Gods of Prehistoric Britain - Ronald Hutton

Video Description

00:00 // Introduction: Britain's Pagan Heritage 00:44 // The Richness of Britain's Pre-Christian Religions 02:02 // Key Archaeological Finds: From the Paleolithic to the Iron Age 08:03 // The Influence of Roman and Anglo-Saxon Deities 15:17 // The Viking Pantheon and the Evolution of Religious Beliefs 20:35 // The Mystery of Stonehenge: Construction and Purpose 32:15 // Competing Theories on Stonehenge's Function 41:09 // The Enigma of Lindow Man: Ritual Sacrifice or Crime? 50:24 // The Debate on Human Sacrifice in Prehistoric Britain 55:10 // The Role of Experts in Understanding Prehistoric Religion 57:45 // Closing Thoughts: Embracing Multiple Perspectives Britain has one of the richest of all pagan heritages in Europe, defined as the textual and material evidence for its pre-Christian religions. The island is possessed of monuments, burial sites and a range of other remains not only from several distinct ages of prehistory, but also from three different major historic cultures. This lecture will look at what we know of prehistoric worship, focusing on Stonehenge and the bog body known as Lindow Man, to examine the difficulties of interpreting evidence for ritual behaviour for which no textual testimony survives. A lecture by Ronald Hutton The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/prehistoric-gods Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham's mission, please consider making a donation: https://gresham.ac.uk/support/ Website: https://gresham.ac.uk Twitter: https://twitter.com/greshamcollege Facebook: https://facebook.com/greshamcollege Instagram: https://instagram.com/greshamcollege