STONEHENGE DISCOVERY: Mesolithic Pits | Time Team's Henry Chapman | Interview

Dani Wootton catches up with Time Team's own Prof Henry Chapman to discover more about a fascinating project at one of Britain's most iconic monuments: Stonehenge.
Henry is part of a team from the University of Birmingham and Ghent University that has made some major discoveries that enrich our understanding of this incredible landscape. Stonehenge's story begins many generations before the arrival of the famous stone circles.
Dani and Henry take us way back to Mesolithic Britain - the time of hunter gatherers...
Many thanks to Henry Chapman, University of Birmingham and Philippe De Smedt, Ghent University.
Interactive 3D model of Stonehenge Mesolithic pit: sketchfab.com/3d-models/a-lar...
Article in Journal of Archaeological Science: www.sciencedirect.com/science...
Discover more about Mesolithic Britain and Blick Mead, 'the Stone Henge Spring', in our chat with Prof David Jacques: • Blick Mead: Stonehenge...
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[@priscillareeve]

The marvellous Henry - thank you Dani too!

[@SlEasyTarget]

The concept of Stonehenge sitting in a huge and complex ritual landscape is not new. But the last decades worth of large-scale surveys is really highlighting this aspect. Great stuff.

[@bettyboadwine4890]

The "concept" may not be new , but the acceptance of the concept and thought/idea from a scientific aspect is a leap forward. Science doesn't always move as fast as we would like or think.

[@seriousmaran9414]

The sheer scale of the surveys being done is new, and producing information we would not have otherwise. A lot of people only think of Britain since the last glacial period so finding things from before and spreading knowledge is important.

[@nolasmith7687]

I’d love to talk to someone living at that time. Is it reallly all ritual?? Or is it just like our astronomy setups today…their cutting edge tech to keep the seasons straight.

[@stitch3163]

Brilliant! Thank you Dani and Henry for this fascinating discussion.

[@HandmadeDarcy]

Thank you so much for this. I'm bed-bound and in particular pain, today, but you took me away and I could almost smell the soil. 🙏🙏🙏

[@TimeTeamOfficial]

You’re welcome Darcy, get well soon 😊

[@RobBoudreau]

Henry is simply brilliant. It always seemed like he had a simple job, just walk around with a big pole and take measurements. That might be simple enough, but then having to put all that in GIS software (not easy in itself) and make a 3D model out of it... the math alone makes my brain melt. A very smart man. Bringing up Star Carr, I think that site really begs the question of just how settled were the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. The term "hunter-gatherer" conjures up images of a people always on the move, but Star Carr and other recent sites seem to point to quite the opposite. They may have moved seasonally, moving from one camp to another, not constantly on the move. It's the impression I'm getting. Thank you Dani and Henry, a very interesting and thought provoking conversation.

[@PartlySunny74]

Excellent update with Professor Henry Chapman! Thank you! It would be lovely to hear from other team members as to what projects they have been involved in over the years. Also, can’t wait for another crowd-sponsored new episode of Time Team. Come on KZbinrs, support what you love for yourself and others too! Be part of history!

[@TimeTeamOfficial]

We hope you enjoy this video 😊 As you know we’re fan-funded on Patreon, but if you can’t join us there, don’t worry… You can also support us by sending a Super Thanks via KZbin. Click the love heart symbol underneath our video to say thanks 😊

[@Mark-xx8go]

I really enjoyed that 'chat'. Each and every interviewee is so enthusiastic; to have nailed the work life balance...your work is your life...sorted.

[@richardmellish2371]

If I've got it right, there's about the same interval of 5000 years between the 4 m pit and the earliest phase of Stonehenge as between the latter and now. That's a LONG time.

[@Sp33gan]

How wonderful to hear from Henry. I've often thought that many of the keys to the TT sites were due to Henry's work, yet he always seemed to be the unsung hero of the show. Don't get me wrong, I love almost every member of the cast of the original show, but many played their parts more in the background, Henry Chapman included. Nice to see that he is a respected member of the archaeological community, as I've always felt he deserved. Far more than just 'they guy with the surveying pole' or 'the little guy' as Phil once referred to him as (I know I heard the fondness in Phil's voice but I still winced at the slight.

[@sheilasanderson9681]

That was a brilliant discussion. Thank you.

