Terence Meaden
Prof Dr G. Terence Meaden, MA (Oxon) MSc.(Oxon) D.Phil. (Oxon) FRMetSoc, is a professional physicist, meteorologist and archaeologist with undergraduate and doctoral degrees (1954-1961) in physics from Oxford University and a MSc in archaeology from Oxford University. He has made significant contributions to research in low temperature physics (1957-1975), tornado climatology (1972-206), Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeology (1981-2021) and empirical knowledge philosophy (2008-21).
A polymath he has authored 250 papers and 18 books. Three papers were in the high-impact Physical Review Letters (1969-1971) and his doctoral work in Proc. Royal Society (1963). First book was The Electrical Resistance of Metals (1965, reprinted 2013).
Age 17 from Trowbridge Boys' High School he won scholarships to study physics at Oxford University. Being a Wiltshireman with centuries of ancestors from villages around Stonehenge (via the surname Meaden) and Avebury [Waledich was the name of the henge 1000 years ago] (via the uncommon surname Whale or Wale), he found as a schoolboy in 1949 that leading archaeologists could explain neither monument, saying the meaning of Stonehenge was insoluble. Yet it was promising that Dr Samuel Johnson (1709-84) had declared: "There is no problem that the mind of man can set that the mind of man cannot solve."
So he spent much time on prehistoric archaeology (and meteorology), and cultivated the aim of going to Oxford to read archaeology as the start of a quest to solve Stonehenge as to meaning and purpose. However, in 1953 the Oxford University entrance examination required taking papers in Classical Greek and Latin ... but Greek was not taught at his school so physics was chosen instead of archaeology. A longterm Odyssey to study and elucidate Stonehenge, Avebury and other prehistoric monuments had begun.
Terence returned to this from 1981 after 18 years of university physics: 9 at Oxford University, 3 at Grenoble University (France) and 6 at Dalhousie University, Halifax (Canada) as a tenured Associate Professor of Physics.
Back in Oxford he founded the Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (1974) and became a consultant to the Nuclear Plant New-Build Industry.
Since 1981 research in archaeology included aspects of Neolithic and Bronze Age Britain, Ireland and Sardinia especially examining megalithic sites and stone circles. This included 125 expeditions to Stonehenge and environs and over 400 to Avebury and its lower and upper landscapes. Excavations at two long-lost stone circles were made in Cumbria and Somerset. In this period u/g and graduate studies at Oxford University led to an MSc in Applied Landscape Archaeology. There were two theses, one on the Neolithic Cursus Monuments of Southern England (the Stonehenge Cursus, Dorset Cursus and Thames Valley cursuses (distinction 90%)). The other was on the 80 Neolithic Long Barrows of North and Mid-Wessex (distinction 80%). These led to major discoveries (to be published).
2025 will see the end of a 28-year project compiling a corpus of 100s of megaliths in Avebury's uplands. In this period major WHS megaliths were still being sold by farmers, or stolen.
Five papers were also published with Dr M. G.Gradoli re Neolithic cave discoveries in the mountains of Central Sardinia.
In August 2016 at the 8th World Archaeological Congress in Kyoto, Japan, Prof Meaden led a session "Exploring the Cultural Diversity of Sacred Sites and Sacred Landscapes around the World", where he summarised the latest research and announced that full details are in the book "STONEHENGE, AVEBURY AND DROMBEG STONE CIRCLE DECIPHERED" (Lambert Academic Publishing, available from Amazon etc). In 228 pages with 180 colour photos and plans the decoding of the CORE SYMBOLISM AND SYMBOLIC MEANINGS planned into major British and Irish stone circles is explained. DOWNLOADABLE are 2 papers in the Edinburgh University JOURNAL OF LITHIC STUDIES Nov 2017. Most stone circles were planned as sunrise fertility monuments, so need to be studied at sunrise.
Decoding the symbolism for choice of shapes and the INTELLIGENT positioning of stones at Drombeg Stone Circle and 45 other circles in Cork & Kerry gave the breakthrough as to the inbuilt planning concepts of Stonehenge, Avebury, Knowth, Newgrange and Irish and Scottish Neolithic and Bronze Age recumbent stone circles. Today, visitors at sunrise on 8 Neolithic calendar dates can watch the solar shadow-casting drama unfold as in antiquity. See the Oxford University Physics Department Newsletter Spring 2018 pp 22-23 and 14-15 for a physics and archaeology biography: https://www2.physics.ox.ac.uk/blog/alumni/2018/05/04/clarendon-1962-were-you-here
In 2018 "A NEW BIBLE IN THREE TESTAMENTS ON THE ORIGINS OF THE UNIVERSE, EARTH, LIFE AND HUMANITY" composed in biblical-style verses as 92 chapters of empirical philosophy was published. cf Amazon Kindle. The Fourth Testament was published in 2021.
