STRANGE STONEHENGE #3 | Blick Mead - 5,000 years before the sarsen stones.

Because we can, we're devoting a few shows to the lesser-known aspects of the Stonehenge landscape. In STRANGE STONEHENGE #3 we present an introduction to the magical site of BLICK MEAD.
(Also look out for The Coneybury Anomaly and The Wilsford Shaft).

It could be argued that without Blick Mead there would be no Stonehenge.

A bold conjecture indeed but we hope that after you’ve heard this discussion you’ll agree that this site - that predates the stone monument that a we know and love by thousands of years - is way more important to the whole Stonehenge landscape than many realise.

Let’s see if we can make the case.

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[elizabethmcglothlin]

Springs that never freeze have always been significant, and sometimes magical. And it turns things PINK!

[fredwood]

An interesting point comparing stone age people; Some American Indians shared an area they called "the happy hunting grounds", located in the area of what is now Kentucky, (Which is what the word, Ken tuc he means), where few people lived but many tribes came at different times of the year, to hunt, usually for Winter or Spring food, including plant life and fish. This being a shared area, it was a "no war zone". I wonder of Salisbury Plain might have been like that?

[galghaidhil]

For obvious reasons, sites like Blick Mead (with an abundance of perpetually available water) have always had strong appeal to people living in the vicinity or those traveling through as hunter-gatherers. Blick Mead is indeed a “magical” site. An interesting parallel, although without some of Blick Mead’s special features (yet with its own set of highly attractive qualities) is the Gault Site in Central Texas, which is a perpetual source of water (even in drought conditions, which are not uncommon in the region) and where more-or-less continuous human activity has been going on for the past 16, 000 years. While local culture never became as highly integrated over the centuries as in the Blick Mead - Stonehenge area, the Gault Site is fascinating because it evidences the variations that occurred in local cultures and ways of life in response to changing conditions - all revolving around water as THE essential element for any human society. There’s a good summary about the Gault Site on Wikipedia (if anyone’s interested), with many other professional resources also available online. Thank you gentlemen for another excellent review and discussion of a rather unknown, yet highly important, site.

[cork..]

I'm in the process of studying to become a landscape archaeologist, and Blick Mead is suuuper fascinating to me. Stonehenge smoneshmenge as far as my interest is concerned when it comes to the wider landscape. The potential of sedentary peoples in the mesolithic, and the shape of the landscape that forms almost a funnel or bottleneck for prey to be herded down and cornered as well as the unfreezing spring opens up a whole new way of thinking about the people who lived there. It's amazing and I wish there was more out and known about it, but maybe on the other hand I don't so I can come and work on it one day too.

[kariannecrysler]

I am very much in appreciation of you gentlemen! It’s a go to good day when I get to have a coffee and listen to all the fascinating things prehistory slowly reveals to us all.✌️💗🤘

[AmyBee]

I love learning anything I can about Blick Mead. Thank you for covering this again!

[hectorpascal]

I've driven by it many, many times in the past but never even knew it was there! And why is the spring at a constant temperature year-round? An interview with David Jacques would be greatly appreciated.

[mollyfritz-beckers]

Were aurox migritory? Or have a pattern of behavior that would draw hunters from other areas during certain season?

[DMLand]

“I don't know no more” was a perfect summation of so much of science, inviting us to keep looking.

[ashleysmith]

One site ! A lucky find, in that it hasn't been obscured by several millennia of Civilisation:- cultivation and building. When you think of how many springs and pools would have been settled from the Neolithic period onward there must be so many others that have been lost, obscured, destroyed, or perhaps just waiting to be discovered. I hope some more of these might be found now this one has been so publicly lauded, and public interest has been aroused. However, where I come from in Australia such sites are relatively common; perhaps given another few millennia the original inhabitants might have started building Henges. I have certainly seen stone arrangements of circles and corridors whilst working in remote desert areas. I wish there was more archaeological research on these sites with thousands of blades and microliths just sitting on the surface here near springs, waterholes and flint outcrops. Perhaps one day it will happen, but sadly now being in my 70s, I doubt that I will be around to see it. In the meantime, I enjoy being subscribed to channels such as yours!

[JohnPaul-ii]

Fascinating image at 14:02 So many signs of prior habitation right across the whole area.
Thanks for sharing again.

[sunscream]

When you are up to your elbows in aurochs, it's hard to remember you were here to clear the mead

[edspencer]

Settlement is a strong word for that age. Turkey and the various ‘Tepe’ has challenged ideas about settled cultures in that time frame, but climate differences could make British equivalents difficult.

[Watcher]

THANK U GUYS, SHARE WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS

[badgerpa]

Did they know if they ate the Eels at that time? The eels had to get to the waterways at sometime just wondering if they enjoyed them, maybe they transplanted them. Thank you as always Gentlemen hope you stay safe and healthy.

[micheleheddane]

Have any of the remains been seasonably categorised, would be interested to see if it was seasonal or settled

[micheleheddane]

Should have waited before jumping in, you have answered my question

[DaisyDebs]

🌳🌳🌳Really interesting chat. Thoroughly enjoyed listening in today . Thankyou and I look forward to the next one . 🌳🌳🌲

[medievalladybird]

I don't know nothing either. And the more I know I don't know, the less, I'm afraid, I know anything at all. Now I'm confused.

[georgela]

So interesting as to how far back it all goes. We are far from the end.