[@AmySoyka]

10:44 Really fascinating seeing the technology being used in geophysics... That electrical survey is sharp as obsidian! Amazing stuff.

[@markcooke]

Interpretation is random

[@mermeridian2041]

Lovely catching up with Henry and seeing the interesting things he's been doing, and appreciate Dani's 'time scale' reminder and how she set the scene for how things were when Stonehenge was coming about. That really did help to set the scene. Enjoyed seeing the developments in "geo-phys"/landscape archaeology and seeing it in practical use. Adore the enthusiasm and the information! Fascinating! Great links, too. Thanks so much for these chats! It's great to see how our TT friends are getting along in their lives and what they've been doing! Keep up the great work!

[@stephanieyee9784]

This was such an interesting interview and very informative. I can't believe "our Henry" has grown up and is doing such amazing work around Stonehenge. I love that both Dani and Henry are not just enthusiastic about archaeology but also about the real people whose lives they are excavating. Their work, thoughts on the climate changing around them, why they dug a pit that shape. Were they connected with the ancient people inhabiting Doggerland? They were us. A lovely interview. Thank you.

[@sgh1132]

Great Coverage of a Great Topic! Thank you!

[@bjdefilippo447]

The rose stone is beautiful. I'd never heard of that mineralization.

[@nolasmith7687]

Where can we get info on the rose mineralisation???

[@bjdefilippo447]

@@nolasmith7687 Good question. Hopefully, someone in the know will post.

[@richardkaskeski8820]

Very interesting presentation , Every Time Team show I watch I learn something , time well spent! thanks TT. I totally enjoy these shows.

[@unicornsandrainbowsandchic2336]

That comment about mass media pieces vs. academic articles was such an accurate insight. It's fun trying to sneak a line or two of the former into the latter 😊

[@kariannecrysler640]

Henry❤ Thank you both so much for this excellent video. What a discovery. All hail the tech & technicians 🎉🎉 All hail the archaeologists 🎉🎉

[@susiestockton-link3902]

Absolutely fascinating. That was just so interesting - Henry and Dani's enthusiasm for this distant world is ..alluring. Oh! for a time machine.

[@TimeTeamOfficial]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@susiestockton-link3902]

@@TimeTeamOfficial oh, I did. ONE day, I'd love to come and be a pot-washer for you. The height of my ambitions!

[@AngelaStone5678]

As a video games developer, I wholeheartedly approve of your poster, Henry! 👌

[@terhitormanen]

Brilliant! Thank you for this interview!

[@mbaird3286]

Miss Sir Tony and the crew working away and getting our minds involved.

[@larryzigler6812]

I don't. I just enjoy this !!!!!

[@DavidBridger1]

@@larryzigler6812 Quite. I enjoy engaging with the science without having to block out Robinson's noise.

[@nataliebarrow6348]

Finally! Been waiting for him

[@kevinmccarthy8746]

YES, Yes, You are one of the Un Sung hero`s of Time Team I believe. The New show is very good and you have come to fruition.

[@martinmchugh001]

Yay! Super good entertainment. Thanks!!

[@TimeTeamOfficial]

Our pleasure!

[@diananelson3702]

Thank you so much. Stonehenge is a fascinating place. I can't learn enough about it.

[@RKHageman]

FYI- Dr. Francis Pryor and Mike Parker Pearson have both written excellent books on it!

[@chrishagberg3420]

Thanks, Dani and Henry, for a fascinating conversation!

[@simonorch]

My favourite place to take in the Stonehenge landscape is from the Kings Barrows. Park by Woodhenge and take in Durrington walls, the Cuckoo stone and cursus. Far nicer way to experience stonehenge IMO than the crowds by the stones.

[@promiscuous5761]

Thank you.

[@parrotraiser6541]

The effort to investigate an archaeological site is considerable, so it's necessay to have an idea of what you're looking for. This effort has expanded the number of places that are worth the trouble of investigation. The geographical pattern is also interesting, because it tells a story in itself, and it suggests other places to look.

[@debbralehrman5957]

Awesome Thank you so much for keeping us update on what is going on. I don't always get this information here in Arizona, USA. It is nice I can count on Time Team.

[@Bramble451]

TLOU2 poster in the background. Now we know how he REALLY spends his time!