Phone: +44(0)1225862482
Address: Retired academic
A polymath he has authored 250 papers and 18 books. Three papers were in the high-impact Physical Review Letters (1969-1971) and his doctoral work in Proc. Royal Society (1963). First book was The Electrical Resistance of Metals (1965, reprinted 2013).
Age 17 from Trowbridge Boys' High School he won scholarships to study physics at Oxford University. Being a Wiltshireman with centuries of ancestors from villages around Stonehenge (via the surname Meaden) and Avebury [Waledich was the name of the henge 1000 years ago] (via the uncommon surname Whale or Wale), he found as a schoolboy in 1949 that leading archaeologists could explain neither monument, saying the meaning of Stonehenge was insoluble. Yet it was promising that Dr Samuel Johnson (1709-84) had declared: "There is no problem that the mind of man can set that the mind of man cannot solve."
So he spent much time on prehistoric archaeology (and meteorology), and cultivated the aim of going to Oxford to read archaeology as the start of a quest to solve Stonehenge as to meaning and purpose. However, in 1953 the Oxford University entrance examination required taking papers in Classical Greek and Latin ... but Greek was not taught at his school so physics was chosen instead of archaeology. A longterm Odyssey to study and elucidate Stonehenge, Avebury and other prehistoric monuments had begun.
Terence returned to this from 1981 after 18 years of university physics: 9 at Oxford University, 3 at Grenoble University (France) and 6 at Dalhousie University, Halifax (Canada) as a tenured Associate Professor of Physics.
Back in Oxford he founded the Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (1974) and became a consultant to the Nuclear Plant New-Build Industry.
Since 1981 research in archaeology included aspects of Neolithic and Bronze Age Britain, Ireland and Sardinia especially examining megalithic sites and stone circles. This included 125 expeditions to Stonehenge and environs and over 400 to Avebury and its lower and upper landscapes. Excavations at two long-lost stone circles were made in Cumbria and Somerset. In this period u/g and graduate studies at Oxford University led to an MSc in Applied Landscape Archaeology. There were two theses, one on the Neolithic Cursus Monuments of Southern England (the Stonehenge Cursus, Dorset Cursus and Thames Valley cursuses (distinction 90%)). The other was on the 80 Neolithic Long Barrows of North and Mid-Wessex (distinction 80%). These led to major discoveries (to be published).
2025 will see the end of a 28-year project compiling a corpus of 100s of megaliths in Avebury's uplands. In this period major WHS megaliths were still being sold by farmers, or stolen.
Five papers were also published with Dr M. G.Gradoli re Neolithic cave discoveries in the mountains of Central Sardinia.
In August 2016 at the 8th World Archaeological Congress in Kyoto, Japan, Prof Meaden led a session "Exploring the Cultural Diversity of Sacred Sites and Sacred Landscapes around the World", where he summarised the latest research and announced that full details are in the book "STONEHENGE, AVEBURY AND DROMBEG STONE CIRCLE DECIPHERED" (Lambert Academic Publishing, available from Amazon etc). In 228 pages with 180 colour photos and plans the decoding of the CORE SYMBOLISM AND SYMBOLIC MEANINGS planned into major British and Irish stone circles is explained. DOWNLOADABLE are 2 papers in the Edinburgh University JOURNAL OF LITHIC STUDIES Nov 2017. Most stone circles were planned as sunrise fertility monuments, so need to be studied at sunrise.
