Saturday January 11 2020

09:00 Lois and I drive over to the local Sainsbury’s supermarket to go grocery shopping. It's quiet and peaceful when we first walk in, but it's heaving with other old crows by the time we are standing in line for the checkout - damn! We come home again and relax with a cup of coffee on the couch.

I have some administrative tasks on my to-do list today - I need to register Lois' two new credit cards with the Sentinel credit card insurance company. I have to send the authorities a current sample of my handwriting so I can continue to vote by post. 

Also I have to experiment with my (almost) brand new tablet, which I bought in July, but which I have barely used for several months - I don't like the keyboard and I don't like Windows 10, but now Windows 7 is under threat - damn it !!!

I also need to do some research for our vacation in Perth, Australia later in the year when we visit our daughter Sarah, her husband Francis, and their 6-year-old twins, Lily and Jessie. We plan to stay with them for two months, but also visit Lois' cousin Stephen in Adelaide for a few days. We have considered flying from Perth to Adelaide, but taking the train back from Adelaide to Perth.

the train's route from Adelaide to Perth

When Lois and I settle down on the couch in the living room later in the day, we discuss the plan and finally we decide to travel by plane both directions. The train is very expensive, you sleep through the most interesting parts of the landscape, and we do not get a double bed: just a sofa by day, which is converted into bunk beds at night - unless we go so-called "platinum class", which costs "an arm and a leg "- damn!!!

this woman's invitation is tempting, but unfortunately, 

Lois and I decide to answer "Thanks, but no thanks" haha

20:00 We spend the evening watching some television, the first episode of a new archaeological series, "Bone Detectives: Britain's Buried Secrets". The programme's hosts are three charming women: the evolutionary biologist Tori Herridge, the archaeologist Raksha Dave, and the mortuary technician Carla Valentine.

A fascinating and mysterious programme, all about a group of 5 skeletons dating from the end of the Bronze Age (ie 800 BC or so). The bodies were excavated from a massive pit on the so-called Isle of Thanet in south-east England - not an island any more, because the narrow channel (Wantsum Channel) that once isolated this piece of land was blocked by disgusting sludge at some time or another during the past few centuries.

Flashback to the Middle Ages: the Isle of Thanet in happier times,

before the Wantsum Channel was blocked with disgusting sludge: yuck !!!!

It's hard to believe, but this Isle of Thanet, this small "island", contains more Bronze Age burial mounds than any other part of the British Isles. No one knows why this is the case, except for the idea that the island's geography – the fact that it was separated from the mainland by such a narrow canal - was unique in the British Isles, and many ancient people seemed to think that you had to cross water or some kind of river when you died.

The large pit where the 5 skeletons were found was possibly the last prehistoric burial to take place on the island. The Bronze Age was just about to end all over Europe, even though people didn't know it at the time - there were no newspapers or internet etc that could have warned them ha ha ha!

And the experts do not agree on what led to the end of the Bronze Age - it must have been some kind of disaster or serious crisis: climate change, plague, invasions maybe, but that's something the jury's still out on.

The 5 skeletons excavated by the archaeologists had been arranged in a kind of tableau, perhaps in response to this European-wide crisis. And the oldest skeleton, who had been sacrificed with multiple swords on the top of her head, was laid down with her index finger clearly pointing in the direction of a nearby group of burial mounds, as if she was begging the dead ancestors to help their descendants cope with this mysterious crisis.

My god, how weird !!!!

The older woman had been buried with 2 new-born lambs in her lap: a symbol of spring and rebirth perhaps. Next to her were 3 teenage girls: two of them were locals (judging from analysis of their teeth) and another who hailed from the Mediterranean or some warmer region. A little apart from the woman and the three girls lay the only male skeleton: a grown man who hailed from Scandinavia or some cold region.

Perhaps this tableau symbolized this European-wide crisis, by presenting one victim from the south and another from the north in addition to the 3 local people???

the pit with the 5 skeletons

some of the burial mounds that the elderly woman’s skeleton

seems to be pointing to – was she trying to communicate with her people’s ancestors?

The Isle of Thanet was at that time an important site because it bordered on the Dover Strait between the North Sea and the English Channel, an important focus for international trade and the like.

And besides, the Whatsum Channel was a bit of a shortcut, where you could sail from the mouth of the Thames to the Dover Strait without having to defy the notorious storms of that part of the North Sea – a “trick of the trade” for Bronze Age "Mr Wise Guys" maybe ha ha ha !!! Or perhaps the “old crows” in the Bronze Age sailing community liked to take the Whatsum Channel if they were looking for a route that was a bit less hectic, especially in rush hour.

The mystery of the tableau of skeletons remains however. Unfortunately, we will never know for sure what this weird arrangement meant for the people who set it up, which is a bit of a shame.

Also we will never know whether those dead ancestors ever managed to reply from their burial mounds with some advice about how best to prepare for the coming Iron Age – “Be sure to save string” perhaps or something similar? ha ha ha!

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz !!!

Danish translation: lørdag den 11. januar 2020

09:00 Lois og jeg kører over til det lokale Sainsburys-supermarked for at gå madindkøb. Det er stille og roligt da vi først går ind i supermarkedet, men det er stuvende fuldt med andre gamle krager, da vi står i kø til kassen – pokkers! Vi kommer hjem igen og slapper af med en kop kaffe i sofaen.