[@jonathansturm4163]

Graber and Wengrow’s “The Dawn of Everything” is an interesting reinterpretation of the transition from hunter-gathering to agriculture. I’m about halfway though.

[@happygrandma5637]

I have 4 different County libraries I can access for ebooks and this is on hold at each one. 3 have a 4 week hold and 1 says: available soon. Needless to say, that the 'available soon' is the one I choose.

[@pollyb.4648]

Darn, my library doesn't have it! Can't wait to read.

[@happygrandma5637]

@@pollyb.4648 Are you in the US? When I originally signed up with my local county library, I wasn't finding everything I had hoped for. I went to my local branch and asked if I could get access any other libraries. From them I learned there were 2 other counties bordering mine that I could access plus the Oregon Digital Library Consortium and the Fort Vancouver Regional Library across the river in Washington state. I mostly find my digital reading through my own county system, but I do have to venture into the others. The great thing about the system I have access to is that it will list all four of my libraries showing if a specific one has the book I want and if it's available now or I can put a hold on it. Books are too expensive (for me at any rate) to simply buy them from Barnes and Noble or Kindle.

[@pollyb.4648]

@@happygrandma5637 Wisconsin, I have access to all of the systems here and I did find the book. One copy but couldn't find a hold button. I'll visit my local next week, they'll help. Thanks for your info! I can't afford to buy either so I 💕 my local library!

[@happygrandma5637]

@@pollyb.4648 I was going to bite the bullet and order a book from the Time Team site, it wasn't hugely expensive, but shipping made it about 2x what I was willing to pay and that on top of the book itself. Good luck it being able to get it from your library. As a matter of fact, it became available, and I've downloaded it will be reading it this week.

[@Watcher1852]

THANK YOU

[@timothyp8947]

Thanks for a really interesting video. I am led to wonder how much of these finds around Stonehenge itself are because the site has had some special intrinsic meaning throughout the ages, and how many discoveries are made in the locale because it gets such attention from archaeologists. Perhaps there was some key root event or structure in the far past and everything else is built around that and it’s descendants over time. For example, if no other information survived, what would an archaeologist of 100s or 1000s of years in the future make of the anybody remains of the car park and visitor if they excavated? It’s all very fascinating.

[@melissamybubbles6139]

Thank you for doing another dig!

[@paulinetravis9994]

Thank you

[@charlemagnesclock]

Hunting with a pit typically requires some method of causing the prey to move toward the pit. This may have been done with a combination of wood fencing (think the sticks used in wattle and daub iron age and later construction), and then using an advancing line to cause the prey to retreat toward the pit. One interpretation of the lower right conquered figure on the back side of the Narmer Palette is that the little bowtie symbol may represent such an enclosure, the remains of several Neolithic examples of which have been identified out in the Sinai. There may have been something about the forests of what is now the Salisbury Plain that lent itself to such a hunting method. In any event, I thoroughly enjoyed this video. Well Done Time Team!

[@0987am]

I wonder too, charcoal was in the bottom along with the tiny flint. How much charcoal? if the animal in in the bottom of the pit, is it burned there before being pulled up?

[@nolasmith7687]

Wonderful! I love the thought that we really know so very little about what this world has been through. Always so much to learn! Bless you Time Team. I’m a happy little patron. It’s one of the few things that I do sponsor. I’d love to visit the UK and just do to a very long archeological tour…like what’s with that deer antler place in Yorkshire? Need to learn more about that! Gotta say though…the new Time Team presenters aren’t a patch on Tony, and Mick, and Phil.

[@ceridwenmckenna7313]

Informative, Accessible, Very Interesting! This is one of my favorite interviews! And I have to admit having a bit of a crush on Prof. Chapman for years. ;)

[@AnnaAnna-uc2ff]

Thanks.

[@JohhnyB82]

Also love the Dalek on the shelf!

[@morpheus2573]

The seasonal window of opportunity to grow and harvest was greatly reduced in the colder Mesolithic climate. The storage of grains, nuts etc over Winter would have been essential for survival. It also keeps things out of site from marauding neighbours. Definitely warrants the effort of digging a storage pit.

[@fernie5128]

brilliant!

[@snazzypazzy]

This was really interesting! I'd love to visit Stonehenge once :) I would have loved to have captions for this video, since my audio processing is a bit slow, it makes videos so much more accessible.

