Eternal Idol

Three newspapers have run stories on the piece I wrote about the Stonehenge Sentinel (below) and the BBC asked to do a radio interview as well. I was almost as pleased by this as I was by Wales winning the Triple Crown earlier today – why? Last week, Jonathan Jones wrote a feature on Stonehenge in the Guardian newspaper entitled “The Final Insult” and it was by far and away one of the best and most insightful pieces I can remember reading.

He rightly lamented the increasingly poor state of Stonehenge, then decided that the blame lay with the archaeologists by concluding “It’s the very people whose job it is to describe the unique nature of Stonehenge who make it sound as if it’s nothing more exciting than all the earthworks they dig up in bogs with a couple of wooden posts stuck in the peat. Stonehenge has been talked down by the experts. And now the philistines have an excuse to treat it as if it was nothing special.”

I’m always amazed and heartened by the interest in this site shown by the legions of non-archaeologists around the world who are delighted by any original information they can glean on Stonehenge, whether it be from here or from another source. I should say that I get a lot of emails and phone calls from archaeologists, many of whom are friends of mine, but if you’ve got the faintest insight into the murky world of commercial archaeology, then you’ll understand why they don’t want their names posted up. If you don’t understand, then I’ll spell it out in painful detail in a forthcoming post.

I don’t really have the time or inclination to read comments about my material when it’s posted elsewhere, but I’ve been amused by some I saw on the aforementioned press sites dealing with the Sentinel (see links on right). Some people obviously think that because I don’t seem to have a Master’s Degree in Archaeology, I therefore have no right at all to publish anything on Stonehenge, so by extension, they must think that no one else is entitled to an opinion, either, informed or otherwise. What they seem most annoyed about is the fact that the media occasionally report on what I put up here, but I presume that the journalists involved do so because they think that a lot of their readers will be interested in what’s been posted up on Eternal Idol. A lot of dedicated people run specialist sites dealing with archaeology, weird science, anomalies, the paranormal and the like, so I assume that they link here or else copy press reports about Eternal Idol for the same reason – they believe that a great many other people around the world will want to read about it.

I was particularly amused by one comment about the Stonehenge Sentinel, where one very earnest contributor wrote in to insist that there was no evidence at all for sentinels at Stonehenge, adding pathetically “How could there be?” I might be missing something, but I get the distinct impression from this that the halfwit in question hadn’t bothered reading a single word of what I’d written on precisely this subject. I’m perfectly happy to spend as long as it takes writing up pieces like the one on the Sentinel and if anyone can point out where I’ve gone wrong, I’m the first to want to hear about it. When some people, usually trying to identify themselves with the archaeological profession to acquire some spurious respectability, are outraged by the mere fact that I’ve written something original but can’t be bothered to read it and point out where I’ve gone wrong, then it’s a sorry state of affairs.

Ignorance might be bliss, but it’s still ignorance.

Simon Jenkins wrote another brilliant piece in the Guardian in early 2006 entitled “The Curse of Stonehenge” in which he observed that the archaeologists believe they have some kind of divine right to Stonehenge, but if that’s the case, then the current state of the monument is a poor reflection on their custodianship.

As I see it, both Simon Jenkins and Jonathan Jones are right, but things are far, far worse than either of them seem to be aware, so I’ll be composing my lengthy thoughts on some archaeologists, Stonehenge and Silbury Hill for the next entry here and while it’ll be long overdue, better late than never.

Words by Dennis Price. Photograph copyright Pete Glastonbury 2007.

Categories: Silbury Hill, Stonehenge
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