Summary
There is fascinating evidence that 5,000 years ago, people living in Britain and Ireland had a deep and meaningful relationship with the underworld seen in the carved chalk, animal bones and human skeletons found at Cranborne Chase in Dorset in a large pit, at the base of which had been sunk a 7-metre-deep shaft. Other examples considered in this Essay include Carrowkeel in County Sligo, the passage tombs in the Boyne Valley in eastern Ireland and the Priddy Circles in the Mendip Hills in Somerset. If prehistoric people regarded the earth as a powerful, animate being that needed to be placated and honoured, perhaps there are lessons here for our own attitudes to the world beneath our feet.
Susan Greaney is a New Generation Thinker who works for English Heritage at Stonehenge and who is studying for her PHD at Cardiff University. New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council which selects ten academics each year to turn their research into radio. You can hear her journey to Japan to compare the Jomon civilisations with Stonehenge as a Radio 3 Sunday Feature https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000hgqx
Producer: Torquil MacLeod
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius. It also helps that it's a long time ago, right? |
| 0:23.3 | It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music when it's out of ice cream. |
| 0:28.8 | Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:33.3 | BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts. |
| 0:36.8 | Hello, I'm Shahed Abari, and welcome to this episode of the Arts and Ideas podcast, |
| 0:41.9 | in which we'll hear an essay from one of the 2019 New Generation thinkers. |
| 0:47.0 | They are early career academics who work with BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council |
| 0:52.7 | on a scheme that turns their research into radio. |
| 0:56.5 | I was one of the first ten people chosen for the scheme nearly ten years ago. |
| 1:01.6 | In this year's essays, you'll hear topics ranging from cleaning, clean energy, crime and punishment, |
| 1:08.0 | satire in Egypt, anti-Semitism, Renaissance art, racism in techno music, |
| 1:13.6 | and rethinking facial disfigurement. |
| 1:16.6 | Here's Susan Greeney, who's studying for a PhD at the University of Cardiff alongside her work at Stonehenge for English Heritage. |
| 1:23.6 | Her essay is called Digging Deep. |
| 1:26.6 | Over the last few years, when I've been researching Neolithic monuments in Britain and Ireland, |
| 1:32.3 | I've come across several examples of places where prehistoric people had a deep and meaningful relationship with the underworld. |
| 1:40.3 | Just as the earth nourished them through crops and provided stone for tools, it needed care and attention in return. |
| 1:48.2 | I'd argue that there are important lessons here for those of us living in the modern, Western world about learning to respect the world underneath our feet. |
| 1:58.8 | In Dorset on Cranbourne Chase, in the middle of the Neolithic period, |
| 2:02.6 | a strange monument was constructed. Known by archaeologists as Moncton-up Wimborn, |
| 2:08.6 | it was a large pit, at the base of which was sunk a seven-meter-deep shaft. |
| 2:14.6 | Surrounding the pit was a circle of smaller holes. Four people, a woman and three |
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