Decoding the symbolism for choice of shapes and the INTELLIGENT positioning of stones at Drombeg Stone Circle and 45 other circles in Cork & Kerry gave the breakthrough as to the inbuilt planning concepts of Stonehenge, Avebury, Knowth, Newgrange and Irish and Scottish Neolithic and Bronze Age recumbent stone circles. Today, visitors at sunrise on 8 Neolithic calendar dates can watch the solar shadow-casting drama unfold as in antiquity. See the Oxford University Physics Department Newsletter Spring 2018 pp 22-23 and 14-15 for a physics and archaeology biography: https://www2.physics.ox.ac.uk/blog/alumni/2018/05/04/clarendon-1962-were-you-here
In 2018 "A NEW BIBLE IN THREE TESTAMENTS ON THE ORIGINS OF THE UNIVERSE, EARTH, LIFE AND HUMANITY" composed in biblical-style verses as 92 chapters of empirical philosophy was published. cf Amazon Kindle. The Fourth Testament was published in 2021.
Phone: +44(0)1225862482
Address: Retired academic
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Books by Terence Meaden
It is a repository of knowledge, testimony and eulogy, a witness to scholarship and enlightenment, a work of rational explanation.
The Third Testament deals with the prehistory and history of humankind from a natural philosopher’s standpoint. Too many historians write about wars and kings, battles and disasters. This author praises and writes of the scientists and thinkers who by their endless discoveries have created the successes of our brave new world.
The 92 chapters are inspired by the works of Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, A.C. Grayling, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and Vic Stenger. The volume is written in easy-to-read, biblical, numbered-verse format. The author and annotator is a polymath from Oxford University.
... arranged in 92 chapters as Three Testaments to honour the supreme achievements of men and women worldwide who together have been unravelling the secrets of the origins of the world and of living things.
Testaments One (Universe) and Two (Life) constitute a true ‘Genesis without Myth’.
Testament Three continues with what is known of the prehistory of humankind and it leads into known history up to the present day.
Together they attest to truths as gained by observation, instrumentation, insight, intelligence, reason, and the application of physical laws, experimental facts and the formulation of harmonious, logical models.
In defining the latest wisdom, they spell out the principles of this wondrous Universe.
Hence, this New Bible is a repository of knowledge, a witness to erudition and enlightenment, a work of rational explanation.
It is testimony and eulogy, in praise of high scholarship and logic—a covenant of improving exactness with the passage of time. Yet despite the successes here narrated about humankind—well enriched by high intelligence and a genetically promising future—the volume draws to a close (Epilogue, page 305) by sadly asking “How did Homo sapiens in the course of 160,000 years of progress get itself into the current predicament?”—referring to the amalgam of authoritarian religions, undemocratic governments, inequality of the sexes, reckless overpopulation, and irresponsible worldwide waste on land and ocean?
The authors are many. They number millions—chiefly scientists probing the mysteries of the Universe and the origins of Life, and prehistorians, ethical historians and well-informed reporters in consideration of the triumphs, events and disasters of humankind.
The assembler of these facts has gathered manifest truths from the works of the most learned and talented people. The result is a compendium of knowledge annotated with honourable intentions for the common good.
Socrates: “There is only one good, Knowledge, and only one evil, Ignorance.”
Jacob Bronowski: “In every age there is a turning point, a new way of seeing and asserting the coherence of the world.” Ascent of Man, Chapter 1, 1973.
René Descartes: “We buy the right to reject only with the effort we make to understand”.
... arranged in 92 chapters as Three Testaments to honour the supreme achievements of men and women worldwide who together have been unravelling the secrets of the origins of the world and of living things.
Testaments One (Universe) and Two (Life) constitute a true ‘Genesis without Myth’.
Testament Three continues with what is known of the prehistory of humankind and it leads into known history up to the present day.
Together they attest to truths as gained by observation, instrumentation, insight, intelligence, reason, and the application of physical laws, experimental facts and the formulation of harmonious, logical models.
In defining the latest wisdom, they spell out the principles of this wondrous Universe.
Hence, this New Bible is a repository of knowledge, a witness to erudition and enlightenment, a work of rational explanation.
It is testimony and eulogy, in praise of high scholarship and logic—a covenant of improving exactness with the passage of time. Yet despite the successes here narrated about humankind—well enriched by high intelligence and a genetically promising future—the volume draws to a close (Epilogue, page 305) by sadly asking “How did Homo sapiens in the course of 160,000 years of progress get itself into the current predicament?”—referring to the amalgam of authoritarian religions, undemocratic governments, inequality of the sexes, reckless overpopulation, and irresponsible worldwide waste on land and ocean?
The authors are many. They number millions—chiefly scientists probing the mysteries of the Universe and the origins of Life, and prehistorians, ethical historians and well-informed reporters in consideration of the triumphs, events and disasters of humankind.
