1.
Hereford
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Hereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately 16 miles east of the border with Wales,24 miles southwest of Worcester, with a population of 58,896, it is the largest settlement in the county. The name Hereford is said to come from the Anglo-Saxon here, an army or formation of soldiers, and the ford, if this is the origin it suggests that Hereford was a place where a body of armed men forded or crossed the Wye. The Welsh name for Hereford is Henffordd, meaning old road, much of the county of Herefordshire was Welsh-speaking, as reflected in the Welsh names of many places in the county. An early town charter from 1189 granted by Richard I of England describes it as Hereford in Wales, Hereford has been recognised as a city since time immemorial, with the status being reconfirmed as recently as October 2000. It is now known chiefly as a centre for a wider agricultural and rural area. Products from Hereford include, cider, beer, leather goods, nickel alloys, poultry, chemicals, hostilities between the Anglo-Saxons and the Welsh came to a head with the Battle of Hereford in 760, in which the Britons freed themselves from the influence of the English. Hereford had the only mint west of the Severn in the reign of Athelstan, and it was to Hereford, then a border town, the present Hereford Cathedral dates from the early 12th century, as does the first bridge across the Wye. Former Bishops of Hereford include Saint Thomas de Cantilupe and Lord High Treasurer of England Thomas Charlton. The city gave its name to two suburbs of Paris, France, Maisons-Alfort and Alfortville, due to a manor built there by Peter of Aigueblanche, Bishop of Hereford, in the middle of the 13th century. Hereford, a base for successive holders of the title Earl of Hereford, was once the site of a castle, Hereford Castle, which rivalled that of Windsor in size and scale. This was a base for repelling Welsh attacks and a stronghold for English kings such as King Henry IV when on campaign in the Welsh Marches against Owain Glyndŵr. The castle was dismantled in the 18th century and landscaped into Castle Green, after the Battle of Mortimers Cross in 1461, during the Wars of the Roses, the defeated Lancastrian leader Owen Tudor was taken to Hereford by Sir Roger Vaughan and executed in High Town. A plaque now marks the spot of the execution, Vaughan was later himself executed, under a flag of truce, by Owens son Jasper. During the civil war the city changed several times. On 30 September 1642 Parliamentarians led by Sir Robert Harley and Henry Grey, in December they withdrew to Gloucester because of the presence in the area of a Royalist army under Lord Herbert. The city was occupied briefly from 23 April to 18 May 1643 by Parliamentarians commanded by Sir William Waller. On 31 July 1645 a Scottish army of 14,000 under Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven besieged the city but met resistance from its garrison
2.
Archaeology
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Archaeology, or archeology, is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, Archaeology can be considered both a social science and a branch of the humanities. In North America, archaeology is considered a sub-field of anthropology, archaeologists study human prehistory and history, from the development of the first stone tools at Lomekwi in East Africa 3.3 million years ago up until recent decades. Archaeology as a field is distinct from the discipline of palaeontology, Archaeology is particularly important for learning about prehistoric societies, for whom there may be no written records to study. Prehistory includes over 99% of the human past, from the Paleolithic until the advent of literacy in societies across the world, Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time. The discipline involves surveying, excavation and eventually analysis of data collected to learn more about the past, in broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. Archaeology developed out of antiquarianism in Europe during the 19th century, Archaeology has been used by nation-states to create particular visions of the past. Nonetheless, today, archaeologists face many problems, such as dealing with pseudoarchaeology, the looting of artifacts, a lack of public interest, the science of archaeology grew out of the older multi-disciplinary study known as antiquarianism. Antiquarians studied history with attention to ancient artifacts and manuscripts. Tentative steps towards the systematization of archaeology as a science took place during the Enlightenment era in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, in Europe, philosophical interest in the remains of Greco-Roman civilization and the rediscovery of classical culture began in the late Middle Age. Antiquarians, including John Leland and William Camden, conducted surveys of the English countryside, one of the first sites to undergo archaeological excavation was Stonehenge and other megalithic monuments in England. John Aubrey was a pioneer archaeologist who recorded numerous megalithic and other monuments in southern England. He was also ahead of his time in the analysis of his findings and he attempted to chart the chronological stylistic evolution of handwriting, medieval architecture, costume, and shield-shapes. Excavations were also carried out in the ancient towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum and these excavations began in 1748 in Pompeii, while in Herculaneum they began in 1738. The discovery of entire towns, complete with utensils and even human shapes, however, prior to the development of modern techniques, excavations tended to be haphazard, the importance of concepts such as stratification and context were overlooked. The father of archaeological excavation was William Cunnington and he undertook excavations in Wiltshire from around 1798, funded by Sir Richard Colt Hoare. Cunnington made meticulous recordings of neolithic and Bronze Age barrows, one of the major achievements of 19th century archaeology was the development of stratigraphy. The idea of overlapping strata tracing back to successive periods was borrowed from the new geological and paleontological work of scholars like William Smith, James Hutton, the application of stratigraphy to archaeology first took place with the excavations of prehistorical and Bronze Age sites
3.
