The Lithic Gathering: shifting temporalities and mythologies of ritual
stone structures
Friday 16th May 2025, 9.30-4.30, Manchester Metropolitan University.
This one-day symposium organised by The Scholars of the Stones at MMU gathers Arts and Humanities academics and/or artists working in relation to Neolithic or other ancient stone structures, focusing on the themes of materiality, mythology, affect and temporality.
Ritual/sacred stone structures, such as henges, dolmens and cairns of the Neolithic and Mesolithic era have been (re)visited, (re)used and (re)invoked by societies over the centuries in relation to spiritual, cultural and functional needs and desires. In the 20thcentury, within a British context, Stonehenge featured prominently in visual and popular countercultures, whilst in the 21st century, stone-specific or folklore zines and wanderlust communities have emerged in relation to these stone sites.
Programme
Presentations will explore the ways in which these structures – and/or the materiality of the stone/the lithic itself – merges, redefines or shifts historical and mythological narratives in relation to their manifestations within global visual cultures and artistic practices.
@scholarsofthestones
Keynotes:
Professor Tim Edensor – Landscape and place, local shifting meanings and ludic practices, and the ethic of care for monoliths
Dr Charlotte Coull – Living tradition or dead civilisation? Indian megaliths on British time
Currently confirmed panel session speakers include:
Dr Jennie Bailey – The Stones of Rochdale: Three Creative Pieces Inspired by Place
Anna Gidman and Ralph Parker – Hengeing a house- housing a henge: Revisiting the henge as a design tool and method for living
David Berwick – O Maen
Dr Ian Grosz – This is Our Place: Narrative and Interpretation at the Callanish Standing Stones.
Cristina Moraru – Touching Time: The Aesthetic and Affective Presence of Sacred Stones in Contemporary Photography
Martha Lineham – Haptic and Tender Practices of Ancient Rural and Contemporary Urban Stone Circles
Paul Vivian – Acoustics and non-human agency in Neolithic and Bronze Age rituals at Stone Circle sites
Liúsaidh Ashley Watt – Stones in Focus
The presentations vary from short films, artist show and tells and traditional papers. Final programme released nearer to event. There will be time chaired for questions at the end of each panel session.
Any questions, please email scholarsofthestones@gmail.com