The assembler of these facts has gathered manifest truths from the works of the most learned and talented people. The result is a compendium of knowledge annotated with honourable intentions for the common good.
Socrates: “There is only one good, Knowledge, and only one evil, Ignorance.”
Jacob Bronowski: “In every age there is a turning point, a new way of seeing and asserting the coherence of the world.” Ascent of Man, Chapter 1, 1973.
René Descartes: “We buy the right to reject only with the effort we make to understand”.
... arranged in 92 chapters as Three Testaments to honour the supreme achievements of men and women worldwide who together have been unravelling the secrets of the origins of the world and of living things.
Testaments One (Universe) and Two (Life) constitute a true ‘Genesis without Myth’.
Testament Three continues with what is known of the prehistory of humankind and it leads into known history up to the present day.
Together they attest to truths as gained by observation, instrumentation, insight, intelligence, reason, and the application of physical laws, experimental facts and the formulation of harmonious, logical models.
In defining the latest wisdom, they spell out the principles of this wondrous Universe.
Hence, this New Bible is a repository of knowledge, a witness to erudition and enlightenment, a work of rational explanation.
It is testimony and eulogy, in praise of high scholarship and logic—a covenant of improving exactness with the passage of time. Yet despite the successes here narrated about humankind—well enriched by high intelligence and a genetically promising future—the volume draws to a close (Epilogue, page 305) by sadly asking “How did Homo sapiens in the course of 160,000 years of progress get itself into the current predicament?”—referring to the amalgam of authoritarian religions, undemocratic governments, inequality of the sexes, reckless overpopulation, and irresponsible worldwide waste on land and ocean?
The authors are many. They number millions—chiefly scientists probing the mysteries of the Universe and the origins of Life, and prehistorians, ethical historians and well-informed reporters in consideration of the triumphs, events and disasters of humankind.
The assembler of these facts has gathered manifest truths from the works of the most learned and talented people. The result is a compendium of knowledge annotated with honourable intentions for the common good.
Socrates: “There is only one good, Knowledge, and only one evil, Ignorance.”
Jacob Bronowski: “In every age there is a turning point, a new way of seeing and asserting the coherence of the world.” Ascent of Man, Chapter 1, 1973.
René Descartes: “We buy the right to reject only with the effort we make to understand”.
... arranged in 92 chapters as Three Testaments to honour the supreme achievements of men and women worldwide who together have been unravelling the secrets of the origins of the world and of living things.
Testaments One (Universe) and Two (Life) constitute a true ‘Genesis without Myth’.
Testament Three continues with what is known of the prehistory of humankind and it leads into known history up to the present day.
Together they attest to truths as gained by observation, instrumentation, insight, intelligence, reason, and the application of physical laws, experimental facts and the formulation of harmonious, logical models.
In defining the latest wisdom, they spell out the principles of this wondrous Universe.
Hence, this New Bible is a repository of knowledge, a witness to erudition and enlightenment, a work of rational explanation.
It is testimony and eulogy, in praise of high scholarship and logic—a covenant of improving exactness with the passage of time. Yet despite the successes here narrated about humankind—well enriched by high intelligence and a genetically promising future—the volume draws to a close (Epilogue, page 305) by sadly asking “How did Homo sapiens in the course of 160,000 years of progress get itself into the current predicament?”—referring to the amalgam of authoritarian religions, undemocratic governments, inequality of the sexes, reckless overpopulation, and irresponsible worldwide waste on land and ocean?
The authors are many. They number millions—chiefly scientists probing the mysteries of the Universe and the origins of Life, and prehistorians, ethical historians and well-informed reporters in consideration of the triumphs, events and disasters of humankind.
The assembler of these facts has gathered manifest truths from the works of the most learned and talented people. The result is a compendium of knowledge annotated with honourable intentions for the common good.
Socrates: “There is only one good, Knowledge, and only one evil, Ignorance.”
Jacob Bronowski: “In every age there is a turning point, a new way of seeing and asserting the coherence of the world.” Ascent of Man, Chapter 1, 1973.
René Descartes: “We buy the right to reject only with the effort we make to understand”.
... arranged in 92 chapters as Three Testaments to honour the supreme achievements of men and women worldwide who together have been unravelling the secrets of the origins of the world and of living things.
