New interpretations of the Cerne Abbas Giant

arstechnica.com

19 points·Archelaos··8 comments

> A major attraction of Dorset, England, is the Cerne Abbas Giant, a 180-foot-tall figure of a naked man wielding a large club carved with chalk into a hilltop.

Aye, he’s wielding a massive club indeed

Carry on up the iron age.

(I live a short drive away)

It’s always amusing because the local villages appear very prim and proper, in a very old-fashioned English countryside way, but on the nearby hillside is this massive …

The locals also reportedly got upset recently because the phallus was omitted from an image of the giant on packaging:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/31/cerne-abbas-gian...

People who appear prim and proper are probably not. People who are stereotypical expected to be prim and proper are often anything but.

> People who appear prim and proper are probably not

Yes, exactly, hence 'appear'. The people who are more shocked are the out-of-area friends / relatives that we sometimes drive there with.

People get shocked by it? I find that shocking. I though everyone in Britain new about it.

A more up to date photo of the big man, just down the road from here: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.8136824,-2.4751357,116m/da...

Clearly it's a warning to any extraterrestrials that may consider invading our planet. "I have a big stick"

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