Neil Oliver: News, Comment, History

This week Neil travels to the largest artificial, prehistoric mound in Europe.Half a million tons of chalk were used by our Neolithic ancestors to build Silbury Hill. Neil explores this colossal monument, the mystery and myths that surround it and the role it played in the lives of the people who constructed it. Built at a time when our ancestors had moved from being hunter gathers to farmers and were starting to make marks on the landscape, it’s an incredibly powerful statement that shouts ‘we are here’!Check out the Podcast Instagram Account - Neil Oliver Love Letter Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s podcast Neil’s journey continues across Wiltshire’s powerful ritual landscape, taking us to the largest stone circle in the world.Avebury is a colossal monument built over centuries by our Neolithic ancestors. It consists of three stone circles and at its heart is the cove stone weighing nearly 100 tons. This complex and mysterious monument chart’s the seasons, marks time and once brought our ancestors together. Awed by its sheer scale and intent Neil testifies to the fact that, thousands of years ago, this surely was a place that meant so much.Check out the Podcast Instagram Account - Neil Oliver Love Letter Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode Neil takes us to a place that is famous around the world and speaks of massive intent.Constructed with huge stones weighing up to 40 tons and great sarsen trilithons - Stonehenge is truly monumental. It brought our ancestors and their ideas together, tracking the light, the planets and time - and 5000 years after it was begun it's somewhere that still has the power to put you in your place.Check out the Podcast Instagram Account - Neil Oliver Love Letter Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode Neil takes us across Wiltshire’s Ritual Landscape to investigate a mysterious chambered tomb.Built by our ancestors over 5000 years ago West Kennet Long Barrow is one of the largest chambered tombs in the British Isles. In it were found stone daggers, beads and pottery together with skulls, long bones and other human remains – a place that that still has the power and presence to make the hairs on the back of your neck rise as you crawls inside.Check out the Podcast Instagram Account - Neil Oliver Love Letter Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Neil explores heaven itself.Travelling back in time to the Neolithic and the inspiringly beautiful Great Langdale in Cumbria’s Lake District, Neil delves into the history behind the famous greenstone axe heads. Telling the story of our ancestors who produced them and finding out what them tick. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode Neil takes us deep underground chasing the beautiful, ‘must-have’ raw material our ancestors craved.Travelling to the incredible lunar landscape of Grime’s Graves in Norfolk, Neil unravels the story of how, 5,000 years ago, our ancestors mined high quality flint on an almost industrial scale. Miners with a deep sense of responsibility, always giving something back for what they took from the earth - an ancient knowledge we are only just starting to relearn today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode Neil travels to a time when our ancestors lived with their dead in a way many of us would find shocking today.Journeying to the World Heritage Site on the east coast of Ireland, where the incredible Neolithic tombs at Newgrange and Knowth sit, Neil explores an age that still has many hidden secrets. As soon as he steps foot inside the monumental megalithic art, it’s clear that this place continues to hold the power to move us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode Neil turns the British Isles upside down! Travelling to Orkney, off the north-east tip of Scotland, he uncovers ancient burial tombs, ceremonial halls and gives us a glimpse of an influential powerhouse long hidden by time.As he tells the story of the profound changes this once formidable centre of influence has undergone, Neil unravels the lessons history tells us and the pointers it gives to what may lay ahead in the future. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Neil takes us to the roots of the most profound, self-inflicted, social upheaval our species has ever known.Travelling to the west coast of Ireland, Neil tells the story of how our view of the world, and our place in it changed forever - the introduction of farming and the daily grind around 10,000 years ago has had social and psychological consequences we are still coming to terms with today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Neil brings us face to face with the violent, bloody birth of the British Isles.In this episode Neil takes us to Angus, in Scotland to see the breath-taking beauty of the Montrose Basin and evidence of the biggest natural disaster the world has seen in the last 8000 years. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.