Dr Neil Wilkin - NMS 2022 Archaeology Conference

NMS 5th Annual Archaeology Conference: Boyne and Beyond
Lives that bind: three stories from the world of Stonehenge
Dr Neil Wilkin, Curator of Early Europe (Neolithic and Bronze Age collections), British Museum

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I think these ‘drums’ were teaching tools, early representations of the world as they knew it. The top is the primordial mound with north, south, east, west. The sides helped explained how to read the sun and seasons. The eyes and wings motif depicts the Phoenix (sun rise) and the serpent (chaos) chasing it out from the underworld. The ball was a tool to show the sun’s movement, and the wands and triangulation points taught how to travel by starlight.