. "Do you think the legends about it have any connection back to the reality? Or is it all just lost in pre-history?"

"Which legends? The ones where Merlin built it in one night? Where giants were frozen mid-dance? Let's put it this way: Stonehenge was such an awesome achievement that even now, thousands of years later in a very technologically savvy age, we are still obsessed with it."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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