Transcript
Narrator (0:00)
Close your eyes, exhale, feel your body relax, and let go of whatever you're carrying today. Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts. Oh my gosh, they're so fast. And breathe. Oh, sorry. I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order. Oh, sorry. Namaste. Visit 1-800-contacts.com today to save on your first order.
Dr. James Dilley (0:28)
1-800-Contacts.
John Hopkins (0:34)
It is a balmy summer's night in Avebury, a tranquil village in southwest England. A young woman gets out of her car and hurries across a small car park in the center of the village. She is dressed casually in shorts and an oversized woolen jumper and carries a picnic blanket and a torch, checking both ways for oncoming headlights. She crosses the busy road that tears through the heart of the village, then unlatches a waist high wooden gate that opens into a large field. The grass, brushing softly against her ankles, is long and lush at this time of year and dotted with daisies. But she is not here for a pleasant evening walk. As she reaches the top of a slight incline, she finds what she came for. Here, the inky blackness of the night is broken up by a number of fires. The flickering light provides snapshots of the small crowd spread out before her. Families mingle with older people dressed in swirling robes. Groups of giggling teenagers sipping from illicit cans of beer stand next to women dressed as wood nymphs. A couple wearing deer antler headdresses hold hands and chant while a man plays a steady beat on a large animal skin drum. But what draws the young woman's eye is the immense stone circle that surrounds them. She weaves her way through the crowd and approaches one of the upright stones. It towers over her, almost 4 meters tall. Laying her hand on its rough, weathered surface, she can feel the heat of the day held in the grayish sandstone even though the sun set hours earlier. She dumps her belongings at its base and hurries to join the other revelers. Like them, she has come to the Neolithic stone circle of Avebury, the largest in the world, to observe the summer solstice. In a few hours, the sun will rise and they will be here to witness the start of the longest day of the year. It is a ritual probably celebrated at Avebury since its construction 5,000 years ago. But though it is still dark, the celebrations are well underway. The woman is pulled into a dance circle by three others wearing fairy wings and flower crowns. They spin around and around until she's dizzy and laughing. For the next few hours she alternates between dancing, sharing drinks and food with friends and strangers, and soaking up the atmosphere. An hour or so before dawn, she is sitting cross legged on her blanket, back against the stone. Her eyes are trained on the east. The minutes tick by almost imperceptibly. The sky begins to lighten as a bird starts to sing. A hush falls over the gathering. The woman stands in the distance. The golden edge of the rising sun emerges from beneath the horizon. Someone begins a slow chant as the first brilliant rays shine directly through the perfectly aligned stone. Daylight floods the circle just as it has since time immemorial. The summer solstice has arrived at Avebury, and a group of celebrants stand ready to meet it at prehistoric sites like Avebury, our Stone Age past feels close. We can literally touch the monumental stones that were erected thousands of years ago for mysterious ritual purposes. And at times like the solstice, we can connect with the landscape and the changing seasons just as our ancient ancestors did. A moment of connection across the millennia and tangible proof of our prehistoric past. The Stone Age is the foundational period of human history. This vast epoch, stretching from roughly 3 million to 5,000 years ago, accounts for over 99% of humanity's time on this planet. It is the era when modern humans evolved and migrated out of Africa to populate the globe. When we developed language and the ability to make tools. When we learned to farm crops and domesticate animals and began to live in ever more complex societies. So what do we know about the way our Stone Age relatives lived? What role did the shifting climate play in their evolution? And how are our ancestors reflected in our bodies, lifestyles and communities today? I'm John Hopkins from the Nouser Network. This is a short history of the Stone Age. The term Stone Age refers to a colossal span of time and gets its name from the development of stone tools used by our homonym or human like ancestors. Dr. James Dilley is the founder of Ancient Craft, an organization teaching prehistoric skills and techniques at universities and museums around the world.