The Modern Antiquarian

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Curators Farley and Weetch are refreshingly defiant in defining the Celt as inclusively as possible – at pains throughout to provide maps and more maps of the Celtic worldview as its truth has migrated down the centuries. We moderns may too-often suffer from a mixing up of historical sequences, but better that, surely, than risk raising a population that is entirely not-arsed about its past. The proliferation of armchair archaeologists across the UK attests to the continued fascination that the ways of our ancestors invoke in so many of us. By keeping steadfastly to their inclusive vision of all things Celt, Farley and Weetch are helping to instil in future generations the kind of open-mindedness that has enabled our democracy to thrive. In fact, Cope tells the reader, Stonehenge is unrepresentative, a late add-on -- "a fashioned Bronze Age power statement" erected "centuries after the height of megalithic building." Julian Cope studies William Stukeley’s book at the Celts exhibition. Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian

Modern Antiquarian (Signed) by Cope, Julian: Collectable The Modern Antiquarian (Signed) by Cope, Julian: Collectable

Ah me, what Stukeley started! For this Lincolnshire rector was the most successful antiquary of the mid-1700s. His books – grandly illustrated publications every one – were lapped up by the population. To watch the migration of Stukeley’s thoughts from 1723’s overly Romanised Itinerarium Curiosum – via Stonehenge and Abury – to his posthumous (and entirely megalithically revisioned) Itinerarium of 1776 is to view at first-hand the manner in which the Celts have seduced the romantic imagination. I wanted to bring it all together: pictures, maps, illustrations and practicality in a Gazetteer, along with an overview of the big picture in an Essays section.Compelling too is the St Peter’s Kirk Pictish-symbol stone discovered on the north-east coast of South Ronaldsay. Again, this 5ft-long sandstone monolith stands way outside accepted Celtic regions, right at the edge of the ancient Norse world. The Papil Stone, removed from the grounds of a Shetland monastery close to the Viking stronghold of Jarlshof, is another artefact brought from outside perceived Celtic realms, but this always-thorough exhibition shows us Viking jewellery directly influenced – nay, copied – from its Celtic neighbours. On display is one very large Viking 10th-century open-ring brooch discovered on Orkney’s glorious Bay of Skaill. In the exhibition cabinet, this huge brash silver artefact – originally dug up near the Neolithic village of Skara Brae – dominates its far earlier Celtic neighbour like some overly chromed 1950s Cadillac parked up next to an Austin Allegro. Welcome to The Modern Antiquarian, based on Julian Cope's epicguidebook of the same name and his equally epic exploration of Europe, TheMegalithicEuropean. The Megalithic European by Julian Cope". The Independent. 24 October 2004. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022 . Retrieved 5 July 2020. Dissatisfied with the guidebooks (and coffee table books) available he decided to put together his own handbook: One piece -- "The Book of Ur" -- includes a detailed etymosophy (your guess is as good as ours) of words such as "Ur" and "Koeur".

The Modern Antiquarian – HarperCollins Publishers UK

I enjoyed this immensely. I found his arguments convincing and it fired my enthusiasm for visiting more of these places. His obsessive traits seem to have served him well (although his enthusiasm for toy cars, as related in Repossessed, may be a bit much for some), and they do so again with this unexpected undertaking.Schneider, Martin (16 June 2017). " 'THE MODERN ANTIQUARIAN': JULIAN COPE'S GUIDED TOUR OF THE MEGALITHS OF BRITAIN". Dangerous Minds. Universally praised by The Guardian, Times, Telegraph, Independent, Mail and their ilk, the first edition of 20,000 sold out in under one month! But it was the specialists and academics who really revealed the depth of Julian's new work: Ronald Hutton has called The Modern Antiquarian 'the best popular guide to Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments for half a century', whilst Aubrey Burl wrote 'such a splendid book, splendid in both its illustration and its prose, rare partners in the archaeological world. I shall use it, of course.' Even the hoary archaeology magazine Antiquity asked Julian to write for them, and has warned its crusty readers not to 'miss its message... or bury our heads in the sand.'