The Hare #16 [June 2026]
Stonehenge stadium, Noah's Ark, ancient copper mining…
Your monthly round-up of landscape discoveries, archaeological news, historical mysteries and folkloric curiosities, brought to you by Northern Earth magazine. Happy summer solstice month.
News from Northern Earth
The Summer issue of Northern Earth (#184) is now with the printer and will be going out soon. Subs are still only £12 a year – sign up now! It’s our biggest-ever issue (even more pages than the last two), and inside you can find features on the landscape-inspired music of Craven Faults, the Rollright Stones, folklore of the Scottish Borders and much more besides.
We have just 15 copies of the Spring issue (#183) left and you can pick up single (non-subscription) copies here while stocks last.
Remember we also have an online bookshop featuring copies of recently published titles related to our interests (often ones reviewed in the journal, and many at 10% off the cover price).
And now on with the regulars…
Season’s gleanings: 20 recent news stories
(Other recent news can be found in the printed magazine.)
Archaeologists reveal wooden secret beneath ancient stone island in Scotland [BBC]
Discovery of hidden tunnels beneath Oxfordshire village confirms local legend [Ancient Pages]
Bronze Age Britons fashioned copper-mining tools out of old bones [New Scientist]
‘Extremely rare’ English coins meant to ward off Vikings found in Denmark – because the Vikings wore them as jewelry [Live Science in Archaeology]
Cornwall’s hidden neolithic past emerges from 5,800-year-old archaeological finds [Futura]
Neolithic tombs used to trace family lineages, study finds [Nation.Cymru]
Humans returned to Britain 500 years earlier than scientists thought after the last ice age [ScienceDaily]
Bronze age stone with face found in Alderney dig [BBC News]
First look at new 4,500-year-old Neolithic hall at Stonehenge after major works [The Independent]
Mystery of Stonehenge’s construction finally ‘solved’ - say experts with surprising theory [Daily Express]
‘Tiny’ Roman phallic charm found at cricket club [BBC News]
Megalithic tomb in France reveals what caused the Neolithic decline in Northern Europe 5,000 years ago [Ancient Pages]
A large circular Bronze Age ditch with 3 access gates and another 60 structures found in a Hungarian mine [La Brújula Verde]
Mysterious green rocks in Pyrenees cave hint that prehistoric people were working copper there for 4,000 years [Live Science]
How hundreds of mysterious Nasca lines have been uncovered – with the help of AI [National Geographic]
Oman documents newly discovered archaeological site with ancient rock carvings [TV BRICS]
Mystery of the ancient giant stone jars of Laos may have been solved [New Scientist]
A father and daughter stumble onto Bronze Age carvings in Norway [Futura]
And finally…
Mysterious creature caught on camera in Florida defies all explanation [Futura]
Noah’s Ark ‘real location’ revealed by chilling detail on 440-year-old map [Daily Express]
Events on in June
3 June Brett Hollyhead: Fossilised Magic. The mysteries of stone, shell and bone. Online talk from the Folklore Centre.
4 June Justin Hopper & Ben Tufnell discuss their books Dead the Long Year and Paradise. The Book Hive, Norwich.
5 June Weirding Sustainability Symposium. Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, Cambridge.
5-7 June Folklore on the Move. Folklore Society’s annual conference. Elphinstone Institute, University of Aberdeen.
9 June Creating Sacred Spaces: spirits, saints and songlines from 12th-century Britain to Australia. St George the Martyr, Holborn, London.
13 June A talk with Stone Club (Lally MacBeth and Matthew Shaw). House of Goblin, Stroud.
19 June Sussex Retold: symposium on heritage diversity and progressive futures. Fulton Building, University of Sussex, Brighton.
20 June Of the Furrow Born: A Midsummer Celebration – one-day festival by the East Anglian Folklore Centre. Three Wise Monkeys, Colchester.
23 June ‘Green’ myths, legends and folk tales. Online talk from the Folklore Society.
24 June Excavating Avebury. Online talk with Mark Gillings and Josh Pollard. Online talk from Southampton Museums.
25–26 June LivingMaps Network Conference: Shared Earth, Unequal Maps – Living Maps for Environmental Justice. Senate House, London.
27 June The Sixth John Michell Symposium: Mystery of Measure & Spirit of Place. Temenos Academy, Art Workers’ Guild, Bloomsbury, London.
29 June Stone Club: No Trees, No Seas film, plus Julian Hand. The Social, central London.
Selected exhibitions
Until 6 June John Piper in the South Country. Wiltshire Museum, Devizes.
Until 14 June Porthole (Holly O’Brien explores the mermaid through sculpture, video and live performance). Horsepower Gallery, Glasgow.
Until 4 July From Neolithic Salt to a Saxon Princess. Land of Iron Museum, Skinningrove, North Yorkshire.
13 June until 17 October The Avebury Papers: two artists respond to the site’s multimedia archive. Southampton City Art Gallery.
27 June until 16 May 2027 Scotland’s First Warriors. From the Neolithic to the Romans. National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh.
Until 11 July Radical Halifax. Calderdale Industrial Museum.
Until 13 September A Place That Whispers – folkloric photography exhibition. Hidcote, Gloucestershire.
Until 1 November The Saxons – immersive exhibition at Discover Bucks Museum, Aylesbury.
Until 1 November British Landscapes: A Sense of Place. Pallant House Gallery, Chichester.
Until November Nancy Holt: MoonSunStarEarthSkyWater. Goodwood Art Foundation, Sussex.
Until 2027 Viking North, showcase of best collection of finds outside London. Yorkshire Museum, York.
Until summer 2027 Chariots, Treasure & Power: Secrets of the Melsonby Hoard. Yorkshire Museum, York.
5 things to read, watch, listen to…
[Listen] The BBC has made a new audio version of the 1977 classic Children of the Stones.
[Read] The Mycelium Parish News is a brilliant annual collection (in print) of interesting publications, films, podcasts, websites and more.
[Listen] Gabble Ratchets is a great new improvised collaboration between ‘Spaceship Mark’ Williamson and the Primitive Percussion Youth Orchestra, inspired by the demonic flying hounds of Todmorden.
[Read] Cormac Pentecost’s Notes from Psychick Albion offers an interesting reflection on non-human agency relating to megaliths.
[Watch] Art on the Pilgrim Path is a series of online events exploring the living practice of pilgrimage.
Thanks to various readers for the tipoffs! Do reply to this newsletter or email Northern Earth if you have useful links to share. (If your suggestion hasn’t appeared yet, it may well next time!)
Thank you so much for giving the Mycelium Parish News a shout-out!