Amesbury Museum

Exhibition 1 - 6th - 9th April 2012

By Frank Somers

Aes Dana Grove, Stonehenge and Amesbury Druids

Introduction

There are several stories to tell, any one of which would be exciting to share with you all, but there are several fascinating sub-stories as well.

There is the story of how the Amesbury Museum came into being, coupled with the extraordinary insight and energy of the people of Amesbury who made this happen. I would love to tell you about the museum itself and how it will be developed over the coming months and years.

More exciting still, I can share with you from my own experience how this small Wiltshire community rallied behind a woefully under-funded archaeological project for 6 years to bring to light a totally new chapter of the British Mesolithic past, discovering world class finds that may even eclipse Stonehenge itself in significance.

Amazingly, the well resourced ‘big guns’ of the archaeological establishment had missed making this discovery themselves because of simple arrogance and through not paying attention to ordinary local people.

I would like to tell you about the findings so far, about my visits to the dig site and the significance of the findings, both for our understanding of the Mesolithic and for the story of British spirituality.

Naturally, as a Druid, and as a student of our ancestors' beliefs and spiritual practices, I’m most interested in sharing the important new light that this dig shines upon these subjects. The wonders that this dig has unearthed should, and I hope will, greatly interest Druids worldwide.

Amesbury has lived for so long in the shadow of its nearby Neolithic henges, that it might be fair to say that the small town has been completely eclipsed by Stonehenge. Now, however, so incredible are the recent discoveries that the situation could well reverse!

Note: There is a great deal to write about and to share with you, so in order to do all this justice, I intend to go about it in stages.

Please keep checking back to this site as I will be adding more material over the coming days and weeks.

I have videos of some of the lectures given by the archaeologists, which I have volunteered not to post until after they have notified me that they are happy for me to do so. I understand and respect that projects of this nature have to seek funding, part of which may be dependent upon who tells the story and when.

Nonetheless, when talking with the Amesbury community at the museum, the archaeologists were extremely forthcoming and frank about their discoveries, many of which are very significant indeed!

http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/classical-studies/amesbury/index.shtml