Antiquarian
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An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with attention to ancient artifacts, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives. Today the term is used in a pejorative sense, to refer to an excessively narrow focus on factual historical trivia. The Kaogutu or Illustrated Catalogue of Examined Antiquity compiled by Lü Dalin is one of the oldest known catalogues to systematically describe and classify ancient artifacts which were unearthed. Interests in antiquarian studies of ancient inscriptions and artifacts waned after the Song Dynasty, Books on antiquarian topics covered such subjects as the origin of customs, religious rituals, and political institutions, genealogy, topography and landmarks, and etymology. By contrast, antiquarian works as a form are organized by topic. Major antiquarian Latin writers with surviving works include Varro, Pliny the Elder, Aulus Gellius, the Roman emperor Claudius published antiquarian works, none of which is extant. Some of Ciceros treatises, particularly his work on divination, show strong antiquarian interests, roman-era Greek writers also dealt with antiquarian material, such as Plutarch in his Roman Questions and the Deipnosophistae of Athenaeus. The aim of Latin antiquarian works is to collect a number of possible explanations. The antiquarians are often used as sources by the ancient historians, despite the importance of antiquarian writing in the literature of ancient Rome, some scholars view antiquarianism as emerging only in the Middle Ages. Antiquarianisms wider flowering is more associated with the Renaissance, and with the critical assessment. The development of genealogy as a scientific discipline went hand-in-hand with the development of antiquarianism, genealogical antiquaries recognised the evidential value for their researches of non-textual sources, including seals and church monuments. Many early modern antiquaries were also chorographers, that is to say, they recorded landscapes, in England, some of the most important of these took the form of county histories. They increasingly argued that empirical evidence could be used to refine. Antiquaries had always attracted a degree of ridicule, and since the century the term has tended to be used most commonly in negative or derogatory contexts. Nevertheless, many practising antiquaries continue to claim the title with pride, Antiquary was the usual term in English from the 16th to the mid-18th centuries to describe a person interested in antiquities. From the second half of the 18th century, however, antiquarian began to be used widely as a noun. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, a distinction was perceived to exist between the interests and activities of the antiquary and the historian
4.
