Heroes Not Zombies

Near the place where I lived for seven years here in France I could walk up through the vines and see this “dolmen”, a prehistoric stone structure. The first thing that strikes you is the size of the top stone. How on Earth did the ancient peoples manage to lift that immense slab of rock up onto those standing pillars? In fact, how did they get the pillars to stand up? And how did they get all those rocks up to the top of the hill from wherever they found them, or, imagine, quarried them out of a rock face?

You just stand and look at this and you’re filled with awe and curiosity. So many questions. So many “how did they do this?” questions. Even if there are theories or traces of evidence which might give some answers to those questions you’re then faced with all the “why” questions.

Why did the ancient peoples go to such effort to construct this? A question which would be answered, at least in part, by knowing what activities were carried out in there. Was it a burial chamber? A place of worship? A place of celebration and/or ritual?

There are a lot of structures like this in this part of rural France and they all feel familiar to me. They are familiar because I grew up in Scotland with some Orkney heritage so standing stones, stone circles and burial chambers are all part of my personal landscape.

I think all such prehistoric creations inspire awe, curiosity and a deep knowledge that there is so much we can never know.

That not being able to know transcends any frustration at our ignorance and transports us into enchantment and mystery.

I enjoy living in an enchanted world.