Good night.
Mar. 8th, 2004 04:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hmpfGet bored
some more
or just
ignore...
Exon et al. in 'Stonehenge Landscapes' (1995) analyse the siting of barrows in the Stonehenge area in detail. They observe that barrow cemeteries are generally sited in relation to existing monuments so as to be visible on the very edge of the viewshed of those monuments. Frequently, barrow cemeteries were built on top of ridges that create far or intermediate horizons (p.26).
In terms of chronology, barrows with Beaker burials seem to have been placed with reference to a variety of existing monuments, among them, but far from exclusively, Stonehenge, whereas barrows with Wessex burials display a closer connection with Stonehenge (p.71). (However, according to statistical analysis carried out by Exon et al., barrows containing rich Wessex burials have significantly low overall visibility. (p.???))
The Avenue leading to Stonehenge, according to Exon et al., does not take the most energy efficient route from the Avon to the monument (p.72). Furthermore, '(i)n highly charged landscapes, like that around Stonehenge, paths and tracks may have a liturgical role.' (Exon et al. p.???). It is therefore generally assumed that the Avenue had a function that went beyond the practical. Usually, the Avenue is interpreted as a processional way leading from the Avon – i.e., according to Parker Pearson and Ramilisonina from the domain of the living – towards the monument, and hence the domain of the dead, the spirits, or whatever else the monument is interpreted as representing. To understand the particular choice of the path of the Avenue, Exon et al. have walked along it and observed which monuments (and other features of the landscape) are visible from its different parts. They suggest that the Avenue can be differentiated into seven 'theoretical segments' (p.72) which offer roughly chronological views – i.e. at the beginning of the Avenue, near the river Avon, the view is mainly of Mesolithic or early Neolithic monuments, then progresses to late Neolithic monuments to then return to a view of older monuments again before presenting the person walking along the Avenue with the (late Neolithic) view of Stonehenge itself.
The Avenue itself was constructed during Stonehenge phase 3 (p.75), which means that it is older than most of the barrow cemeteries in its vicinity. While it is therefore unlikely that the barrow cemeteries had anything to do with the siting of the Avenue, it is imaginable that the Avenue had some influence on the siting of the barrows. In fact, it seems likely that there was some relation, as the Avenue seems to cut through the middle of three linear barrow groups – the King Barrow Ridge, and two smaller groups to the east and south of it, towards the Avon - and another group, also towards the Avon, is roughly parallel with it. Also, if Parker Pearson and Ramilisonina's thesis of the dense barrow concentration around Stonehenge constituting a zone of passage between the world of the living and dead is correct, it is very probable that rituals that utilised the Avenue had some kind of connection with the surrounding barrows.
The potential relationship between the Avenue and the barrow groups is two-fold: on the one hand, barrows may have been sited so as to grant the dead that were buried there a good view of the Avenue and the rituals or processions taking place along it. On the other hand, they may also have been sited so as to be well visible from the Avenue, in order to create a closer connection between participants and their ancestral dead.
For my fieldwork project, I wanted to take a look at the visual relationships between the Avenue and the main surrounding barrow groups in the field to test that idea.
2.) Methodology
In order to look at visual relationships between monuments in the field it is first necessary to determine which monuments one wants to look at, and from where one wants to look at them. Since the immediate surroundings of Stonehenge are dense with monuments, barrows in particular, and the time for the actual fieldwork was limited to three hours, it was clear from the outset that it would be impossible to observe the view towards (or from) every single barrow or even every major barrow group. Based on maps and descriptions, the Normanton Down, Cursus, and the two King Barrow Ridge groups looked to be the most appropriate candidates for study as they seemed to be both topographically accessible and of a rather striking linear layout. They also constitute the main barrow groups on the edge of the Stonehenge visual envelope. I therefore decided to study the intervisibility between those four barrow cemeteries and the Avenue. It would have been interesting to look at the lower half of the Avenue, as well, especially since between the Avon and the King Barrow Ridge it crosses two further linear barrow groups, but I had been 'warned' that that part of the Avenue was not easily accessible and so decided to forego studying it in the field.