Landscape
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A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms and how they integrate with natural or man-made features. The character of a landscape helps define the self-image of the people who inhabit it and it is the dynamic backdrop to people’s lives. Landscape can be as varied as farmland, a landscape park, the activity of modifying the visible features of an area of land is referred to as landscaping. There are several definitions of what constitutes a landscape, depending on context, the term landscape emerged around the turn of the sixteenth century to denote a painting whose primary subject matter was natural scenery. Land may be taken in its sense of something to people belong. The suffix ‑scape is equivalent to the more common English suffix ‑ship, the roots of ‑ship are etymologically akin to Old English sceppan or scyppan, meaning to shape. The suffix ‑schaft is related to the verb schaffen, so that ‑ship, the word landscape, first recorded in 1598, was borrowed from a Dutch painters term. An example of this usage can be found as early as 1662 in the Book of Common Prayer, Could we but climb where Moses stood. Setting, In works of narrative, it includes the moment in time and geographic location in which a story takes place. Picturesque, The word literally means in the manner of a picture, fit to be made into a picture, and used as early as 1703, gilpin’s Essay on Prints defined picturesque as a term expressive of that peculiar kind of beauty, which is agreeable in a picture. A view, A sight or prospect of some landscape or extended scene, wilderness, An uncultivated, uninhabited, and inhospitable region. Cityscape, The urban equivalent of a landscape, in the visual arts a cityscape is an artistic representation, such as a painting, drawing, print or photograph, of the physical aspects of a city or urban area. Seascape, A photograph, painting, or other work of art depicts the sea. Geomorphology is the study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical or chemical processes operating at or near Earths surface. Geomorphology is practiced within physical geography, geology, geodesy, engineering geology, archaeology and this broad base of interests contributes to many research styles and interests within the field. The surface of Earth is modified by a combination of processes that sculpt landscapes, and geologic processes that cause tectonic uplift and subsidence. Many of these factors are strongly mediated by climate, the Earth surface and its topography therefore are an intersection of climatic, hydrologic, and biologic action with geologic processes. Desert, Plain, Taiga, Tundra, Wetland, Mountain, Mountain range, Cliff, Coast, Littoral zone, Glacier, Polar regions of Earth, Shrubland, Forest, Rainforest, Woodland, Jungle, Moors
5.
Light meter
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A light meter is a device used to measure the amount of light. In photography, a meter is often used to determine the proper exposure for a photograph. Light meters are used in the fields of cinematography and scenic design. They are used in the field of lighting, where they can help to reduce the amount of waste light used in the home, light pollution outdoors. The earliest type of light meters were called extinction meters and contained a numbered or lettered row of neutral density filters of increasing density. The photographer would position the meter in front of his subject, the letter or number corresponding to the filter was used as an index into a chart of appropriate aperture and shutter speed combinations for a given film speed. Extinction meters suffered from the problem that they depended on the sensitivity of the human eye. Later meters removed the element and relied on technologies incorporating selenium, CdS. Selenium and silicon light meters use sensors that are photovoltaic, they generate a proportional to light exposure. Selenium sensors generate enough voltage for direct connection to a meter, they need no battery to operate, selenium sensors however cannot measure low light accurately and are altogether unable to measure very low light, such as candlelight, moonlight, starlight etc. Silicon sensors need an amplification circuit and require a source such as batteries to operate. CdS light meters use a sensor based on photoresistance, i. e. their electrical resistance changes proportionately to light exposure and these also require a battery to operate. Most modern light meters use silicon or CdS sensors and they indicate the exposure either with a needle galvanometer or on an LCD screen. Many modern consumer still and video include a built-in meter that measures a scene-wide light level and are able to make an approximate measure of appropriate exposure based on that. There are two types of light meters, reflected-light and incident-light. Reflected-light meters measure the light reflected by the scene to be photographed, all in-camera meters are reflected-light meters. Reflected-light meters are calibrated to show the appropriate exposure for “average” scenes and this pitfall is avoided by incident-light meters which measure the amount of light falling on the subject using an integrating sphere placed on top of the light sensor. Because the incident-light reading is independent of the reflectance, it is less likely to lead to incorrect exposures for subjects with unusual average reflectance
6.