Jeg har nogle administrative opgaver på min gøremålsliste i dag – jeg skal registerere Lois' to nye kreditkort med Sentinel-kreditkortforsikringselskabet, også skal jeg eksperimentere med mit (næsten) spritnye tablet, som jeg købte i juli, men jeg næsten ikke har brugt i flere måneder – jeg kan ikke lide tastaturet, og jeg kan ikke lide Windows 10, men nu er Windows 7 under trussel – pokkers!!!

Jeg skal også gøre lidt forskning om vores ferie i Perth, Australien senere på året, når vi besøger vores datter Sarah, hendes mand Francis, og deres 6-årige tvillinger, Lily og Jessie. Vi planlægger at opholde os i to måneder hos dem, men også besøge Lois’ fætter Stephen i Adelaide i nogle dage. Vi har overvejet at flyve fra Perth til Adelaide, men tage toget tilbage fra Adelaide til Perth.

togets rute from Adelaide til Perth

Når Lois og jeg sætter os til rette i sofaen i stuen senere på dagen, diskuterer vi planen, og endelig beslutter vi at rejse med fly begge retninger. Toget er meget dyrt, man sover igennem de mest interessante dele af landskabet, og vi får ikke en dobbeltseng: bare en sofa om dagen, der omdannes til etagesenge om natten - medmindre vi går den såkaldte ”platinumklasse”, hvilket koster "en arm og et ben"  – pokkers!!!

denne kvindes invitation er fristende,

men desværre beslutter Lois og jeg at svare ”Tak, men nej tak” haha

20:00 Vi bruger aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn, det 1. afsnit i en ny arkæologisk serie, ”Bone Detectives: Britain’s  Buried Secrets”. Programmets værterne er tre charmerende kvinder:  den evolutionsbiolog Tori Herridge, arkæologen Raksha Dave, og obduktionsteknikeren Carla Valentine.

Et fascinerende og mystisk program, der handler om en gruppe af 5 skeletter daterende fra enden på bronzealderen (dvs 800 før Kr, eller deromkring). Ligene blev udgravet fra et massiv hul på den såkaldte Isle of Thanet i det sydøstlige England – ikke en ø længere, fordi den smal kanal (Wantsum Channel), der før i tiden isolerede dette stykke jord, blev blokket med slam på ét eller andet tidspunkt i løbet af de seneste få århundreder.

tilbageblik til midalderen: Isle of Thanet i lykkeligere tider,

før Wantsum Channel blev blokket med slam: yuck!!!!

Det er svært at tro, men Isle of Thanet, denne lille ”ø”, indeholder flere bronzealdergravhøje, end alle andre dele af de britiske øer. Ingen ved hvorfor, bortset fra idéen at øens geografi – adskilt fra fastlandet af sikke en smal kanal – var unik, og mange antikke folk virkede at tro, at man måtte krydse vand eller en eller anden slags flod, når man døde.

Det store hul, hvor de 5 skeletter blev fundet, var muligvis den sidste forhistoriske begravelse, der fandt sted på øen. Bronzealderen var lige ved at være slut hele Europa over, selvom folk dengang ikke vidste dette – der var ingen aviser eller internet osv, som kunne have advaret dem  ha ha ha!

Og eksperterne er ikke enige om, hvad førte til slutningen af bronzealderen – det må have været en eller anden form for katastrofe eller alvorlig krise: klimaforandring, pest, invasioner måske, men det er juryen stadig ude om.

De 5 skeletter, som arkæologerne udgravede, var blevet arrangeret i et slags tableau, måske i reaktion til denne europaomspændende krise. Og det ældste skelet, der var blevet ofret med multiple sværdslag på toppen af hendes hoved, blev lagt ned med hendes pegefinger tydeligt pegende i retningen af en nærliggende gruppe af gravhøje, som om hun bed forfædrene til at hjælpe deres efterkommere med at takle denne mystiske krise.

Du godeste, hvor underligt!!!!

Den ældre kvinde var blevet begravet sammen med 2 nyfødte lam i sit skød: en symbol af foråret og genfødsel måske. Ved siden af hende var 3 teenage-piger: to af dem var lokale (ifølge analyse af deres tænder) og en anden der stammede fra Middelhavet eller en eller anden varmere region. Lidt adskilt fra kvinden og de tre piger lå det eneste mandlige skelet: en voksen mand, der stammede fra Skandinavien eller en eller anden kold region.

Symboliserede dette tableau denne europaspændende krise måske, ved at fremvise et offer fra syden og et andet fra norden udover de 3 lokale mennesker???

Isle of Thanet var dengang et vigtigt sted fordi det grænsede på Doverstrætet mellem Nordsøen og den engelske kanal, en vigtig rute, hvad angår international handel og den slags.

Og derudover var Whatsum Channel lidt af en genvej, hvor man kunde sejle fra Thames-mundingen til Doverstrætet uden at måtte trodse Nordsøens notoriske stormer – noget for bronzealderens ”Konge Smart” måske ha ha ha!!!

Desværre vil vi aldrig vide med sikkerhed, hvad dette underlige tableau betød for dem, der indrettede det, hvilket er lidt af en skam ha ha ha!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzz!!!