|
|
 |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|
|
The Stonehenge Mystery
|
![]() |
|
|
|
|
Stonehenge is probably the best known stone circle in the world, yet even after hundreds of years of archaeological, religious and mystic interest in the site its original purpose still remains a mystery.
A World Heritage site, Stonehenge is the most famous of all the West's many ancient monuments, and as a result attracts tourists from all over the world.
But while its purpose remains a mystery, we do know how old it is. Its first incarnation was built 5,000 years ago in around 3,100 BC, when the circular ditch and bank were built and pits dug in the chalk in a circle.
Then, bizarrely, the site was left alone for more than 1,000 years until the famous stones began to arrive. Over 1,000 years work continued on the monument until work was completed in about 1,500 BC.
The best known part of Stonehenge, and what sets it apart from any other prehistoric monument in Europe, is the central area of the site with the arrangements of stone settings. Of the original 30 upright sarsens (sandstones), 17 still stand. A continuous ring of horizontal lintels once linked these uprights and their edges were smoothed into a gentle curve that follows the line of the entire circle, although only a few are still in position.
Only a few of the 60 stones marking the bluestone setting, concentric the outer sarsen circle remain. Within these two circles lies the sarsen horseshoe, originally made up of five sarsen trilithons (a Greek word meaning three stones) each with two uprights and a horizontal lintel. Enfolded within this huge horseshoe lies a smaller horseshoe arrangement of upright bluestones. The site as it originally stood would have been incredible to see.
Equally as incredible is how ancient peoples managed to make such a huge structure without using cranes and road transport. With no building material available for 13 miles around, the significance of this particular site must have been huge. Its bluestones originate in south west Wales and must have been brought by sea and sledge specially for the site. The sarsens used originate 20 miles away in the Marlborough Downs and some weigh in at over 40 tons per stone, not something to be sniffed at.
Huge holes were dug for the stones and when they reached the site they would have been levered up to a height where they dropped into the hole. Workers would then have pulled each stone up to a completely upright position using ropes.
The outermost element of Stonehenge is the 530m Avenue (entrance, passage) that runs down a gentle slope into Stonehenge Bottom. It consists of twin banks about 12m apart with internal ditches, and it begins at the entrance to the earthwork enclosure where the Heel Stone, a large upright unworked sarsen, lies.
The earthwork enclosure consists of a ditch and interior bank and originally had at least two entrances. Lying within the entrance is the unworked, and now recumbent, sarsen stone called the Slaughter Stone - after rainwater acting on iron stained it a rusty red. Four small upright stones, of which two are still visible, are arranged around the inner edge of the earthwork bank and are known as the Station Stones.
Right next to the bank is a ring of 56 pits, known as the Aubrey Holes each a metre wide by a metre deep. These holes were named in honour of John Aubrey, who first recognized Stonehenge as a pre-historic religious site back in 1648. Two further settings of pits lie between the inner edge of the bank and the outermost stone settings and are known as the Y and Z holes.
The debate over the purpose of Stonehenge has raged for centuries and will continue to do so. The mighty stones are arranged so the sun rises right along The Avenue on midsummer's day, famously spawning theories that the site was an astronomical observatory. Evidence of burials on the site point to the possibility that it was used for ritual sacrifice, but most experts agree at least that Stonehenge was built for religious reasons.
Although the site is now associated with the druids who gather there each summer solstice, it was not built as a temple for them or the Romans.
Wild speculation over the neolithic monument's origins is no new thing, and in 1135 chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth, claimed Stonehenge was brought by a tribe of giants from Africa to Ireland, and then flown by the wizard Merlin across the sea. Another legend claims the stones were stolen from an Irish woman by the Devil, and re-erected on Salisbury Plain by Merlin for Ambrosius Aurelianus, the King of Britons.
Back to the present, plans are afoot to restore Stonehenge to its former setting. At the moment the site stands on Salisbury Plain between two busy roads, which is probably not the best surroundings for a site of such huge archaeological significance. That is why English Heritage, along with the National Trust, central and local government, is working towards removing the A344 road and improving the landscape around the stones.
Backed by £130 million of government money, the scheme involves sinking the A303 into a cut-and-cover tunnel where it passes the ancient site, and closing the A344, which passes right next to the heel stone.
A new visitors' facility will be built away from the area and linked via a Park and Ride scheme and the landscape will be returned to chalk downland with wildlife encouraged to return to the area. Road construction starts in 2005, the new visitors centre will be opened in 2006 and the landscape renewal will start when the road construction is complete in 2008.
Stonehenge has become such a symbol of its age that imitations have sprung up all over the globe. By far the most bizarre of these is Carhenge on the plains of Nebraska, USA, a full-scale model of the famous stones made of old cars!
The monument's fame means that it is rarely out of the news. New theories as to its purpose appear all the time, and occasionally new archeological evidence surfaces. Then there is the seemingly-jinxed attempt to bring a bluestone to the site from Wales to mark the Millennium, the ongoing row over the details of the road scheme, and the annual battles between police and new-agers over access to the stones on mid summer's day - something which now also appears to have disappeared into history.
The links on the left contain articles and stories concerning the stones that have apeared in the local press...
Getting there...
Stonehenge can be found at the junction of the A303 and the A344, about two miles west of Amesbury in Wiltshire.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
