{"id":803,"date":"2008-02-04T01:31:21","date_gmt":"2008-02-04T06:31:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=803"},"modified":"2018-08-14T22:51:02","modified_gmt":"2018-08-15T02:51:02","slug":"15597-%c2%a0-rodney-castleden-britain-3000-bc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=803","title":{"rendered":"15597. (Rodney Castleden) Britain 3000 BC<\/span>"},"content":{"rendered":"

I strong\u00adly rec\u00adom\u00admend this book to any\u00adone who is begin\u00adning to look at the Neolith\u00adic peri\u00adod in Eng\u00adland, or to any\u00adone who is intrigued by Stone\u00adhenge, Ave\u00adbury, or the mar\u00advelous Orkney sites. Cas\u00adtle\u00addon does a fine job of pulling togeth\u00ader the cur\u00adrent evi\u00addence and weav\u00ading it into a com\u00adpre\u00adhen\u00adsive pic\u00adture of life in the U.K. in 3000 BC<\/span>. Much of this involves inter\u00adpre\u00adta\u00adtion, guess\u00ades, and imag\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtive recon\u00adstruc\u00adtion, but the author usu\u00adally makes it clear when he is doing this, and care\u00adfully dis\u00adtin\u00adguishes between what the archae\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal evi\u00addence can prove or not prove, and when analo\u00adgies from anthro\u00adpol\u00adogy are appro\u00adpri\u00adate. Occa\u00adsion\u00adally the text drifts into fash\u00adion\u00adable pat\u00adter about the psy\u00adchol\u00adogy of spaces and the rela\u00adtion of mind to land\u00adscape, but not enough to be annoy\u00ading. There is only one embar\u00adrass\u00ading pas\u00adsage, where he talks about the \u201cemer\u00adgence\u201d in the fourth mil\u00adle\u00adnium BC<\/span>, of \u201clit\u00ader\u00adally self-con\u00adscious peo\u00adple, peo\u00adple like us, self-con\u00adtained and self-aware\u201d. The notion that human beings in some peri\u00adod or cul\u00adture were not self-con\u00adscious or self-aware, and sud\u00addenly became so because of some sud\u00adden trans\u00adfor\u00adma\u00adtion, is, as far as I can tell, non\u00adsense. Yet it con\u00adstantly pops up in his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal and anthro\u00adpo\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal writ\u00ading, based on the flim\u00adsi\u00adest rea\u00adson\u00ading. One might as well claim that peo\u00adple became \u201cself-aware\u201d in 1950, because then they began to make indi\u00advid\u00adual pur\u00adchases with cred\u00adit cards. But this is only one blem\u00adish in an oth\u00ader\u00adwise excel\u00adlent and use\u00adful work. The book abounds in well-cho\u00adsen maps, illus\u00adtra\u00adtions and pho\u00adtographs, the mate\u00adr\u00adial is pre\u00adsented in an order\u00adly fash\u00adion, and the prose style is pleasant.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I strong\u00adly rec\u00adom\u00admend this book to any\u00adone who is begin\u00adning to look at the Neolith\u00adic peri\u00adod in Eng\u00adland, or to any\u00adone who is intrigued by Stone\u00adhenge, Ave\u00adbury, or the mar\u00advelous Orkney sites. Cas\u00adtle\u00addon does a fine job of pulling together \u2026<\/p>\n

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