It was immediately obvious how to study the visibility of the barrow groups from the Avenue – one simply has to make systematic observations at more or less regularly spaced intervals along the Avenue while walking towards Stonehenge. For the purpose of my very limited fieldwork I tentatively determined six observation points along the Avenue: one at the top of King Barrow Ridge; one halfway down the slope towards the 'elbow' of the Avenue in Stonehenge Bottom; one at the 'elbow'; one halfway towards Stonehenge from the 'elbow'; and one at the point where the Avenue meets the bank of the monument.
Developing a useful approach to studying visibility of the Avenue from the various barrow groups proved more difficult. Even though the chosen barrow cemeteries are largely linear, the barrow groups are less clearly delineated than the Avenue, and are furthermore stretched out over a considerable space. Questions might be raised as to what constitutes 'intervisibility' between barrow groups and other monuments – e.g., is it enough if just a single barrow in a group displays intervisibility with a chosen monument to claim intervisibility between the group and the monument? And, when studying the visibility of the Avenue from the surrounding barrow groups, which points of observation would be appropriate to choose in those groups? The thorough approach would of course be to make and note down observations from the site of every barrow in the relevant groups. In the end, I decided on making observations from barrows near the ends of the linear parts of the cemeteries – ideally from the outermost ones, unless these should be set far apart from the rest of the group.
In terms of documentation I prepared a sufficient number of copies of maps of the Avenue and of the barrow groups in which to mark what I could see from different observation spots (around seven copies each of a map of the Cursus, Normanton Down, and King Barrow Ridge groups, and around ten copies of a map of the entire area). I also planned to take written notes of my observations at the various observation points, and to take photos of relevant features of the view.
And to prove that I can bore you to tears not just with Stonehenge but also with fandom stuff:
Note that this is based *only* on conjecture which in turn is based only on discussions read here on LJ and elsewhere. I *still* haven't read HP and the Order of the Phoenix! Yes, I know, I've written fanfic about it, for crying out loud... but I still haven't read it. I've only read bits and pieces, standing in a bookstore. (I really have to get a copy of that sometime soon...) So, I may be way, way off base with many things here. That's why I said in my previous entry that I really need help with this (apart from getting my own copy of the books, that is). Anyway... Unfounded speculation... here goes:
Political situation:
After vol.5 the Ministry did a 1984, purportedly in order to be able to counter Voldemort's forces more effectively. The Order, only tenuously connected to official structures anyway, broke away. To be fair, the Ministry did fight Voldemort (or are they official Eeeevil since vol.5?) – and the Order hence did not actively oppose them, seeing that they could not afford to fight both Voldemort and the Ministry at once, and could probably not fight Voldemort completely on their own. The Ministry, however, did not follow that 'live and let live'/'the enemy of my enemy is, if not my friend, then at least not someone I should be actively fighting' philosophy and outlawed the Order, making life a lot more difficult for its members. Some got imprisoned; a very few got killed. Those that were imprisoned were killed a few months later when Voldemort's forces took Azkaban. Those that were not killed or imprisoned went into hiding or into exile. The rest of the wizarding world looked on in horror, pretty much like the rest of the world did during the war in Yugoslavia, as British wizarding society spun out of control.
Due to efficient spin control the Ministry managed to unite much of the politically moderate strata of society against Voldemort, despite grumblings of unrest. Still, repressions against anyone from harmless Hogwarts students to law-abiding werewolves, probably tipped the scales in favour of Voldemort for a few previously undecided sympathisers (and maybe, if Voldemort knew how to play his hand, also for a few angry non-sympathisers). Not all people who opposed the Ministry joined Voldemort's forces, though – many also joined the Order, or founded similar resistance cells. By Harry's seventh year at Hogwart's, the wizarding world is deeply divided and everybody's paranoid. Including the Order/the resistance, which has finally given up on the Ministry and believes to be fighting the war alone. Which they are, in a way, as it's turned into a war with three parties instead of two.
