Connections across Britain and Ireland during the age of Stonehenge

The time of Stonehenge was a period of many weird, wonderful and other-worldly places.
 
How we think about daily life and the lived experience of the people behind these monumental places is one of the most pressing research questions for this period.
Seren Griffiths, who is chairing the event, will explore the passage tomb of Bryn Celli Ddu on Anglesey. Many of the artefacts and practices here emphasise a heavily interconnected late Neolithic world, with the sea providing a route between the islands of Ireland and Britain. Recent research here has revealed a monumental record of activity over 1,000 years and raises new questions about how sacred sites played a part in people’s daily lives.
 
Nick Card explores the connections and networks of the Neolithic as evidenced at the Ness of Brodgar, one of the most significant sites currently being excavated in the Orkney landscape.
 
Scientific and archaeological evidence tells us that Neolithic communities did not live in isolation; in fact, the scale of contact that may have existed across widely spaced regions challenges our perceptions of early farming and pastoralist societies. Josh Pollard explores how these long-distance connections were sustained, and for what reason, and whether ebbs and flows in their intensity might relate to times of stability and instability.
 
This event is part of the public programme accompanying The world of Stonehenge at the British Museum (17 February – 17 July).