The following are the four areas of research I am currently exploring. Progress is rather slow as academic research is not part of my day job, and having dyslexic my reading speed is about a third of that of others so I need to be very selective about what I spend my time reading. A number of these strands compliment each other and overlap.
'Natural Philosophy' - current thinking and my own thoughts on human nature and how to be in the modern world
This is the
catch all title I am giving to my current wide ranging literature review which
is both academic and personal. To provide a wider context for the understanding
of ritual, and what it means to be human. I am looking at various topics including:-
human universals and unique qualities that differ from other animals, the
nature of the mind and cognitive biases, the mis-match between human nature and
the modern world, how human behaviour can be changed, spatial perception, origins
of ritual and ritual efficacy.
I have also
been on a lengthy personal process which started with writing down my own
personal worldview, favourite maxims and quotes, and has now moved on to gathering
data on current thinking across disciplines, about the topics listed above, and
then to check against them. As my maxims put it “I want to find out what is
right, rather than trying to prove myself right”, whist bearing in mind that
“the map is not the territory” and that “ideas are tools not rules”. The main
reference I use is New Scientist magazine which allows me to maximise coverage and currency in my literature review, but I will be looking at a selection of practical
philosophical and other literature as well. (Note: I do not have access via an academic institution to relevant journals).
This is both
an exercise to better understand the various topics listed above and to understand
myself, so that when I write up other research I can be as honest as I can
about my own personal biases and world view up front. I am also using this
process to gather scientific and philosophical points on how to lead a good
life, become a better person and so make an, on- balance, positive contribution
to the world. This has been a long process but will hopefully condense down to
a few easy to remember maxims and simple practices for daily use. The results
of all of this will appear on my forthcoming replacement website.
'Sacred Play' - ritual theory for practitioners
Practitioners of ritual have been studied by academics and contributed to their understanding of ritual and development of theories. But as a former practitioner I had realised that many of these ideas would benefit those who practice by giving them a better understanding of the ritual process. For example a number of rituals that I have experienced that didn't work, theory has explained why this was the case. So I am gathering those theories and ideas that in my experience would be most useful (as well as more general scientific research from Natural Philosophy strand). Much of this material has already been gathered and I just need to collate it. The results of all of this will appear on my forthcoming replacement website.
'Doorways to the Divine' - patterns of ritual space
How prehistoric ritual sites are used is poorly understood as few archaeologists have a background in ritual studies or performance. I have both. And having encountered Ronald L Grimes' modes of ritual; Ceremonial, Liturgical, Magical and Celebratory, I wondered whether the different modes of ritual had different spatial requirements. If these could be discerned, by looking at contemporary practice, then perhaps when these were applied to the prehistoric sites a better understanding could be had of how they were actually used and the societies of the time, rather than just putting them in the catch all phrase of 'ritual'. My research to date (see 2012 Publications) has shown a clear pattern for Liturgical space, and preliminary work indicates there will be differences for other modes. It is hoped that with cases studies on other ritual spaces by myself or others involved with CPASE (Contemporary Paganism and Alternative Spiritualities in Europe) will provide enough data to define the spatial requirements (if any) for these other modes. I also have more literature reviewing to do on spatial theory.
Landscape Archaeology & Historical Research
I
have carried out research on a number sites (see Research Reports in
Publications) that divided into two types:-
Landscape
Archaeology; detailed studies of landscapes development through all time
periods. Written up as reports.
Historical
Research; transcribing documents about historic properties concerning their
occupants, architecture, contents, gardens and estates. Transcribed in to HTML
and key facts extracted and entered in to a specially designed database.I am intending to write these up in more accessible formats either for book or web publication. Some additional research will be done to bring the material up to date. The first of these will either be Brean Down (book/web) or Dyrham Park (web).
Slaughterbridge Projects (former project)
Nick Hanks was a foundered and director of STEP (Slaughterbridge Training Excavation Project) and TESP (Tintagel Environs Survey Project). He is no longer actively involved in the project or in the updating of these pages. The project continues being run by Dr Niall Finneran of Winchester University.
