Online: Monumental Memories – Indigenous Memory and Stonehenge

The true purpose of monuments like Easter Island and Stonehenge were to act as memory palaces'

Without writing indigenous elders memorised a vast amount of factual information on which survival depended both physically and culturally: knowledge of thousands of animals and plants, astronomical charts, vast navigation networks, genealogies, geography and geology… the list goes on and on. How did they remember so much? And why does this explain the purpose of ancient monuments including Stonehenge, Easter Island and the Nasca Lines? Can we use these memory methods in contemporary life?

After discovering that the true purpose of monuments like Easter Island and Stonehenge were to act as memory palaces, Dr Lynne Kelly takes this knowledge and introduces us to the best memory techniques humans have ever devised, from ancient times and the Middle Ages to methods used by today’s memory athletes. A memory champion herself, Kelly tests all these methods and demonstrate the extraordinary capacity of our brains at any age.

Dr Lynne Kelly, author of The Memory Code and Memory Craft, will explain the exact mechanisms used and why this explains the purpose of many enigmatic monuments around the world – and that we have a great deal to learn from the extraordinary mnemonic skills of indigenous cultures.

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