Robert Falcon Scott
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On the first expedition, he set a new southern record by marching to latitude 82°S and discovered the Polar Plateau, on which the South Pole is located. During the second venture, Scott led a party of five which reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912, on their return journey, Scotts party discovered plant fossils, proving Antarctica was once forested and joined to other continents. Before his appointment to lead the Discovery Expedition, Scott had followed the career of an officer in the Royal Navy. Having taken this step, his name became associated with the Antarctic. Following the news of his death, Scott became a celebrated hero, in the closing decades of the 20th century, Scott became a figure of controversy, with questions raised about his competence and character. Scott was born on 6 June 1868, the child out of six and elder son of John Edward and Hannah Scott of Stoke Damerel. Scotts father was a brewer and magistrate, there were also naval and military traditions in the family, Scotts grandfather and four uncles all having served in the army or navy. John Scotts prosperity came from the ownership of a small Plymouth brewery which he inherited from his father, Robert Falcon Scotts early childhood years were spent in comfort, but some years later, when he was establishing his naval career, the family would suffer serious financial misfortune. In accordance with the tradition, Robert and his younger brother Archie were predestined for careers in the armed services. Having passed these exams Scott began his career in 1881. In July 1883, Scott passed out of Britannia as a midshipman, by October, he was en route to South Africa to join HMS Boadicea, the flagship of the Cape squadron, the first of several ships on which he served during his midshipman years. On this occasion,1 March 1887, Markham observed Midshipman Scotts cutter winning that race across the bay. Markhams habit was to collect likely young naval officers with a view to their undertaking polar exploration work in the future and he was impressed by Scotts intelligence, enthusiasm and charm, and the 18-year-old midshipman was duly noted. In March 1888 Scott passed his examinations for sub-lieutenant, with four first class out of five. His career progressed smoothly, with service on ships and promotion to lieutenant in 1889. In 1891, after a spell in foreign waters, he applied for the two-year torpedo training course on HMS Vernon. He graduated with first class certificates in both the theory and practical examinations, a small blot occurred in the summer of 1893 when, while commanding a torpedo boat, Scott ran it aground, a mishap which earned him a mild rebuke. According to Huntford, Scott disappears from records for eight months
7.
Neolithic
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It ended when metal tools became widespread. The Neolithic is a progression of behavioral and cultural characteristics and changes, including the use of wild and domestic crops, the beginning of the Neolithic culture is considered to be in the Levant about 10, 200–8800 BC. It developed directly from the Epipaleolithic Natufian culture in the region, whose people pioneered the use of wild cereals, which then evolved into true farming. The Natufian period was between 12,000 and 10,200 BC, and the so-called proto-Neolithic is now included in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic between 10,200 and 8800 BC. By 10, 200–8800 BC, farming communities arose in the Levant and spread to Asia Minor, North Africa, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. Early Neolithic farming was limited to a range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included einkorn wheat, millet and spelt, and the keeping of dogs, sheep. By about 6900–6400 BC, it included domesticated cattle and pigs, the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, not all of these cultural elements characteristic of the Neolithic appeared everywhere in the same order, the earliest farming societies in the Near East did not use pottery. Early Japanese societies and other East Asian cultures used pottery before developing agriculture, unlike the Paleolithic, when more than one human species existed, only one human species reached the Neolithic. The term Neolithic derives from the Greek νέος néos, new and λίθος líthos, stone, the term was invented by Sir John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system. In the Middle East, cultures identified as Neolithic began appearing in the 10th millennium BC, early development occurred in the Levant and from there spread eastwards and westwards. Neolithic cultures are attested in southeastern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia by around 8000 BC. The total excavated area is more than 1,200 square yards, the Neolithic 1 period began roughly 10,000 years ago in the Levant. A temple area in southeastern Turkey at Göbekli Tepe dated around 9500 BC may be regarded as the beginning of the period. This site was developed by nomadic tribes, evidenced by the lack of permanent housing in the vicinity. At least seven stone circles, covering 25 acres, contain limestone pillars carved with animals, insects, Stone tools were used by perhaps as many as hundreds of people to create the pillars, which might have supported roofs. Other early PPNA sites dating to around 9500–9000 BC have been found in Jericho, Israel, Gilgal in the Jordan Valley, the start of Neolithic 1 overlaps the Tahunian and Heavy Neolithic periods to some degree. The major advance of Neolithic 1 was true farming, in the proto-Neolithic Natufian cultures, wild cereals were harvested, and perhaps early seed selection and re-seeding occurred. The grain was ground into flour, emmer wheat was domesticated, and animals were herded and domesticated
8.
