We've been watching the brilliant Michael Wood's series King Alfred & The Saxons, and that means I cannot for the life of me get these out of my head:

Oh, my gods!...

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Saxon-Viking negotiations...

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Viking and Garfunkel...

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Meanwhile, the British Library is digitising all their Mediaeval Manuscripts section, so you can actually read them here

Meanwhile, last week in Scotland... the world's oldest lunar calendar was discovered. I'm only linking to it because it appears that nowadays online news media have formatted their content so as to render it impossible for people with my low level of computer savvy to copy to places like LJ without insane amounts of white space and LJ-cuts not ( Read more... )

Martha Beck explains how rhino tracking crystallised her thinking on how our culture's focus on the logical and rational has led to us ignoring a huge, vital chunk of our brains' capabilities. It's by learning to befriend and respect our irrational, sensational selves that we can get to a healthy balance which allows us to flourish. And we need to ( Read more... )

Mesolithic life before Stonehenge found at Amesbury

19 April 2013 Last updated at 00:26

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Aerial archaeologist Ben Robinson visits Amesbury in Wiltshire where excavations have revealed that the history of people living in this location dates back much further than previously thought.

New evidence from the dig, at a site called Vespasian's Camp, ( Read more... )

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New Zealand Parliament legalises same-sex marriage and breaks into a rendition of the Maori-language love song Pokarekare Ana.

This is what being led by Spirit looks like: Dignified, centred, and joyous.

Hie thee over to BBC Radio 4's website and listen to mythographer Marina Warner's 10-part series on the Brothers' Grimm and their quest for the primal fairy tale: episode 4 of Grimm Thoughts is just ending, and the previous episodes are available for the next few days.

Brilliant.

• Viking settlers on Baffin Island

• Some people used to believe that meat-eating led to the evolution of bigger human brains, though it's always been contested. Now evidence increasingly points to the cooking of food as that evolutionary trigger

• Speaking of evolution, if you have access to BBC iPlayer, Prehistoric Autopsy is ace. The new tech is ( Read more... )

How appropriate for this time of year: 
Europe's oldest prehistoric town unearthed in Bulgaria
31 October 2012 Last updated at 14:56


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Stonehenge up close: digital laser scan reveals secrets of the past

Most detailed analysis yet of prehistoric stone circle shows how masons spent more time making key areas look the best
Maev Kennedy 
The Guardian, 
Tuesday 9 October 2012
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Local loaves for Lammas
Campaigners for real bread are attempting to revive the ancient harvest festival of Lammas, or loaf-mass

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