Posted on 07/05/2007 11:08:07 AM PDT by blam
Workers discover ancient 'snake'
An aerial view of the 4000 year old 'Rotherwas Ribbon'
Diggers constructing a new access road have uncovered a mysterious serpent-shaped feature, dating from the early bronze age. The 197ft (60m) long ribbon of stones, found in Rotherwas, near Hereford, is thought to date from the same period as Stonehenge, roughly 2000 BC.
County archaeologist Dr Keith Ray said as far as he is aware the stone feature is unique in Europe.
"We can only speculate it may have been used in some kind of ritual," he said.
'International significance'
The Rotherwas Ribbon, as it is being called, is made up of a series of deliberately fire-cracked stones and appears to have been deliberately sculptured to undulate through the whole of its length that has so far been uncovered.
"This is an exciting find, not just for Herefordshire and the UK, but apparently, so far, unique in Europe. It has international significance," Dr Ray said.
Archaeologists said although the practice of laying stones in small level pavements is known at sites in Pembrokeshire and elsewhere, the closest parallel to the Rotherwas Ribbon is the "Great Serpent Mound", in Ohio, USA, which is thought to have been built between 200 BC and 400 AD.
The Serpent Mound is a 1,330ft (405m) long effigy of a serpent.
Ohio has an ancient and famous snake mound.
GGG Ping.
So this is evidence that ancient Ohioans discovered EuROPe........
Mound Road on the east side of Detroit is named for a large Indian Mound at the corner of Mound and East Outer Drive. It's still there and kids use it to sled on in the winter.
It looks more like a road than a snake to me.
The Ohio site is approximately 3,000 years younger than this site.
Dr Keith Ray said as far as he is aware the stone feature is unique in Europe.not even one of these in Brittany?
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“We can only speculate it may have been used in some kind of ritual,”
Or art.
3000 years? Okay, some ancient Brits got lost on their way home from the pub.............
I didn't know Britney had any stones.......except maybe K-Fed's..........
[rimshot!]
Odd that they’re assuming that this was designed and created by an intelligent being.
This could have just occurred naturally. Indeed, over a long enough timeline it’s a certainty that this exact formation would appear without any intelligent force behind it.
Or something to walk on when it rains.
Looks like a lava bed to me.
Fire cracked stones with nearby but separate fir pits?
“It looks more like a road than a snake to me.”
Same here ... .
Why not? Given millions and millions and millions of years, this type of formation is certain to occur naturally.
Fire is natural, stone is natural, pits are natural. Given enough chances, Nature is bound to create this combination and sequence at some point.
Watch out, ancient snakes can be dangerous!!!
Plot summary for
The Lair of the White Worm (1988)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095488/plotsummary
Scottish archaelogist Angus Flint discovers an odd skull amid the ruins of a convent which he is excavating. Shortly thereafter, Lady Sylvia Marsh returns to Temple House, a nearby mansion, far earlier than expected. At a party in the village, Angus meets Lord James D’Ampton, who has just inherited his family’s lands, right next to Temple House. Angus learns of the D’Ampton Worm, a huge dragon/snake which an earlier D’Ampton killed by cutting it in half. (There’s a pretty catchy rock-folk song that tells the D’Ampton Worm legend.) As people begin disappearing and acting strangely over the next day or two, the skull is stolen from Angus’ room, and the watch of a missing person is found in a cavern which was the legendary home of the D’Ampton worm. Angus and James discover that there was an ancient cult which worshiped the worm as a god, and theorize that the creature somehow survived its “destruction”, but was trapped inside the cavern. The remainder of the movie shows Angus, James, and Mary Trent attempting to stop Lady Marsh from freeing the creature... Written by Alik Widge
Yeah you are right, could be to keep the Birkensotocks dry.
Before Classical Greece, at least, the was no "Art" as we understand the concept. What we see today as art was in pre-classical time intended to serve a practical function, as part of a ritual to aid in working a spell. In Egypt, for instance, while there was plenty of what we might call "art", there were no art galleries where one might view paintings and sculptures and so forth, simply to admire their beauty. It was all put to use in temples, shrines, and tombs; where art was used as decoration, as in jewelry, it was likewise intended to perform a function, such as to bring good luck and etc.
Going further back, the cave paintings and petroglyphs were not just pretty pictures, they were magic spells, intended to assure a good hunt or fertility, or some other practical goal. Just as this snake figure was, I am sure
COME RIDE THE SNAKE!(ride the snake)
And this would differ from the Sistine Chapel - how?
“they were magic spells, intended to assure a good hunt or fertility, “
That’s what we infer from our modern perspective. You allude to this when you say “as we understand it”. For some reason, we can’t see Altamira or an antelope bone with a horse engraved on it as “pretty” for its own sake.
We simply can’t know what these people thought was art, and what was “religion” or ritual, or magic. We don’t have enough information to understand what was left by time (the carved stone of Mesoamerica was, apparently, brightly painted at one time).
Without context, another culture would see our library entrances flanked by stone lions and great golden arches over our restaurants as ritual icons to ward off demons or diarrhea. Then thre’s neckties, obviously symbols of social status and never pretty, funny, or worn to look nice.
I wil agree with you in that it’s unlikely that the Picts had state-funded artists working off of grants!
From the headline I thought this was going to be a Helen Thomas thread.
I did not know that! I'm a west-sider, so I don't know when I'll ever get over to see it, but that is interesting.
Something about this doesn’t adder up
He’s old and his skin is cold.
There are also a couple of mounds on the west side - near Fort Wayne. I know one of the is called the Springwells Mound and is near the river at the foot of Springwells Avenue. There's a real big one just west of Ft. Wayne - there's a small city park there and a fishing site.
Thanks for the info.
Ride the Snake, to the lake.....
The ancient lake.
The snake is long....
“waiting for the summer rain” ping....
If you asp me, that was uncalled for.
Just thinking the ‘snake’ road theory needed a little wiggle room before it tailed off.
Yeah, I’m pretty rattled by that realization.
Fangs for the reply.
Writhing it was my pleasure.
I truly enjoy watching you vie per the pun route.
Python time this is over, everyone will be clamoring for our FR suspensions.
They’ll have to constrict or coral us first before we mamba on down the UK snake road.
7 Miles
He’s old.....
Meanwhile, we’ll milk it for all it’s worth.
Too bad for the locals. They’re about to lose another patch of earth to a UN World Heritage site.
..and his skin is Cold
This is like having herpes, ya can’t get shed of it. I’m getting boa’ed. Let’s strike a deal and quit before people moccasin.
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