Finally, things come to a head when the Ministry tries to force a confrontation between Voldemort and its own forces. The confrontation happens (Voldemort, aware of the division among his enemies, is maybe a bit too confident), and it looks as if Voldemort's confidence is justified. The battle is then decided by the Order who, probably led by Harry who has remembered, just in time, what this whole war was about in the first place, have decided to martyr themselves if necessary, rather than let Voldemort win. But even with the help of the Order, the forces of 'Good' only win by a hair's width. Maybe some kind of magical doomsday device is involved (used by the Ministry). The wizarding world is devastated. The Ministry, although much diminished, regroups and blames the Order. Voldemort's followers are scattered. The Order go into hiding/exile again. The Ministry tries to keep things under control but doesn't quite have the power it used to, anymore.
Other background:
The desaster of the final battle (as well as the months leading up to it) was so great that even muggles noticed. They explained it as a catastrophic series of odd religious sect murder/suicides. The tabloids have their own theories, some of which are preposterous, others of which come frighteningly close to the truth.
Dementors are running loose – Azkaban has been/is being rebuilt, but there are still many Dementors unaccounted for.
Sirius:
Died, all right. Sort of. Was dead for about six months to a year, maybe. Was brought back by a curious Department of Mysteries employee. Could be brought back because the arch was never meant to actually take lives; instead, it's a nexus between the world of the living and the world of the dead that can be used for communication; Sirius, in falling through, caused some kind of malfunction. One day, a Department of Mysteries employee accidentally finds Sirius, who, not exactly alive, not exactly dead, and not exactly conscious, constitutes a kind of disturbance in the ether or whatever. Employee has never seen disturbance of that kind and is fascinated; experiments a bit (probably laughed at by colleagues), and ends up with a very disoriented escaped convict sometime very late at night in the empty department (having stayed to conduct experiments alone). Employee is terrified, of course, but something about Sirius (who is almost totally out of it) gives him/her pause. So, he/she makes a compromise and goes to an auror, but not just any auror: s/he goes to Kingsley Shacklebolt. (This is shortly before the total outlawing of the order, and while it is not official that K.S. is a member, his sympathies are known, so he makes a good person to ask about a matter like a potentially dangerous criminal who may just as well be a victim of your employers.) Kingsley then spirits Sirius away...
After this experience, Sirius's psychological state is more fragile than it used to be and the final battle, complete with loss of Harry and loads of other people, cracks him, more or less. He does not turn into a gibbering madman, but he becomes the dog. Not permanently, but most of the time. He does not really know why he goes on living, except maybe because Remus wants him to. Sort of. He certainly doesn't see many reasons to remain human. So he keeps Remus company; he takes human form when Remus asks him to, but feels uncomfortable when doing so. And Remus rarely asks. The truth is that most of the time, Sirius-as-a-human tends to make him uncomfortable, too, nowadays. They talk very little, and never about anything important. Occasionally, they have sex, but it's more a matter of holding onto each other to keep from drowning than of passion/lust/love.
Remus:
Remus needs to hide almost as much as Sirius does, although with him, it's only the – by then pretty ineffectual – Ministry looking for him. The Ministry has been making life difficult for werewolves for years, and as a result many werewolves have sided with Voldemort in the conflict. The public, never overly fond of werewolves anyway, is downright paranoid about them now. It's always been difficult for Remus to find a job; now it's almost impossible. In addition to the werewolf thing, the Ministry is, of course, also still looking for members of the Order. So, Remus has to lay low on two accounts. He lives under an assumed name in some small, depressing town and works in a factory. His boss is a squib with vague sympathies for the resistance/the Order, but is not beyond exploiting Remus, nevertheless.
How do they hear about Peter?
Uhm, I dunno?
What do they do when they hear about Peter?
Same answer.
What's the result?
Hopefully some kind of catharsis.
