Posted on 07/13/2020 8:22:45 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
...The earliest recorded mention of the Cerne Abbas Giant, which was gifted to the National Trust in 1920 by the Pitt-Rivers family, was in 1694.
Local folklore has long held the 180ft (55m) chalk man to be a fertility aid.
Early antiquarians linked the giant with the Anglo-Saxon deity Helis, others have said he is the classical hero Hercules, while some believe he was carved during the English Civil War as a parody of Oliver Cromwell.
A further layer of mystery was revealed in the 1980s when a survey showed anomalies that suggested he originally wore a cloak and stood over a disembodied head.
There has also been a suggestion his significant anatomy is in fact the result of merging a smaller penis with a representation of his navel during a re-cut by the Victorians.
Mr Allen said snail shell testing had also shown the vegetation at the site had changed over time.
"There was a period when the giant was grown over with grass and other vegetation, and disappeared," he said.
"This suggests some people weren't bothered about the giant or felt he was too rude so left him...
However, the soil tests, using a technique called optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), are due in the autumn.
They would give a more accurate age of the giant as they would "determine when mineral grains in soil were last exposed to sunlight", Mr Papworth previously said.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Well, whoever wrote it, they did get that part about kings all over the world paying homage to the British in the future right. That would have been a bold prediction back in the medieval era when Britain was a punching bag getting conquered by anyone who could convince a few hundred guys to get in their boats and sail over.
He wasn't right (unless he was a psychic, in which case he was a dreadfully poor one), he just got lucky, at least for the period of time that the British Empire (which peaked during the reign of Victoria). That's assuming there hasn't been anachronistic nationalist misuse of the original of course.
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