Testaments One and Two constitute a true ‘Genesis without Myth’.
Testament Three continues with what is known of the prehistory of humankind and leads into known history up to the present day.
Together they attest to truths as gained by observation, instrumentation, insight, intelligence, reason, and the application of physical laws, experimental facts and the formulation of harmonious, logical models.
In defining the latest wisdom, they spell out the principles of this wondrous Universe.
Hence, this New Bible is a repository of knowledge, a witness to erudition and enlightenment, a work of rational explanation.
It is testimony and eulogy, in praise of high scholarship and logic—a covenant of improving exactness with the passage of time. Yet despite the successes here narrated about humankind—so much enriched by high intelligence and a genetically promising future—the volume draws to a close (Epilogue, page 305) by sadly asking “How did Homo sapiens in the course of 160,000 years of progress get itself into the current predicament?”—referring to the amalgam of authoritarian religions, undemocratic governments, inequality of the sexes, reckless overpopulation, and irresponsible worldwide waste on land and ocean?
The authors are many. They number millions—chiefly scientists probing the mysteries of the Universe and the origins of Life, and prehistorians, ethical historians and well-informed reporters in consideration of the triumphs, events and disasters of humankind.
The assembler of these facts has gathered manifest truths from the works of the most learned and talented people. The result is a compendium of knowledge annotated with honourable intentions for the common good.
Socrates: “There is only one good, Knowledge, and only one evil, Ignorance.”
Jacob Bronowski: “In every age there is a turning point, a new way of seeing and asserting the coherence of the world.” Ascent of Man, Chapter 1, 1973.
René Descartes: “We buy the right to reject only with the effort we make to understand”.
Thus it has proved timely for archaeologists to approach this classical subject freshly in the 21st century using the latest data and knowledge. A dozen papers--originating from a conference of the European Association of Archaeologists held in Malta -- discussed the various forms of evidence not only from definite known sites but from others for which an expression of Earth Mother belief could be reasonably inferred as possible or likely, many based on new discoveries.
The book commences with an introductory essay by Dr. Meaden discussing past and current approaches towards Earth Mother beliefs and practices. Contributors are major scholars, many of them professors.
It is a repository of knowledge, testimony and eulogy, a witness to scholarship and enlightenment, a work of rational explanation.
The Third Testament deals with the prehistory and history of humankind from a natural philosopher’s standpoint. Too many historians write about wars and kings, battles and disasters. This author praises and writes of the scientists and thinkers who by their endless discoveries have created the successes of our brave new world.
The 92 chapters are inspired by the works of Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, A.C. Grayling, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and Vic Stenger. The volume is written in easy-to-read, biblical, numbered-verse format. The author and annotator is a polymath from Oxford University.
... arranged in 92 chapters as Three Testaments to honour the supreme achievements of men and women worldwide who together have been unravelling the secrets of the origins of the world and of living things.
Testaments One (Universe) and Two (Life) constitute a true ‘Genesis without Myth’.
Testament Three continues with what is known of the prehistory of humankind and it leads into known history up to the present day.
Together they attest to truths as gained by observation, instrumentation, insight, intelligence, reason, and the application of physical laws, experimental facts and the formulation of harmonious, logical models.
In defining the latest wisdom, they spell out the principles of this wondrous Universe.
Hence, this New Bible is a repository of knowledge, a witness to erudition and enlightenment, a work of rational explanation.
It is testimony and eulogy, in praise of high scholarship and logic—a covenant of improving exactness with the passage of time. Yet despite the successes here narrated about humankind—well enriched by high intelligence and a genetically promising future—the volume draws to a close (Epilogue, page 305) by sadly asking “How did Homo sapiens in the course of 160,000 years of progress get itself into the current predicament?”—referring to the amalgam of authoritarian religions, undemocratic governments, inequality of the sexes, reckless overpopulation, and irresponsible worldwide waste on land and ocean?
The authors are many. They number millions—chiefly scientists probing the mysteries of the Universe and the origins of Life, and prehistorians, ethical historians and well-informed reporters in consideration of the triumphs, events and disasters of humankind.
The assembler of these facts has gathered manifest truths from the works of the most learned and talented people. The result is a compendium of knowledge annotated with honourable intentions for the common good.
Socrates: “There is only one good, Knowledge, and only one evil, Ignorance.”
