Does Stonehenge Ring True?

From Sci-News:

British researchers, reporting in the journal Time & Mind: the Journal of Archaeology, Consciousness and Culture, may have cracked the mystery of why the builders of Stonehenge chose to haul some of its giant bluestones 320 km away from Wales to Salisbury Plain.

Read more:
Scientists Reveal Extraordinary Sonic Properties of Stonehenge Bluestones

Pseudo-Progress Threatens Iron Age Hill Fort

From PastHorizons:

Old Oswestry is one of Europe’s best preserved iron age hill forts, a site that has existed for more than 3,000 years and can be seen for miles around.

The war poet Wilfred Owen completed his army training on the grassy mounds of Old Oswestry, which is also said to be the birthplace of King Arthur’s wife, Guinevere. It is likely that the Shropshire lad himself, AE Housman, would have spent time admiring the views from the fort’s majestic summit on the Shropshire-Wales border.

Now, in what critics say is a result of the government’s new planning policy, proposals have been drawn up to build almost 200 luxury homes next to the ancient site, angering local residents and heritage groups. Some 6,000 people have signed a petition opposing the development, part of the county council’s plan to build 2,600 homes by 2026 to comply with government targets.

One of 25 hill forts in Shropshire, Old Oswestry has a series of perimeter ditches, formed between ramparts, that were designed to slow down attackers. An archaeological survey in 2010 found man-made structures in fields to the north-east of the fort. Two years ago the discovery of an iron age road, thought to connect The Wrekin, near Telford, with fields near the site, indicated that there was likely to be important evidence of past cultures buried under the soil.

Read more:
Iron age hill fort threatened by plans to build 200 luxury homes

Digital Reconstructions of Roman Britain

From The Daily Mail:

A professor has teamed up with digital artists to create striking pictures of how Roman Britain would have looked 2,000 years ago.

The CGI images include a Roman ‘motorway’ stretching from Exeter to London, a forgotten port and luxurious-looking barracks for the occupying forces.

Another image of the Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum, located in Hampshire, has been produced that paints a picture of a wealthy and bustling settlement.

Read more (and check out the images!):
From a bustling port to a 160-mile 'motorway': Amazing digital reconstructions bring forgotten Roman Britain to life

SuccubaSuprema writes:

Note the reconstructed buildings in the images.  These are typical of Roman architectural style.  Architecture is, of course, an aspect of material culture.  By importing this style into Britannia Romana, the Roman conquerors were doing two things:  (1) bringing a bit of home to a foreign posting and thus theoretically making themselves more comfortable (I say "theoretically," as many of the soldiers and other persons representing the Imperium may not have been natives of Latium or even Italia;  still, if they were from the lands of the Imperium, which is likely, then they would undoubtedly have been familiar with this style), (2) introducing foreign material culture to a conquered people and thus engaging in cultural imperialism.  I'm not a fan of cultural imperialism, then or now (I'm also not a huge fan of the Imperium Romanum or any other empire, or imperialism in any form;  but I do appreciate much about the culture of Roma and Italia, then and now).  However, this is history, and there is nothing we can do to alter the past (and even if there were, the effects on all that has come since, as well as the present and the future, would be unpredictable).  We can, however, learn from the past, and we can also appreciate this architectural style, even if we dislike cultural imperialism.