05/08/2026
Look out for an interesting documentary on BBC Radio 4 this coming weekend created by Karine Polwart, Dave Milligan and Pippa Murphy: ‘James Hutton and the Restless Earth’, which weaves together the thoughts of Angus Millar, Professor David Farrier and Ilana Halperin together with music specially created for the programme.
Tune in to BBC Radio4 at 19.15 BST on Sunday August 9th or catch up on BBC Sounds after that.
Geology.
Deep Time.
Human Time.
Deep Futures.
Traces of the world we’ve made.
Hutton’s hypothesis that the formation of the earth had taken unfathomably longer than contemporary Biblical understandings was bound up with his hands on experience of earth processes as an innovative farmer. When he and two companions stepped ashore from a boat trip to Siccar Point, a rugged promontory in the Scottish Borders in June 1788, what Hutton saw was horizontal layers of Old Red Sandstone overlaying tilted, vertical ribs of dark greywacke, laid down some 60 million years earlier. The immense gap in time between these rock types, a breach in the continuous geological record, is what geologists today call an unconformity. And it is evidence, as Hutton had theorised, of unfathomably long, slow processes of geologic change.
Dr Angus Miller explains the geological processes at play and offers insight into Hutton’s character.
For David Farrier, Hutton’s discoveries illuminate not only the deep past but pose ethical questions about the future. He wonders how our urban, industrial and technological debris might eventually manifest in rock strata, what our future ancestors might make of us and what responsibilities we have to generations as yet unborn.
Ilana Halperin shares a birthday with Iceland’s Eldfell volcano, which she visits at significant milestones throughout their lives. Her art explores the intersection of human and geological time, evoking deeply personal connections to rock. For Ilana, Hutton’s discoveries offer a radical reimagining of our relationship with the fabric of the planet.
Written by Karine Polwart
Produced by Peter McManus
Music: Karine Polwart, Dave Milligan, Pippa Murphy
Sound Design: Pippa Murphy