Jacob Bronowski: “In every age there is a turning point, a new way of seeing and asserting the coherence of the world.” Ascent of Man, Chapter 1, 1973.
René Descartes: “We buy the right to reject only with the effort we make to understand”.
... arranged in 92 chapters as Three Testaments to honour the supreme achievements of men and women worldwide who together have been unravelling the secrets of the origins of the world and of living things.
Testaments One (Universe) and Two (Life) constitute a true ‘Genesis without Myth’.
Testament Three continues with what is known of the prehistory of humankind and it leads into known history up to the present day.
Together they attest to truths as gained by observation, instrumentation, insight, intelligence, reason, and the application of physical laws, experimental facts and the formulation of harmonious, logical models.
In defining the latest wisdom, they spell out the principles of this wondrous Universe.
Hence, this New Bible is a repository of knowledge, a witness to erudition and enlightenment, a work of rational explanation.
It is testimony and eulogy, in praise of high scholarship and logic—a covenant of improving exactness with the passage of time. Yet despite the successes here narrated about humankind—well enriched by high intelligence and a genetically promising future—the volume draws to a close (Epilogue, page 305) by sadly asking “How did Homo sapiens in the course of 160,000 years of progress get itself into the current predicament?”—referring to the amalgam of authoritarian religions, undemocratic governments, inequality of the sexes, reckless overpopulation, and irresponsible worldwide waste on land and ocean?
The authors are many. They number millions—chiefly scientists probing the mysteries of the Universe and the origins of Life, and prehistorians, ethical historians and well-informed reporters in consideration of the triumphs, events and disasters of humankind.
The assembler of these facts has gathered manifest truths from the works of the most learned and talented people. The result is a compendium of knowledge annotated with honourable intentions for the common good.
Socrates: “There is only one good, Knowledge, and only one evil, Ignorance.”
Jacob Bronowski: “In every age there is a turning point, a new way of seeing and asserting the coherence of the world.” Ascent of Man, Chapter 1, 1973.
René Descartes: “We buy the right to reject only with the effort we make to understand”.
... arranged in 92 chapters as Three Testaments to honour the supreme achievements of men and women worldwide who together have been unravelling the secrets of the origins of the world and of living things.
Testaments One (Universe) and Two (Life) constitute a true ‘Genesis without Myth’.
Testament Three continues with what is known of the prehistory of humankind and it leads into known history up to the present day.
Together they attest to truths as gained by observation, instrumentation, insight, intelligence, reason, and the application of physical laws, experimental facts and the formulation of harmonious, logical models.
In defining the latest wisdom, they spell out the principles of this wondrous Universe.
Hence, this New Bible is a repository of knowledge, a witness to erudition and enlightenment, a work of rational explanation.
It is testimony and eulogy, in praise of high scholarship and logic—a covenant of improving exactness with the passage of time. Yet despite the successes here narrated about humankind—well enriched by high intelligence and a genetically promising future—the volume draws to a close (Epilogue, page 305) by sadly asking “How did Homo sapiens in the course of 160,000 years of progress get itself into the current predicament?”—referring to the amalgam of authoritarian religions, undemocratic governments, inequality of the sexes, reckless overpopulation, and irresponsible worldwide waste on land and ocean?
The authors are many. They number millions—chiefly scientists probing the mysteries of the Universe and the origins of Life, and prehistorians, ethical historians and well-informed reporters in consideration of the triumphs, events and disasters of humankind.
The assembler of these facts has gathered manifest truths from the works of the most learned and talented people. The result is a compendium of knowledge annotated with honourable intentions for the common good.
Socrates: “There is only one good, Knowledge, and only one evil, Ignorance.”
Jacob Bronowski: “In every age there is a turning point, a new way of seeing and asserting the coherence of the world.” Ascent of Man, Chapter 1, 1973.
René Descartes: “We buy the right to reject only with the effort we make to understand”.
... arranged in 92 chapters as Three Testaments to honour the supreme achievements of men and women worldwide who together have been unravelling the secrets of the origins of the world and of living things.
Testaments One (Universe) and Two (Life) constitute a true ‘Genesis without Myth’.
Testament Three continues with what is known of the prehistory of humankind and it leads into known history up to the present day.
Together they attest to truths as gained by observation, instrumentation, insight, intelligence, reason, and the application of physical laws, experimental facts and the formulation of harmonious, logical models.
In defining the latest wisdom, they spell out the principles of this wondrous Universe.
