Sources of Inspiration

In April we started the project by finding out about life in the Stone Age at Penrith and Eden Museum. Museum staff let us handle original objects and replicas from the Stone Age. We talked about what life was like, what they wore, how they found food and how they traded things like stone tools. We found out about the local stone circle, Long Meg and her Daughters: where the stones came from, stories and myths that have grown up around this important pre-historic site.

“I learnt about Stone Age people and am more interested now” Luke

In May we visited Long Meg and Her Daughters with professional photographer, Richie Johnston. We explored this amazing stone circle, thought about the people who made it, counted the stones and took photographs. We wondered why the stone circle was made and how it was used. Why did they carve the biggest stone, Long Meg?

“Really big and epic”. “Counting the stone circles was fun – you could never get it the same”

“I find Long Meg really interesting because of how, in the past, they managed to align all the stones. It’s very interesting to think just how they would do it. It would be hard today with our technology”

“We took a picture of each rock individually so we could layer them up on each other and see how many rocks there are. When we photographed we had to aligned the stone so that the horizon is in the middle of the picture”

In May we visited Keswick Museum, mainly to see their amazing stone lithophone. We also created our own percussion piece using natural objects and bike railings in the museum yard. On the way home we visited Castleriggs stone circle which is another Neolithic site with amazing views.

“There were so many notes. There was a stone for every note. It must have taken ages to make” – Lewis

“At the museum I liked hitting different natural materials with drumsticks and seeing what sounds they made” – Jack

“We used drumsticks and played on rocks and other materials in the playground and recorded that” – Arthur

“… we played the stone lithograph and that was really interesting to video. I’ve got some great shots” – Jess