[@RKHageman]

Captions are available on it now-- I am reading them as we speak. There’s a CC button to click next to the Settings icon.

[@joannanorma]

Love your work and it brings to mind this mind boggling fact. First Nations people of Australia are the most ancient continuous civilisation on Earth.... at least 50,000 years. I repeat and emphasise CONTINUOUS.

[@sarah3796]

🥰🥰🥰✨✨❤️💛🖤

[@mangela9517]

Not really. Check out the meaning of the word Civilisation. And then find the words for what you wanted to say🙂🙃

[@juliussigurorsson3509]

I liked that comment from Dani regarding purpose of digging hole. Some modern archeologists tend to have those romantic thoughts about religion and spiritual thoughts of the past. When the fact is - all the way up to 1970. Primary thought of everyone was to make sure they had food and shelter. (and still is outside Europe and N- America). Until 1700 with the invention of crop rotation and modern agriculture, it was panic thought of everybody all the time. Nobody had time to play after age of 3. Everybody had to pull their weight towards living, and half of them died prematurely. I think trap or food storage pit. You have much more stable climate in hole than on surface. Storing root crop, grain and even meet in the summer is better in covered hole in the ground.

[@franciscaencinas2705]

Thank you !!!!

[@robertwise9127]

Nice work you two! Might this translate into more emphasis on pits discovered on Time Team GeoPhys plots?

[@Bramble451]

John Gator was always looking at his results and going, "Let's look at these pits! We need to look at these pits!"

Ver interesting Interview and nice to see Henry doing well :)

[@simonkenworthy5381]

Great program 👍

[@faithlesshound5621]

It was good to be reminded of Doggerland, which disappeared under the North Sea after the end of the last Ice Age. That caused the first "Brexit." Remember, until World War I that sea was known as the German Ocean. The other thing that struck me was the reindeer head-dresses. They reminded me of the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance, which has been going on for centuries not far from Birmingham. Maybe for thousands of years?

[@RHCole]

This should be good!

[@Bramble451]

Did he say "driving at 30 mph"? Wow! I figured it would be more like 10!

[@Sarge80]

When she said flint, i was expecting Phil to barge in hahaha

[@michaelmiller641]

really interesting thankyou for that

[@riverach179]

when you find a pit during a loe resolution survey do you resurvey the area using higher resolution, or finer grid pattern in lieu of actual digging?

[@fenham]

Thanks

[@TimeTeamOfficial]

Thanks for your support, Dave!

[@russha5891]

Thank you, I so miss time team. Just think about how and why our ancestors did things. I always suspect that there must have been periods of abundance, when you are not trying to survive then you can do other things.

[@cabbking]

Has there been similar geo-phys done at Carnac and were any pits found there?

[@pat8988]

Question, was there permafrost at Stonehenge during that time period?

[@fibberscloset498]

My aunt dug a great pit, started a fire, laid the pig carcass in the pit, covered it with soil, and baked it, Hawaiian style. Is that a possibility? Cooking a large animal?

[@alangardner8596]

Stonehenge is very different from all other stone circles and we need to ask why? A regular observer of the moon and sun would soon realise that the moon circles the earth and the earth circles the sun but the great mystery would be eclipses of both moon and the sun. The observer would realise that these eclipses would only happen when the sun and moon were in certain positions but when precisely? If this stone age man found they could work this out with a few well placed posts but then decided to make a more permanent structure then you have the motive for the building of Stonehenge. A big thank you to Gerald S Hawkin for decoding Stonehenge.

[@whycantiremainanonymous8091]

On possible link to Stonehenge, the obvious caveat is that other areas haven't been surveyed as much. Maybe there are mesolithic pits in many other areas, and we just haven't looked for them that carefully.

[@eyesofisabelofficial]

Sea level must be taken in context, as more often than not, landforms collapsed allowing it in. Starr Car shows that these people both settled land and managed land resources. Mention must be made of Greylake which shows signs of settlement and the burial of occupants indicating long term settlement in the 9th millennium BC. (Forgive the edit, having one of those days) Hurriedly built Howick indicates some connection with the disintegration of Doggerland.

[@davidbowman271]

Look at the poster on the wall behind Henry.

