Skip to main content

Monumental memories: Indigenous memory and Stonehenge


7.45pm Monday 27 February 2017
This event has now sold out. We are sorry if you did not get a ticket.

The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street, London E1 7EX.
Train and Tube: Liverpool Street. Tube: Aldgate, Aldgate East

Facebook page


Without writing, indigenous elders memorised a vast amount of factual information on which survival depended both physically and culturally: knowledge of thousands of animals and plants, astronomical charts, vast navigation networks, genealogies, geography and geology … the list goes on and on. How did they remember so much? And why does this explain the purpose of ancient monuments including Stonehenge, Easter Island and the Nasca Lines? Can we use these memory methods in contemporary life?

This talk will focus on the transmission of scientific and practical knowledge among small-scale oral cultures across the world, drawing on Australian Aboriginal, Native American, African and Pacific cultures.

Dr Lynne Kelly, author of The Memory Code, will explain the exact mechanisms used and why this explains the purpose of many enigmatic monuments around the world. We have a great deal to learn from the extraordinary mnemonic skills of indigenous cultures.
 
7.45pm Monday 27 February 2017
This event has now sold out. We are sorry if you did not get a ticket.

The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street, London E1 7EX.
Train and Tube: Liverpool Street. Tube: Aldgate, Aldgate East

Facebook page

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Haunted Landscape 2025: Ghosts, Magic and Lore

Whose claws are scratching at the church door? What’s that ghost tumbling over the moor? Who’s that figure cut into the earth? What can I do to lift this curse?  Join us for a legendary trip through the seventh Haunted Landscape, our day of expert talks on British ghosts, magic, and folklore. Photo by Henrik L. on Unsplash The Haunted Landscape: Ghosts, Magic and Lore 22 November 2025 10 am - 5 pm  In advance: Standard £25 / Living Support £17 / Student £21 (inc. £2 venue levy) Advance Tickets Online: £12   (inc. £2 venue levy)  Advance Tickets Conway Hall , 25 Red Lion Square, London, WC1R 4RL Tube: Holborn London Fortean Email List Age Recommendation: All ages. Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult. Photo by AJO JOSE on Unsplash Going to the Haunted Landscape, online and at Conway Hall, next Saturday? Or planning to? It'll be a deep, dark dive into British folklore with some fine speakers.  Here is the schedule for the day:  10:00 Intro  1...
  *** TUBE STRIKE *** Although the tube strike has been called off, we'd already shifted the date of our next meeting at the Bell, Jeremy Harte speaking on Gypsies and the Supernatural , from Tuesday July 25 to Tuesday August 1 . Please note that we're sticking with this new date.

Saints, Sleep-Surgery and Medieval Dream Miracles

7.45pm Wednesday 26 June 2019 £4 / £2 Concessions ( Advance tickets ) The Bell , 50 Middlesex Street, London E1 7EX. Train and Tube: Liverpool Street.  Tube: Aldgate, Aldgate East Facebook Page Thousands of stories of miraculous healing at shrines survive from the middle ages. The most striking tales involve a sick person who was cured in a dream by a saint’s touch. Dreams were considered a space where dead holy figures could interact with the living: saints could manipulate the sleeper’s body, including performing invasive surgery.  Dr Bill MacLehose , historian of medieval medicine and religion at UCL, explores the different ways in which saints were thought to heal, purify or even punish people through dreams. What made sleep and dreams so important to healing rituals in mediaeval culture? And how important were sacred spaces, such as shrines and other pilgrimage sites, to these dream cures? 7.45pm Wednesday 26 June 2019 £4 / £2 Concessions ( Advance tickets...