Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss megaliths - huge stones placed in the landscape, often visually striking and highly prominent. Such stone monuments in Britain and Ireland mostly date from the Neolithic period, and the most ancient are up to 6,000 years old. In recent decades, scientific advances have enabled archaeologists to learn a large amount about megalithic structures and the people who built them, but much about these stones remains unknown and mysterious. With Vicki Cummings Professor of Neolithic Archaeology at the University of Central Lancashire Julian Thomas Professor of Archaeology at the University of Manchester and Susan Greaney Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Exeter.
This was an impregnable fortress.
The only way you got out was in a wooden box.
The controversial maximum security prison, impossible to escape from.
One of the duties of a political.
Prisoner is the escape the IRA inmates who found a way.
I'm Carlo Gabler, and I'll be navigating a path through the disturbing inside story of the biggest jailbreak in british and irish history.
The narrative that they want is that this is a big achievement by them.
Escape from.
From the maze.
Listen first on BBC Sounds.
Thank you for downloading this episode of in our time.
For news about in our time, and for recommendations about our archive, please follow us on Twitter bbcinourtime.
I hope you enjoy the programs.
Hello.
In many parts of the world, it's possible to see huge stones that have been placed in the landscape.
Often they're visually striking and highly prominent.
They're called megaliths.
And such stone monuments in Britain and Ireland mostly date from the neolithic period.
The oldest ones are up to 6000 years old.
In recent decades, scientific advances have enabled archaeologists to learn large amounts about megalithic structures and the people who built them.