If this makes no sense at all blame it on my being totally exhausted, and on my not having read the book yet. *g*
some more
or just
ignore...
Exon et al. in 'Stonehenge Landscapes' (1995) analyse the siting of barrows in the Stonehenge area in detail. They observe that barrow cemeteries are generally sited in relation to existing monuments so as to be visible on the very edge of the viewshed of those monuments. Frequently, barrow cemeteries were built on top of ridges that create far or intermediate horizons (p.26).
In terms of chronology, barrows with Beaker burials seem to have been placed with reference to a variety of existing monuments, among them, but far from exclusively, Stonehenge, whereas barrows with Wessex burials display a closer connection with Stonehenge (p.71). (However, according to statistical analysis carried out by Exon et al., barrows containing rich Wessex burials have significantly low overall visibility. (p.???))
The Avenue leading to Stonehenge, according to Exon et al., does not take the most energy efficient route from the Avon to the monument (p.72). Furthermore, '(i)n highly charged landscapes, like that around Stonehenge, paths and tracks may have a liturgical role.' (Exon et al. p.???). It is therefore generally assumed that the Avenue had a function that went beyond the practical. Usually, the Avenue is interpreted as a processional way leading from the Avon – i.e., according to Parker Pearson and Ramilisonina from the domain of the living – towards the monument, and hence the domain of the dead, the spirits, or whatever else the monument is interpreted as representing. To understand the particular choice of the path of the Avenue, Exon et al. have walked along it and observed which monuments (and other features of the landscape) are visible from its different parts. They suggest that the Avenue can be differentiated into seven 'theoretical segments' (p.72) which offer roughly chronological views – i.e. at the beginning of the Avenue, near the river Avon, the view is mainly of Mesolithic or early Neolithic monuments, then progresses to late Neolithic monuments to then return to a view of older monuments again before presenting the person walking along the Avenue with the (late Neolithic) view of Stonehenge itself.
The Avenue itself was constructed during Stonehenge phase 3 (p.75), which means that it is older than most of the barrow cemeteries in its vicinity. While it is therefore unlikely that the barrow cemeteries had anything to do with the siting of the Avenue, it is imaginable that the Avenue had some influence on the siting of the barrows. In fact, it seems likely that there was some relation, as the Avenue seems to cut through the middle of three linear barrow groups – the King Barrow Ridge, and two smaller groups to the east and south of it, towards the Avon - and another group, also towards the Avon, is roughly parallel with it. Also, if Parker Pearson and Ramilisonina's thesis of the dense barrow concentration around Stonehenge constituting a zone of passage between the world of the living and dead is correct, it is very probable that rituals that utilised the Avenue had some kind of connection with the surrounding barrows.
The potential relationship between the Avenue and the barrow groups is two-fold: on the one hand, barrows may have been sited so as to grant the dead that were buried there a good view of the Avenue and the rituals or processions taking place along it. On the other hand, they may also have been sited so as to be well visible from the Avenue, in order to create a closer connection between participants and their ancestral dead.
For my fieldwork project, I wanted to take a look at the visual relationships between the Avenue and the main surrounding barrow groups in the field to test that idea.
2.) Methodology
In order to look at visual relationships between monuments in the field it is first necessary to determine which monuments one wants to look at, and from where one wants to look at them. Since the immediate surroundings of Stonehenge are dense with monuments, barrows in particular, and the time for the actual fieldwork was limited to three hours, it was clear from the outset that it would be impossible to observe the view towards (or from) every single barrow or even every major barrow group. Based on maps and descriptions, the Normanton Down, Cursus, and the two King Barrow Ridge groups looked to be the most appropriate candidates for study as they seemed to be both topographically accessible and of a rather striking linear layout. They also constitute the main barrow groups on the edge of the Stonehenge visual envelope. I therefore decided to study the intervisibility between those four barrow cemeteries and the Avenue. It would have been interesting to look at the lower half of the Avenue, as well, especially since between the Avon and the King Barrow Ridge it crosses two further linear barrow groups, but I had been 'warned' that that part of the Avenue was not easily accessible and so decided to forego studying it in the field.