Beekeeping
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Beekeeping is the maintenance of honey bee colonies, commonly in man-made hives, by humans. A beekeeper keeps bees in order to collect their honey and other products that the hive produces, to pollinate crops, a location where bees are kept is called an apiary or bee yard. Depictions of humans collecting honey from wild bees date to 15,000 years ago, beekeeping in pottery vessels began about 9,000 years ago in North Africa. Domestication is shown in Egyptian art from around 4,500 years ago, simple hives and smoke were used and honey was stored in jars, some of which were found in the tombs of pharaohs such as Tutankhamun. At some point humans began to attempt to domesticate wild bees in artificial hives made from logs, wooden boxes, pottery vessels. Traces of beeswax are found in pot sherds throughout the Middle East beginning about 7000 BCE, honeybees were kept in Egypt from antiquity. On the walls of the sun temple of Nyuserre Ini from the Fifth Dynasty, before 2422 BCE, inscriptions detailing the production of honey are found on the tomb of Pabasa from the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, depicting pouring honey in jars and cylindrical hives. Sealed pots of honey were found in the goods of pharaohs such as Tutankhamun. I am Shamash-resh-ușur, the governor of Suhu and the land of Mari and they collect honey and wax, and I know how to melt the honey and wax – and the gardeners know too. Whoever comes in the future, may he ask the old men of the town, thus, They are the buildings of Shamash-resh-ușur, the governor of Suhu, who introduced honey bees into the land of Suhu. In prehistoric Greece, there existed a system of high-status apiculture, as can be concluded from the finds of hives, smoking pots, honey extractors and other beekeeping paraphernalia in Knossos. Archaeological finds relating to beekeeping have been discovered at Rehov, a Bronze and Iron Age archaeological site in the Jordan Valley, Israel. Thirty intact hives, made of straw and unbaked clay, were discovered by archaeologist Amihai Mazar in the ruins of the city, in ancient Greece, aspects of the lives of bees and beekeeping are discussed at length by Aristotle. Beekeeping was also documented by the Roman writers Virgil, Gaius Julius Hyginus, Varro, beekeeping has also been practiced in ancient China since antiquity. The ancient Maya domesticated a separate species of stingless bee, the use of stingless bees is referred to as meliponiculture, named after bees of the tribe Meliponini—such as Melipona quadrifasciata in Brazil. This variation of bee keeping still occurs around the world today, for instance, in Australia, the stingless bee Tetragonula carbonaria is kept for production of their honey. There are more than 20,000 species of wild bees, many others rear their young in burrows and small colonies. Some honey bees are wild e. g. the little honeybee, giant honeybee, beekeeping, or apiculture, is concerned with the practical management of the social species of honey bees, which live in large colonies of up to 100,000 individuals
9.
Pembridge
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Pembridge is a village and civil parish in Arrow valley in Herefordshire, England. The village is on the A44 road about 6 miles east of Kington and 6 1⁄2 miles west of Leominster, the civil parish includes the hamlets of Bearwood, Lower Bearwood, Lower Broxwood, Marston, Moorcot and Weston. The 2011 Census recorded the population as 1,056. Pembridge is the part of the electoral ward of Pembridge. The 2011 Census recorded the population as 3,124. The toponym Pembridge may be derived from the Welsh Pen-y-Bont, anglicised to its current spelling, the sandstone bridge over the river Arrow was granted Grade II listed status in June 1987, giving it protection from unauthorised alteration or demolition. The oldest parts of St Marys Church of England parish church are 12th-century, most of the church has been dated c1320-60. Most spectacular are the arcades with circular cinquefoiled clerestory window and it is a cruciform church with 14th-century transepts and a vaulted north porch. There was a stair turret in the chancel with a pinnacle cover. The pulpit preachers desk, lectern and communion rail are Jacobean, a north vestry was added in the 19th century, and the building was restored in 1871 and 1903–09. The church is a Grade I listed building, a knight and a lady were depicted tomb and effigy and a civilian and wife with a theirs were present from 14th century. There were memorial tablets to 17th c Sherborne family, and one to Thomas Trafford, Pembridge is one of several Herefordshire parishes whose belltower stands separate from the church. All but the base of the tower is timber-framed, one of a number of partly or largely timber-framed belltowers in Herefordshire. The tower was built early in the 13th century, rebuilt with the addition of an ambulatory in the 15th or 16th century and it is a Grade I listed building. The tower has a ring of five bells, john I Martin of Worcester cast the fourth bell in 1658. Abraham II Rudhall of Gloucester cast the bell in 1735. James Barwell of Birmingham cast or recast the first, second, St Marys has also a Sanctus bell, which was cast about 1800. The churchyard contains seven Commonwealth war graves of service personnel, two from World War I and five from World War II
10.