[@karlt10]

Won't be back at it 'for a year or two'? Would be nice if higher priority could be placed on sites such as Stonehenge.

[@JonFrumTheFirst]

The actual digging goes pretty quickly. The actual work of archaeology happens later, in the laboratory, and it goes on for years.

[@georgedorn1022]

The post-excavation analysis takes a while to complete and doing this is an important and necessary step to determine the focus of future fieldwork.

[@faithlesshound5621]

@@georgedorn1022 Our museums are full of stuff collected by the Victorians which is STILL being analysed. For example, the Sumerian and Akkadian clay tablets: how many people can read cuneiform texts? Even the papyrus fragments from the dump at Oxyrhynchus, which were in a college basement for over a century, though Oxford is not lacking in people able to read ancient Greek.

[@georgedorn1022]

@@faithlesshound5621 True indeed. One would hope that a 'live' research project would be adequately funded for the necessary post-excavation work to take place in a timely manner.

[@dakotarose8990]

Would be interested in any connection between the landscape around the Ness of Brodgar and that of Stonehenge :-)

[@barkershill]

Not too sure what you have in mind , but if you are thinking along the lines of “ the siting of all stone circles must have some common denominator” , all I can say is that I have had the same thought , looked and cannot find one . There are certainly many stone circles still in existence in Britain , and Aubrey Burl claims there could have been as many as 900 (yup!). And if there is some factor in the landscape linking them all I have not yet discovered it . So just like parish. Churches in more recent times I can only guess that they were just sited wherever was convenient

[@dakotarose8990]

@@barkershill I was thinking more along the lines of the ongoing excavation of Neolithic buildings that possibly predate Stonehenge?

[@harlequin4867]

The energy necessary to dig a pit in chalk as Henry points out is a laborious process. The cost - benefit ratio of its use as an animal trap seems improbable. I’d like to hear Henry or some other archaeologist discuss this issue and especially explain why early humans would go to the trouble of digging such a pit given the inherent cost:benefit ratio.

[@harlequin4867]

By the way, I am a wildlife biologist and my work related to cost:benefit as it relates to natural selection.

[@Pikkugen]

Probably they calculated that once it had been dug, it would serve many years? They wouldn't have been single-use structures, especially near any regular seasonal routes of animals. In that case the benefits would accumulate during time, or even during a single hunting season.

[@sabinedma]

Danke für das interessante Gespräch! Eine Frage: Haben Unterwasserarchäologen den kleinen Fluss, Stream, untersucht? Liebe Grüße aus Salzburg..Austria

[@thatcanadianwhitetrashguy]

I find the Story about How the People of the Past Found Dead Center at Stonehenge . It would have taken a Very Long Time to be Able to do it the Stone Age Way. Unless They were Near the Spot when They First Started Looking. I wonder if You can See the Story in the Pattern of Post Holes that They can Find with Modern Equipment?

[@Womberto]

Why would an animal trap have conical sides?

[@bigsarge2085]

🤜🤛

[@JohhnyB82]

This landscape was densely populated at certain times of the year. Could the pits be latrines? If not, where did they go to poo?

[@secretagent7888]

Were they dug to retrieve flint?

[@larryzigler6812]

Good Lord this is interesting, to say the least 💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘

[@SimonSozzi7258]

This is what I'm talking about

[@alayneperrott9693]

Really ejoyable😊

[@fortunecookie3765]

Could someone conduct some experimental archeology to test how the conical pits might've been used? Were they baited to trap animals? Were they placed in such a way that wild game or charging herds of oryx could be driven into the pits then hunters would finish them off? Food storage is unlikely but hunters must've had some strategies to make hunting easier and safer. On the other hand, hunter-gatherers watched the stars so something might align somehow and it's possible to determine the function of those pits with a little imagination and experimentation. Mesolithic people gathered around Stonehenge during the winter solstice and you'd be able to figure out the environmental conditions at the time so I expect an answer regarding functionality is achievable.

[@eze8970]

🙏🙏

[@1701enter]

Spirit "pit" if you have ever been in a deep pit you will know

[@Smartgran]

And the site in Norfolk where the beads were found.

[@Smartgran]

I’m an armchair archaeologist to add to all my other expertise 😅

[@iDuckman]

*What does the landscape look like 8000 BC??* In passing, it seems it was forest?

