Andy Burnham's Blog, page 151

Säm Gånggrift

When it was built about 5000 years ago, this passage grave in Bohuslän, Sweden was beside the sea, then 25m higher than it is today. It was intended for repeated burials. In some barrows the remains of up to a hundred people have been found. This grave is badly damaged and the covering back slopes into the grave, hence the name in local dialect of 'Ludesten' or sloping stone.

Goosefeld Steingrab 3

This burial chamber was found in 2021 during investigations before the construction of a commercial area in Eckernförde, NW of Kiel. Before detection and excavation the grave was hidden under the surface of a field. All stones were found tipped over, the marks of their former standing position were found and documented. A clay shard was found which could be assigned to the Funnel Beaker culture (see photo on our page).

Fontaine Saint Augustin

The holy well of Saint Augustin in Vosges, Alsace-Lorraine. Still visited today with plenty of flowers and small gifts.

Fossum (Tanum)

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One of the four main sites which are part of the World Heritage site around Tanum, Sweden. For many, this is the best of the Bohuslän rock art sites. The carvings show a great many men and women hunting, dancing and following other activities. Overall there are around 600 rock art panels in the world heritage site. On the Bohuslän Rock Carving Tour.

Machu Picchu.

Top photo: Houses at Machu Picchu - scan of Ilford 400 black and white film taken in 1997. More on our page. Machu Picchu is a royal Incan estate, one of many sites built in the Urubamba Valley at lower altitudes than the Incan capitol of Cusco. Mountain peaks surround the spit of land above the river. Considering the number and placement of temple and altar sites this area seems to have been used for ceremonials and probably had a military component, but surrounding living quarters indicate a royal residence, supported by storage areas and terraced garden plots.

Corscombe

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This site may well be the remains of a chambered long barrow, but Historic England don't think it is for various reasons expanded on in our comments section. It's well worthy of further investigation though. Situated in a small field on a public footpath running between a minor road just off the north side of the A356 and the village of Corscombe in Dorset. It lies in a grassy valley with a small wood on the east side and steep sloping fields rising on the west side giving an air of tranquillity and seclusion.

Andy B's Old Stones talk Sat 29th Jan 11am with the London Dowsers, Mile End E3

This month Andy is the guest of the London Dowsers. We will be at the Coborn Arms, Mile End, London E3 2DA.
A highly illustrated and fast paced talk based around many of the themes, new discoveries and mysteries highlighted in our book The Old Stones, along with a look at many lesser known but interesting sites.

Theriocephaly (animal-headed man) images in eastern Asia and beyond (Nara era)

The burial mound for Prince Motoi (基王 727-728), the 1st son of Emperor Shōmu, in Nara city is called NaoYama-no-haka (那富山墓). The mound contains four stones on the surface of which images of naked men with Chinese zodiac animal heads are engraved.The oldest Japanese historical book "Nihon Shoki" (日本書記 = Chronicle of Japan) tells that they howled like beasts in times of trouble, thus the stones (= ishi 石) on which beast-headed man are inscribed are called hayato-ishi (隼人石) .
There are replicas of the mouse-headed man in Ōsaka prefecture. In 1998 paintings of mouse-, tiger-, horse- and dog-headed men were discovered in the mural chamber of Kitora Kofun burial mound.

Oppidum Stradonice

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Oppidum Stradonice belongs to the largest, richest and earliest known La Tène oppidums in Bohemia. Its modern history started in 1877 with the discovery of a hoard of 200 ancient golden and silver coins initiated true golden fever. Hoards of treasure hunters and local residents looted this prehistoric site almost 25 years. The area of the Stradonice hillfort is now protected as a national monument.

Musée de Saint-Crépin

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A museum in Aveyron which contains a dozen or more statue menhirs on display from this beautiful French region. We have lots of new photos from Johnstone of these ancient anthropomorphic creations.