@Timothyswallehz Not as much as I would like, there is so much to know.

@Timothyswallehz I am interested in stone structures and Zimbabwe has some of the best

@Timothyswallehz No, I live in Scotland.

@SecondUniverse I can't even imagine the treasures that were lost. What still exists in Zimbabwe is truly some of the most intricate and best drystone in the world.

@LukePhilipps ha! Yes, exactly!

@oscarfalcon Lovely!!

@uriel I think you have completely misunderstood what I am saying.

@oscarfalcon I love this!! Once we have a bigger garden we are very keen to get some standing stones too.

@alx @oscarfalcon I would absolutely love to read it. Thank you so much! And good luck with the final push.

@alx @oscarfalcon Is your thesis online? I would love to read more. What you are saying makes so much sense. Also so glad to meet you, in my world very few other people are thinking the same way that I am about this.

You can read the first installment of Drystone Diary here

https://kristiedegaris.substack.com/p/drystone-diary-what-is-drystone

@afewbugs Hello, no, it will come out on Sunday so doesn't exist yet. Thank you for checking though!

@oscarfalcon @alx I find the same about crafts in Europe tbh. This trend in UK publishing right now to romanticise crafts as purely meditative makes me so angry. The craft is in the body, the making unmakes the maker. That's ignored in favour of a pretty picture.

I think European insitutions that head up crafts have a responsibility to speak honestly and openly about this history and redress the balance where possible. I never see it happening.

@oscarfalcon This is very kind. Thank you! I love that people are engaging with this ancient craft and my thoughts on it.

@alx @oscarfalcon Sadly, this is very true and again, while I can only talk specifically about drystone (as that is my main experience), it seems clear that the institutions at the front of these crafts have so much to answer for.

@oscarfalcon No, I haven't ever been asked. I think others in the community don't appreciate my views and my dislike of the institutions and their attitudes. I also don't present the comforting view of traditional crafts that people like to have.

@Robbins Completely agree. That's why I wrote this piece. As a drystone waller and therefore a custodian of the craft it is important to talk about all sides of it.

@xs4me2 Absolutely

@oscarfalcon 100% and it's a subject specifically within drystone that we do not talk about enough. Our understanding of the world and the craft is extremely Eurocentric. Why? Racism, let's be honest.

For decades, descendants of the people who built Great Zimbabwe were told by colonial archaeologists that they couldn't possibly have built it. This despite all the evidence & Zimbabwe meaning 'houses of stone' in the Shona language.

The ancient aliens industry applies the same logic to Sacsayhuamán in Peru.

Yet nobody questions who built the impressive structures in Rome or Greece.

Sunday's Drystone Diary will explore Whose History Is Worth Keeping?

#DrystoneDiary #Nature #Writing #History