The Hare #17 [July 2026]

Your monthly round-up of landscape discoveries, archaeological news, historical mysteries and folkloric curiosities, brought to you by Northern Earth magazine.

• The Summer issue of Northern Earth (#184) is out now (subs are still only £12 a year!). Our biggest-ever issue explores the landscape-inspired music of Craven Faults, tells the stories of the Rollright Stones, and visits Dartmoor, Wales, Scotland and beyond… But we only have 20 copies left already – grab one while you can as a reprint is uncertain!

Subscribe to the printed journal

• We have just 2 copies of the Spring issue (#183) left and you can pick up single (non-subscription) copies here while stocks last.

Remember we also have an online bookshop featuring copies of recently published titles related to our interests (often ones reviewed in the journal, and many at 10% off the cover price). Recent titles added include:

• Magical Dispositions – a brand new book by our former editor John Billingsley, exploring the history of magical thinking in Calderdale.

• Folklore: A journey through past and present – a new landmark survey by Owen Davies and Ceri Houlbrook

• Bog People – a ‘working-class anthology of folk horror’ edited by Hollie Starling

• Treasures on Earth – Jeremy Harte’s new book on ‘buried wealth in landscape and legend’

And now on with the regulars…

(Other recent news can be found in the printed magazine.)

• Three Bronze Age gold torcs found in ‘incredibly rare’ discovery near Carlisle [News & Star]

• How a 4,000-year-old Bronze Age burial mound unearthed in Leeds reveals secrets of ancient life and death [Yorkshire Evening Post]

• Striped rock dismissed as natural in 1928 reclassified as UK’s oldest cave art [The Guardian]

• Somerset detectorist strikes gold with ‘spectacular’ Roman ring find [The Guardian]

• Stonehenge’s altar stone probably wasn’t transported by a glacier [New Scientist]

• Simpler, older version of Stonehenge found three miles from famous site [BBC News]

• Mysterious 2,500-year-old holes scattered all over Denmark investigated by archaeologists [Ancient Pages]

• Pupils amazed by Tudor tunnels under their school [BBC News]

• Ditch full of 7,000-year-old headless human skeletons discovered in Slovakia, baffling archaeologists [Live Science in Archaeology]

• Iron Age Britons may have removed the brains of the dead [New Scientist]

• ‘Demonized, called hysterical’: the rise of witchcraft retreats where US women go to defy man and church [The Guardian]

• ‘Marks that speak across time’: rock carvings and drawings discovered in Oman [The Art Newspaper]

• Intact ancient Maya city Minanbé discovered in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, Mexico [Ancient Pages]

• 280 mysterious stone circles discovered in the Sahara [Futura]

• Ancient human DNA found on cave art for the first time [New Scientist]

• ‘It was very very good’: Ötzi the Iceman’s body is covered in ancient yeast – and scientists just used it to make a sourdough [Live Science in Archaeology]

• Mysterious ‘Hum’ heard worldwide may finally be explained [Earth.com]

• 1 July Lincolnshire Witches and Cunning Folk. Online talk from the Folklore Centre.

• 7 July Dragons and their Hoards. Online talk from the Folklore Society, by Jeremy Harte.

• 8 July Avebury Papers talk: OGS Crawford and his legacy in Southampton. Southampton City Art Gallery.

• 11 July The Junction: Women, Feminism and Folklore. Why it Matters. Hosted by the Folklore Centre. Wholefood Café, Todmorden.

• 16 July Slaughter of the Innocents: can sacred vision prevent the felling of ancient trees? The Meditatio Centre, Myddleton Square, London.

• 18 July until 2 August CBA Festival of Archaeology 2026. Events nationwide.

• 21 July Historic Building Mythbusting: Uncovering Folklore, History & Archaeology. Online talk from the Folklore Society, by James Wright.

• 21 July Screening of Time and Water, directed by Sara Dosa. Presented by Stone Club. Verdant Taproom, Penryn.

• 25 July Heresy & Stone Club Capsule Collection launch, featuring John Billingsley. Altogether Otherwise, Manchester.

• 25 July A celebration of Arthur Machen (3 film screenings). Bijou Cinema, Southport.

• Until 4 July From Neolithic Salt to a Saxon Princess. Land of Iron Museum, Skinningrove, North Yorkshire.

• Until 11 July Radical Halifax. Calderdale Industrial Museum.

• Until 1 August Ian McKeever: Seven Stones. HackelBury Fine Art, London.

• Until 13 September A Place That Whispers – folkloric photography exhibition. Hidcote, Gloucestershire.

• Until 27 September Attingham Unearthed: The Finds (archaeology exhibition). Attingham Park, Shrewsbury.

• Until 17 October The Avebury Papers: two artists respond to the site’s multimedia archive. Southampton City Art Gallery.

• Until 1 November The Saxons – immersive exhibition at Discover Bucks Museum, Aylesbury.

• Until 1 November British Landscapes: A Sense of Place. Pallant House Gallery, Chichester.

• Until November Nancy Holt: MoonSunStarEarthSkyWater. Goodwood Art Foundation, Sussex.

• Until 16 May 2027 Scotland’s First Warriors. From the Neolithic to the Romans. National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh.

• Until 2027 Viking North, showcase of best collection of finds outside London. Yorkshire Museum, York.

• Until summer 2027 Chariots, Treasure & Power: Secrets of the Melsonby Hoard. Yorkshire Museum, York.

• [Explore] If you missed (or want to revisit) 2022’s World of Stonehenge exhibition at the British Museum, you can now tour it online.

• [Read] If you enjoyed Lizzie Bickerstaff’s piece in the latest Northern Earth, sign up to her Substack for loads more wonderful pieces of writing.

• [Read] Meanwhile, keep up with the National Folklore Survey and more at Dr David Clarke’s newsletter too.

• [Support/Watch] No Trees, No Seas is a campaign to support biodiversity. It’s also the title of a related documentary: look out for screenings (e.g. at Finisterre stores) or watch the trailer.

• [Read] NE subscriber Graeme Chappell has an excellent blog about his explorations of Yorkshire sites associates with folklore and archaeology.

Thanks to various readers for the tipoffs! Do reply to this newsletter or email Northern Earth if you have useful links to share. (If your suggestion hasn’t appeared yet, it may well next time!)