It was immediately obvious how to study the visibility of the barrow groups from the Avenue – one simply has to make systematic observations at more or less regularly spaced intervals along the Avenue while walking towards Stonehenge. For the purpose of my very limited fieldwork I tentatively determined six observation points along the Avenue: one at the top of King Barrow Ridge; one halfway down the slope towards the 'elbow' of the Avenue in Stonehenge Bottom; one at the 'elbow'; one halfway towards Stonehenge from the 'elbow'; and one at the point where the Avenue meets the bank of the monument.
Developing a useful approach to studying visibility of the Avenue from the various barrow groups proved more difficult. Even though the chosen barrow cemeteries are largely linear, the barrow groups are less clearly delineated than the Avenue, and are furthermore stretched out over a considerable space. Questions might be raised as to what constitutes 'intervisibility' between barrow groups and other monuments – e.g., is it enough if just a single barrow in a group displays intervisibility with a chosen monument to claim intervisibility between the group and the monument? And, when studying the visibility of the Avenue from the surrounding barrow groups, which points of observation would be appropriate to choose in those groups? The thorough approach would of course be to make and note down observations from the site of every barrow in the relevant groups. In the end, I decided on making observations from barrows near the ends of the linear parts of the cemeteries – ideally from the outermost ones, unless these should be set far apart from the rest of the group.
In terms of documentation I prepared a sufficient number of copies of maps of the Avenue and of the barrow groups in which to mark what I could see from different observation spots (around seven copies each of a map of the Cursus, Normanton Down, and King Barrow Ridge groups, and around ten copies of a map of the entire area). I also planned to take written notes of my observations at the various observation points, and to take photos of relevant features of the view.
And to prove that I can bore you to tears not just with Stonehenge but also with fandom stuff:
Note that this is based *only* on conjecture which in turn is based only on discussions read here on LJ and elsewhere. I *still* haven't read HP and the Order of the Phoenix! Yes, I know, I've written fanfic about it, for crying out loud... but I still haven't read it. I've only read bits and pieces, standing in a bookstore. (I really have to get a copy of that sometime soon...) So, I may be way, way off base with many things here. That's why I said in my previous entry that I really need help with this (apart from getting my own copy of the books, that is). Anyway... Unfounded speculation... here goes:
Political situation:
After vol.5 the Ministry did a 1984, purportedly in order to be able to counter Voldemort's forces more effectively. The Order, only tenuously connected to official structures anyway, broke away. To be fair, the Ministry did fight Voldemort (or are they official Eeeevil since vol.5?) – and the Order hence did not actively oppose them, seeing that they could not afford to fight both Voldemort and the Ministry at once, and could probably not fight Voldemort completely on their own. The Ministry, however, did not follow that 'live and let live'/'the enemy of my enemy is, if not my friend, then at least not someone I should be actively fighting' philosophy and outlawed the Order, making life a lot more difficult for its members. Some got imprisoned; a very few got killed. Those that were imprisoned were killed a few months later when Voldemort's forces took Azkaban. Those that were not killed or imprisoned went into hiding or into exile. The rest of the wizarding world looked on in horror, pretty much like the rest of the world did during the war in Yugoslavia, as British wizarding society spun out of control.
Due to efficient spin control the Ministry managed to unite much of the politically moderate strata of society against Voldemort, despite grumblings of unrest. Still, repressions against anyone from harmless Hogwarts students to law-abiding werewolves, probably tipped the scales in favour of Voldemort for a few previously undecided sympathisers (and maybe, if Voldemort knew how to play his hand, also for a few angry non-sympathisers). Not all people who opposed the Ministry joined Voldemort's forces, though – many also joined the Order, or founded similar resistance cells. By Harry's seventh year at Hogwart's, the wizarding world is deeply divided and everybody's paranoid. Including the Order/the resistance, which has finally given up on the Ministry and believes to be fighting the war alone. Which they are, in a way, as it's turned into a war with three parties instead of two.