Blue plaque
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The brainchild of British politician William Ewart in 1863, it is the oldest such scheme in the world. The worlds first blue plaques were erected in London in the 19th century to mark the homes and workplaces of famous people. This scheme continues to the present day, having been administered successively by the Society of Arts, the London County Council, the Greater London Council, many other plaque schemes have since been initiated in the United Kingdom. Some are restricted to a geographical area, others to a particular theme of historical commemoration. The plaques erected by these schemes are manufactured in a variety of designs, shapes, materials, the term blue plaque may be used narrowly to refer to the official English Heritage scheme, but is often used informally to encompass all similar schemes. There are also commemorative plaque schemes throughout the world such as those in Paris, Rome, Oslo, Dublin, and in cities in Australia, Canada, Russia. The forms these take vary, and they tend to be known as historical markers, the original blue plaque scheme was established by the Society of Arts in 1867, and since 1986 has been run by English Heritage. It is the oldest such scheme in the world, since 1984 English Heritage have commissioned Frank Ashworth to make the plaques which have then been inscribed by his wife, Sue, at their home in Cornwall. English Heritage plans to erect an average of twelve new blue plaques each year in London. After being conceived by politician William Ewart in 1863, the scheme was initiated in 1866 by Ewart, Henry Cole and the Society of Arts, the first plaque was unveiled in 1867 to commemorate Lord Byron at his birthplace,24 Holles Street, Cavendish Square. This house was demolished in 1889, the earliest blue plaque to survive, also put up in 1867, commemorates Napoleon III in King Street, St Jamess. Byron’s plaque was blue, but the colour was changed by the manufacturer Minton, in total the Society of Arts put up 35 plaques, fewer than half of which survive today. The Society only erected one plaque within the square-mile of the City of London, in 1879, it was agreed that the City of London Corporation would be responsible for erecting plaques within the City to recognise its jurisdictional independence. This demarcation has remained ever since, in 1901, the Society of Arts scheme was taken over by the London County Council, which gave much thought to the future design of the plaques. It was eventually decided to keep the shape and design of the Societys plaques, but to make them uniformly blue, with a laurel wreath. Though this design was used consistently from 1903 to 1938, some experimentation occurred in the 1920s, in 1921, the most common plaque design was revised, as it was discovered that glazed ceramic Doulton ware was cheaper than the encaustic formerly used. In 1938, a new design was prepared by an unnamed student at the LCCs Central School of Arts and Crafts and was approved by the committee. It omitted the decorative elements of earlier designs, and allowed for lettering to be better spaced and enlarged
11.