Hence, this New Bible is a repository of knowledge, a witness to erudition and enlightenment, a work of rational explanation.
It is testimony and eulogy, in praise of high scholarship and logic—a covenant of improving exactness with the passage of time. Yet despite the successes here narrated about humankind—well enriched by high intelligence and a genetically promising future—the volume draws to a close (Epilogue, page 305) by sadly asking “How did Homo sapiens in the course of 160,000 years of progress get itself into the current predicament?”—referring to the amalgam of authoritarian religions, undemocratic governments, inequality of the sexes, reckless overpopulation, and irresponsible worldwide waste on land and ocean?
The authors are many. They number millions—chiefly scientists probing the mysteries of the Universe and the origins of Life, and prehistorians, ethical historians and well-informed reporters in consideration of the triumphs, events and disasters of humankind.
The assembler of these facts has gathered manifest truths from the works of the most learned and talented people. The result is a compendium of knowledge annotated with honourable intentions for the common good.
Socrates: “There is only one good, Knowledge, and only one evil, Ignorance.”
Jacob Bronowski: “In every age there is a turning point, a new way of seeing and asserting the coherence of the world.” Ascent of Man, Chapter 1, 1973.
René Descartes: “We buy the right to reject only with the effort we make to understand”.
... arranged in 92 chapters as Three Testaments to honour the supreme achievements of men and women worldwide who together have been unravelling the secrets of the origins of the world and of living things.
Testaments One and Two constitute a true ‘Genesis without Myth’.
Testament Three continues with what is known of the prehistory of humankind and leads into known history up to the present day.
Together they attest to truths as gained by observation, instrumentation, insight, intelligence, reason, and the application of physical laws, experimental facts and the formulation of harmonious, logical models.
In defining the latest wisdom, they spell out the principles of this wondrous Universe.
Hence, this New Bible is a repository of knowledge, a witness to erudition and enlightenment, a work of rational explanation.
It is testimony and eulogy, in praise of high scholarship and logic—a covenant of improving exactness with the passage of time. Yet despite the successes here narrated about humankind—so much enriched by high intelligence and a genetically promising future—the volume draws to a close (Epilogue, page 305) by sadly asking “How did Homo sapiens in the course of 160,000 years of progress get itself into the current predicament?”—referring to the amalgam of authoritarian religions, undemocratic governments, inequality of the sexes, reckless overpopulation, and irresponsible worldwide waste on land and ocean?
The authors are many. They number millions—chiefly scientists probing the mysteries of the Universe and the origins of Life, and prehistorians, ethical historians and well-informed reporters in consideration of the triumphs, events and disasters of humankind.
The assembler of these facts has gathered manifest truths from the works of the most learned and talented people. The result is a compendium of knowledge annotated with honourable intentions for the common good.
Socrates: “There is only one good, Knowledge, and only one evil, Ignorance.”
Jacob Bronowski: “In every age there is a turning point, a new way of seeing and asserting the coherence of the world.” Ascent of Man, Chapter 1, 1973.
René Descartes: “We buy the right to reject only with the effort we make to understand”.
Thus it has proved timely for archaeologists to approach this classical subject freshly in the 21st century using the latest data and knowledge. A dozen papers--originating from a conference of the European Association of Archaeologists held in Malta -- discussed the various forms of evidence not only from definite known sites but from others for which an expression of Earth Mother belief could be reasonably inferred as possible or likely, many based on new discoveries.
The book commences with an introductory essay by Dr. Meaden discussing past and current approaches towards Earth Mother beliefs and practices. Contributors are major scholars, many of them professors.
As at Drombeg in Ireland, the stones of Avebury’s South Circle, besides serving as calendar stones, functioned as a watchable Sacred Marriage or hierogamy between the rising sun and the Obelisk whose male shadow interacted with an arc of individual female perimeter stones.
Importantly, such sunrise scenarios for Avebury invoke the core concept of the hieros gamos—a universal fertility myth and worldview, here presented as divine sexual intercourse between Sky God (represented by the sun) and the Earth Goddess (represented by a waiting female stone) by the action of moving male shadow. The dramatic union is always between an intelligently positioned male stone and a waiting female stone that an entire community could watch.