Finally, things come to a head when the Ministry tries to force a confrontation between Voldemort and its own forces. The confrontation happens (Voldemort, aware of the division among his enemies, is maybe a bit too confident), and it looks as if Voldemort's confidence is justified. The battle is then decided by the Order who, probably led by Harry who has remembered, just in time, what this whole war was about in the first place, have decided to martyr themselves if necessary, rather than let Voldemort win. But even with the help of the Order, the forces of 'Good' only win by a hair's width. Maybe some kind of magical doomsday device is involved (used by the Ministry). The wizarding world is devastated. The Ministry, although much diminished, regroups and blames the Order. Voldemort's followers are scattered. The Order go into hiding/exile again. The Ministry tries to keep things under control but doesn't quite have the power it used to, anymore.
Other background:
The desaster of the final battle (as well as the months leading up to it) was so great that even muggles noticed. They explained it as a catastrophic series of odd religious sect murder/suicides. The tabloids have their own theories, some of which are preposterous, others of which come frighteningly close to the truth.
Dementors are running loose – Azkaban has been/is being rebuilt, but there are still many Dementors unaccounted for.
Sirius:
Died, all right. Sort of. Was dead for about six months to a year, maybe. Was brought back by a curious Department of Mysteries employee. Could be brought back because the arch was never meant to actually take lives; instead, it's a nexus between the world of the living and the world of the dead that can be used for communication; Sirius, in falling through, caused some kind of malfunction. One day, a Department of Mysteries employee accidentally finds Sirius, who, not exactly alive, not exactly dead, and not exactly conscious, constitutes a kind of disturbance in the ether or whatever. Employee has never seen disturbance of that kind and is fascinated; experiments a bit (probably laughed at by colleagues), and ends up with a very disoriented escaped convict sometime very late at night in the empty department (having stayed to conduct experiments alone). Employee is terrified, of course, but something about Sirius (who is almost totally out of it) gives him/her pause. So, he/she makes a compromise and goes to an auror, but not just any auror: s/he goes to Kingsley Shacklebolt. (This is shortly before the total outlawing of the order, and while it is not official that K.S. is a member, his sympathies are known, so he makes a good person to ask about a matter like a potentially dangerous criminal who may just as well be a victim of your employers.) Kingsley then spirits Sirius away...
After this experience, Sirius's psychological state is more fragile than it used to be and the final battle, complete with loss of Harry and loads of other people, cracks him, more or less. He does not turn into a gibbering madman, but he becomes the dog. Not permanently, but most of the time. He does not really know why he goes on living, except maybe because Remus wants him to. Sort of. He certainly doesn't see many reasons to remain human. So he keeps Remus company; he takes human form when Remus asks him to, but feels uncomfortable when doing so. And Remus rarely asks. The truth is that most of the time, Sirius-as-a-human tends to make him uncomfortable, too, nowadays. They talk very little, and never about anything important. Occasionally, they have sex, but it's more a matter of holding onto each other to keep from drowning than of passion/lust/love.
Remus:
Remus needs to hide almost as much as Sirius does, although with him, it's only the – by then pretty ineffectual – Ministry looking for him. The Ministry has been making life difficult for werewolves for years, and as a result many werewolves have sided with Voldemort in the conflict. The public, never overly fond of werewolves anyway, is downright paranoid about them now. It's always been difficult for Remus to find a job; now it's almost impossible. In addition to the werewolf thing, the Ministry is, of course, also still looking for members of the Order. So, Remus has to lay low on two accounts. He lives under an assumed name in some small, depressing town and works in a factory. His boss is a squib with vague sympathies for the resistance/the Order, but is not beyond exploiting Remus, nevertheless.
How do they hear about Peter?
Uhm, I dunno?
What do they do when they hear about Peter?
Same answer.
What's the result?
Hopefully some kind of catharsis.
If this makes no sense at all blame it on my being totally exhausted, and on my not having read the book yet. *g*