Ley line
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Ley lines /leɪ laɪnz/ are apparent alignments of places of significance in the geography or culture of an area, often including man-made structures. They are in the sense, ancient, straight trackways in the British landscape, or in the newer sense. In his books Early British Trackways and The Old Straight Track and he believed that a mystical network of ley lines existed across Britain. Since the publication of Michells book, the version of the concept has been adopted by other authors. On 30 June 1921, Alfred Watkins visited Blackwardine in Herefordshire, attracted by the nearby archaeological investigation of a Roman camp, he stopped his car to compare the landscape on either side of the road with the marked features on his much used map. He believed this was the ancient name for the trackways, preserved in the modern names, the ancient surveyors who supposedly made the lines were given the name dodmen. This observation was made public at a meeting of the Woolhope Naturalists Field Club of Hereford in September 1921 and his work referred to G. H. He published his book Early British Trackways the following year, commenting, I knew nothing on June 30th last of what I now communicate, and had no theories. The theory was investigated by the British Society of Dowsers and used as material by Phil Rickman in his novel The Remains of an Altar. Perhaps relevant to the ley line argument is the existence of cursuses, ranging in length from 50 metres to several kilometers, their exact function remains unknown though they are commonly believed to have been used for ceremonial processions. Many of them do encompass Neolithic graves and monuments, however, while some cursuses are relatively straight, others have curves and sharp turns. This may argue that ancient Britons had little interest in moving in lines over landscapes. Watkins work met with scepticism from archaeologists, one of whom, O. G. S. Crawford. Since 1989, refutations of Watkins ideas have been based on mathematical methods such as statistics. A statistical analysis of lines concluded, the density of sites in the British landscape is so great that a line drawn through virtually anywhere will clip a number of sites. A study by David George Kendall used the techniques of analysis to examine the triangles formed by standing stones to deduce if these were often arranged in straight lines. The shape of a triangle can be represented as a point on the sphere, the sample distribution from the standing stones was compared with the theoretical distribution to show that the occurrence of straight lines was no more than average. Archaeologist Richard Atkinson once demonstrated this by taking the positions of telephone boxes, the book, published by Sago Press, proved popular and was reprinted in Great Britain by Garnstone Press in 1972 and Abacus in 1973, and in the United States by Ballantine Books in 1972
12.
Celtic Britons
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They spoke the Common Brittonic language, the ancestor to the modern Brittonic languages. The earliest evidence for the Britons and their language in historical sources dates to the Iron Age, after the Roman conquest of Britain in the 1st century, a Romano-British culture emerged, and Latin and British Vulgar Latin coexisted with Brittonic. During and after the Roman era, the Britons lived throughout Britain south of the Firth of Forth, with the beginning of Anglo-Saxon settlement in the 5th century, the culture and language of the Britons fragmented and much of their territory was taken over by the Anglo-Saxons. The extent to which cultural and linguistic change was accompanied by wholesale changes in the population is still a matter of discussion. During this period some Britons migrated to mainland Europe and established significant settlements in Brittany as well as Britonia in modern Galicia, Common Brittonic developed into the distinct Brittonic languages, Welsh, Cumbric, Cornish and Breton. Although none of his own writings remain, writers during the time of the Roman Empire made much reference to them, the group included Ireland, which was referred to as Ierne inhabited by the race of Hiberni, and Britain as insula Albionum, island of the Albions. The term Pritani may have reached Pytheas from the Gauls, who used it as their term for the inhabitants of the islands. The first inhabitants were the Britons, who came from Armenia, the Latin name in the early Roman Empire period was Britanni or Brittanni, following the Roman conquest in AD43. Brittonic languages is a recent coinage intended to refer to the ancient Britons specifically. In English, the term Briton originally denoted the ancient Britons and their descendants, most particularly the Welsh, who were seen as heirs to the ancient British people. After the Acts of Union 1707, the terms British and Briton came to be applied not just to the remaining Brittonic peoples themselves, the Britons spoke an Insular Celtic language known as Common Brittonic. Brittonic was spoken throughout the island of Britain, as well as islands such as the Isle of Man, Scilly Isles, Orkneys, Hebrides. Thus the area today is called Brittany, Common Brittonic developed from the Insular branch of the Proto-Celtic language that developed in the British Isles after arriving from the continent in the 7th century BC. The language eventually began to diverge, some linguists have grouped subsequent developments as Western and Southwestern Brittonic languages, Pictish is now generally accepted to descend from Common Brittonic, rather than being a separate Celtic language. Welsh and Breton survive today, Cumbric became extinct in the 12th century, Cornish had become extinct by the 19th century but has been the subject of language revitalization since the 20th century. Ideas about the development of British Iron Age culture changed greatly in the 20th century, by this time Celtic styles seem to have been in decline in continental Europe, even before Roman invasions. Throughout their existence, the inhabited by the Britons was composed of numerous ever-changing areas controlled by Brittonic tribes. Part of the Pictish territory was absorbed into the Gaelic kingdoms of Dál Riata and Alba
