Monday, February 24, 2003
A LABYRINTH
The passageways under the site continue to throw new light onto the religious practices of our ancestors.
The tunnels seem to turn the seeker ever inward towards some kind of central chamber (as yet undiscovered by the team) which perhaps mimics the internal dynamic of the 'Rite of the Black Drop'.
More of the strange wooden finger decorations have been found, along with traces of other more perishable votive offerings, such as animal bones and the fibula of a human child enscribed with ogham characters. (as yet undeciphered)
The atmosphere in the tunnels is bearable only for a matter of hours, after which a kind of uneasy presentiment of the millions of tonnes of rubble overhead begins to prey on the mind.
The initial assumption that these tunnels perhaps stretch as far as the Necropolis is now known to be a conservative estimate.
The passageways under the site continue to throw new light onto the religious practices of our ancestors.
The tunnels seem to turn the seeker ever inward towards some kind of central chamber (as yet undiscovered by the team) which perhaps mimics the internal dynamic of the 'Rite of the Black Drop'.
More of the strange wooden finger decorations have been found, along with traces of other more perishable votive offerings, such as animal bones and the fibula of a human child enscribed with ogham characters. (as yet undeciphered)
The atmosphere in the tunnels is bearable only for a matter of hours, after which a kind of uneasy presentiment of the millions of tonnes of rubble overhead begins to prey on the mind.
The initial assumption that these tunnels perhaps stretch as far as the Necropolis is now known to be a conservative estimate.
Sunday, February 23, 2003
GRAVE GOODS
In the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods it is thought that the tribal community regularly communed with the bones of their dead ancestors, if not the spirits. That they did this under the influence of various 'hallucinogenic' substances is not in doubt.
"I was so far gone that I couldn't even remember the onset. Only visions of the entire course of human history, from the apeman all asteam to the hostile plains on through the blessed virgin and plunging into the abyss of technology. After two million years, Ian nudged me gently and said he'd like to go to sleep." William Burroughs.
In the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods it is thought that the tribal community regularly communed with the bones of their dead ancestors, if not the spirits. That they did this under the influence of various 'hallucinogenic' substances is not in doubt.
"I was so far gone that I couldn't even remember the onset. Only visions of the entire course of human history, from the apeman all asteam to the hostile plains on through the blessed virgin and plunging into the abyss of technology. After two million years, Ian nudged me gently and said he'd like to go to sleep." William Burroughs.
WALTER BENJAMIN IN GLASGOW
There are passageways underneath the Rottenrow. The extensive ruins of the city of Cathures are now known to include a warren of tunnels leading in several different directions. The most impressive of these seems to have been lined with some kind of organic material, possibly cork. Incredibly, the nearest ready supply of this wood is in the Mediterranean region. Archaeologists have suggested that the passageways form part of a complex initiatory 'journey' that possibly culminated at the Necropolis. High-ranking druids or others descended into these tunnels as part of the 'Rite of the Black Drop', wherein they were 'scourged' along the ceremonial roadway and into the tunnels, where a carefully controlled 'death and rebirth experience' was played out.
The passages are in extremely bad repair and the archaeological team are preceding with extreme caution. But already they have unearthed various ritualistic fetish objects, including the remains of a small wooden rodent, possibly meant to have fitted onto the finger.
There are passageways underneath the Rottenrow. The extensive ruins of the city of Cathures are now known to include a warren of tunnels leading in several different directions. The most impressive of these seems to have been lined with some kind of organic material, possibly cork. Incredibly, the nearest ready supply of this wood is in the Mediterranean region. Archaeologists have suggested that the passageways form part of a complex initiatory 'journey' that possibly culminated at the Necropolis. High-ranking druids or others descended into these tunnels as part of the 'Rite of the Black Drop', wherein they were 'scourged' along the ceremonial roadway and into the tunnels, where a carefully controlled 'death and rebirth experience' was played out.
The passages are in extremely bad repair and the archaeological team are preceding with extreme caution. But already they have unearthed various ritualistic fetish objects, including the remains of a small wooden rodent, possibly meant to have fitted onto the finger.