[@faithlesshound5621]

Most of Britain was covered by trees at one point, but not when it was covered by ice. There must have been a stage when plants and animals were coming back to the new island, and the hunter-gatherers returned from Southern Europe.

[@ampgray]

Interesting. But it does look like a storage pit to me. Wild grains, nuts or similar?

[@TimeTeamOfficial]

🔔 SPECIAL OFFER 🔔 Get 15% off everything in our online shop (today until 24/08). DISCOUNT CODE: 15BHT Click the weblink below to visit the shop: shop.timeteamdigital.com/discount/15BHT Lots of lovely Time Team merch to choose! 15% off clothing, hats, bags and travel items to books, tools, jewellery, stationary & more! Discount valid from 19th-24th August (23:59 BST). No offer/cash alternative. Offer discount code is 15BHT Offer valid on worldwide orders.

[@michellezenner]

It is entirely adorable to hear the sneezy little one. Thank you. lol

[@jt5765]

Depending on the location of the inverted conical pit could it not have just been a manmade water hole? The people of the time may not have wanted to trek to Block Mead everytime they wanted to drink or fill water skins. Presuming it isn't at a high elevation the chalk would've filtered the water nicely.

[@chazzyb8660]

You mention that a Mesolithic 'house' was "only lived in for 500 years, why was that?" Well perhaps they moved on, granted some of us live in 500 year old houses, but not many of us. Taking us back to 1522, life moves on quite a bit…

[@martinangel7241]

Could they be a very simple shelter? Digging a pit and covering it with hides or vegetation could keep you out of the wind and give you an element of concealment in the landscape. Just a guess.

[@lenabreijer1311]

It was dug through rock with antler picks. There are easier ways to build shelter that wouldn't have the issue of flooding in the rain

[@martinangel7241]

@@lenabreijer1311 Having worked on a farm on the South Downs as a youth, I can tell you that chalk is easy to dig and it drains very quickly. Concealment may have played an important role in hunting at that time, adding an element of surprise.

[@lenabreijer1311]

@@martinangel7241 you tried it with antler picks? And you don't hunt by hiding in a pit. That means the 500 lb piece of meat falls on you. Blinds for hunting are usually above ground behind something or up high.

[@martinangel7241]

Why 500 lbs? How many animals weigh 500 lbs? Boar weigh up to 100 kgs. Of course you wouldn't hunt from the pit itself, but you can sit and wait for your prey to get upwind of you before emerging. I don't hunt myself, but I have family who do, and they always wait for the prey to come to them. The range is obviously vastly different for the kill, but the principal is the same. Of course I haven't used an antler pick, my point was chalk is relatively easy to dig compared to actual rock. So what's your idea?

[@lenabreijer1311]

@@martinangel7241 boar is well over 100kg more like 500kg, elk would be 500lbs, auroche close to ton and mammoth even bigger. Sitting in a 4.5 meter hole just to shoot what walks by?

[@xooberant]

Cheddar, man of the Doggerland highlands (i.e., the now-isles).

[@JonFrumTheFirst]

The claim that 'Cheddar man' had brown skin was challenged a few years ago by a geneticist who works on skin pigmentation. It's just not known what the skin color was. This was reported in newspapers at the time.

[@Dreymasmith]

And this is why that vandalising tunnel must never go ahead. The amount of knowledge that will be lost is appalling, and the finds Henry is talking about demonstrate this starkly. There is an opportunity to reroute the A303 out of the WHS altogether, a much better option which would leave this remarkable landscape undisturbed for the future, the present and the past.

[@stevorobo7455]

In your opinion of course 🙄

[@katetorode8411]

Humans can't live without pits n ditches. Wen we come together we create quagmire lol

[@DaynaRathman]

I’m surprised the stones are still there, not robbed to be part of a castle through the centuries.

[@trevorlewis9975]

It looks like Henry has a mesolithic computer! Can we club together to buy him a decent camera and mike?

[@secretagent7888]

Antler headresses could be used by a human decoy to lure animals?

[@Mariah-dy6lu]

Maybe the pit was to get the nicer chalk deeper down

[@0987am]

Probably pits under the ocean, but not preserved if dug for channel. I would look under water in the doggerland area for similar pits.

[@julianshepherd2038]

Ruddy Bernard Cribbins