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Ancient Village Unearthed Near Stonehenge
cityhunter007 writes to point out coverage on CNN.com about an ancient village discovered two miles from Stonehenge that may have housed workers building the monument, or perhaps visitors after it was constructed. The village, at a site known as Durrington Walls, dates from about the time Stonehenge was built, 2600 BCE. The article says: "The researchers speculated that Durrington Walls was a place for the living and Stonehenge — where cremated remains have been found — was a cemetery and memorial... Stonehenge was oriented to face the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset, while the wooden circle at Durrington Walls faced the midwinter sunrise and midsummer sunset."
Connection to the past is kind of the point of preserving Stone Henge and other historic' places. I live in a house built around 1875 and even that short time is a great connection to the past.
It's easy to stand somewhere like Stonehenge, Long Stone or my parlor and imagine all the people that went before you. It creates a sense of place, of permanence, a sense that long after you're gone people will be standing in the same place doing the same thing you're doing.
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CE and BCE have the advantage of not being religion-based. In paticular, AD is offensive, as Domini is the root for dominate : unsuitable for free minds.
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What's so irrational about feeling a degree of kinship with neolithic geeks? Very hardy neolithic geeks, too. There's also an element of the unknown, too, which is something that also tends to appeal to those who are in any way intelligent or curious. And talking of curiosity, I'll bet you almost anything that nobody has carried out even a basic archaeological survey of the area.
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And, IMHO, it makes at least as much sense as 'common era', since the numbering of the era is intrinsically tied to Christianity, and wrapping it in the name "common" doesn't really change that (and hey, are you trying to be some sort of Western imperialist declaring your era numbering to be the one "common" system and implying other alternative calendars are uncommon? Well, not that they aren't, but... :D)
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Actually, domini is Latin for "lord". So AD, which in Latin stands for anno domini, means "Year of Lord". Not as ominous as you'd have it sound..
CE and BCE have the advantage of not being religion-based.
No they are religion based because of the choice of zero year. Renaming them does not alter that and to be honest seems more insulting because it seems to suggest that a non-christian will somehow be stupid enough not to notice what you are doing!
All the major religions have their own system of years so either we ought to use one and call it that for cultural reasons or else choose a non-religious event of world significance (invention of printing press, landing on the moon spring to mind) and use that as zero. Renaming them "BCE" and "CE" is just stupid and from my point of view infinitely more insulting to a non-christian.
On the plus side the first time I saw "BCE" I was in Canada and briefly thought that this must be the Canadian equivalent of "BC"...."Before Christ Eh?"
I want to thank you for your thoughtful comment. It made me feel good today, especially when contrasted with the "Jim Gray Is Missing" posting where the majority of posts are yukking it up about a man who right now may be dying alone in the ocean. Emotional connection to others and empathy, I think these are traits that make us better than animals. Some people feel a connection to people 4,000 years ago, and some people don't even feel a twinge when they hear about people suffering right now.
The last time I took LSD was at the Stonehenge Free Festival in 1983 (AD).
I can confirm that, even then, there were still little tiny dancing people living in the area.
Little tiny dancing people... and a dog with a human head.