Parallels are drawn with the solar union that involves sunlight and the cast shadows that are rich features of the deeply studied Irish stone circle Drombeg (Chapters 1 to 15) and the galleried circular monuments at Knowth and Newgrange (Chapters 16 and 17).
The drama applies to Stonehenge, as well, which has a recumbent stone (called the Altar Stone) waiting at its focus for the morning of the midsummer sunrise and whose union by shadow penetration—imitating sexual intercourse—can still be watched by anybody today, 4500 years after the stage set and action were ingeniously devised (cf. Chapters 21, 22, 23 and 24 of the current book).
“STONEHENGE, AVEBURY, AND DROMBEG STONE CIRCLES DECIPHERED: The archaeological decoding of the core symbolism and meanings planned into these ancient British and Irish monuments”.
A new research monograph explains how Drombeg, like many other stone circles, was planned to work in the minutes after sunrise when shadows of male-symbolic stones unite with female-symbolic stones. This produces a calendar denoting the 8 significant dates of the agricultural year as recognised in the Neolithic and Bronze Age, each date separated by 45-46 days from the next starting with 21 December as DAY 1. The much-loved worldview of the mythical hieros gamos appears to be involved in providing a dramatic watchable spectacle.
Account is taken of the crucial fact that a stone was removed from the central area of the stone circle between 1903 and 1909.
500 metres away at Drombeg House the author found what is likely to be the missing stone. A replica was made and positioned in the central area so that the rising sun would cast a shadow on the great lozenge stone at the solstice—and be photographed.
The calendar dates 5 November and 5 February are the true cross-quarter dates as determined by a 365-day calendar that commences on the solstice day of 21 December. After Romanization of the calendar and the later influence of the church, the equivalent dates for Samhain and Imbolc got shifted to the first day of November and February.
"Stonehenge, Avebury and Drombeg Stone Circles Deciphered: The archaeological decoding of the core symbolism and meanings planned into these ancient British and Irish monuments".
Published August 2016. Lambert Academic Publishing.
Anthropomorphic images appear widely across the world of rock art from the Upper Palaeolithic through to the Neolithic and Bronze Age, and for some continents to later yet still prehistoric times. Artwork relevant to this session may be paintings, engravings or scratchings on cave walls, or as images pecked into rocky surfaces or on standing stones. The session is directed at anthropomorphic images in which the possibility of recovery of the meanings intended by the artists and sculptors exists. Such prospects might relate to known or inferred legends, myths or folklore, and include matters that recognize the unremitting importance of human, animal and crop fertility to humankind. Art forms may be present in whole or as PARS PRO TOTO, in which a part stands for or symbolizes the whole. Images or artistic compositions may articulate, in ways more or less manifest, scenes of dramatic action as with hunting and dancing, mating and birthing, ritual and ceremony, some of which may overtly or latently express yearnings for the rewards of fruitful fecundity.
Submissions for papers and posters are open until 31 December 2017. For details please go to ifrao2018@ccsp.it where abstract proposals may be submitted.
ANTHROPOMORPHIC IMAGES IN ROCK ART
Anthropomorphic images appear widely across the world of rock art from the Upper Palaeolithic through to the Neolithic and Bronze Age, and for some continents to later yet still prehistoric times. Artwork relevant to this session may be paintings, engravings or scratchings on cave walls, or as images pecked into rocky surfaces or on standing stones. The session is directed at anthropomorphic images in which the possibility of recovery of the meanings intended by the artists and sculptors exists. Such prospects might relate to known or inferred legends, myths or folklore, and include matters that recognize the unremitting importance of human, animal and crop fertility to humankind. Art forms may be present in whole or as pars pro toto, in which a part stands for or symbolizes the whole. Images or artistic compositions may articulate, in ways more or less manifest, scenes of dramatic action as with hunting and dancing, mating and birthing, ritual and ceremony, some of which may overtly or latently express yearnings for the rewards of fruitful fecundity.
Organisers: Professor Terence Meaden and Herman Bender who will also be presenting their recent research discoveries.
→This major event is the 20th congress of the International Federation of Rock Art Organisations IFRAO and takes place 50 years after the first "Valcamonica Symposium". It also marks 30 years since the foundation of IFRAO and the 30th anniversary of the Footsteps of Man Archaeological Cooperative Society. Further information is available from terencemeaden01@gmail.com or from Herman Bender at ashco@charter.net
. . . As of 10 December 2017 a total of 23 papers have been accepted for this session.