Stonehenge - The Ancient Solar Almanac

    

Stonehenge

A heritage site

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It is not clear who built Stonehenge. The monument, built about 5,000 years ago, and the unique stone circle was erected in the late Neolithic period about 2500 BC. The Stonehenge is located on Salisbury Plain, about 8 miles (13 km) north of Salisbury, Wiltshire, England.

It was created by people who left no written records. We don't know for sure why it was built or what it was used for. Two types of stone are used at Stonehenge – the larger sarsens and the smaller ‘bluestones’. The sarsens were erected in two concentric arrangements – an inner horseshoe and an outer circle – and the bluestones were set up between them in a double arc. The central bluestones were later rearranged to form a circle and inner oval, which was again later altered to form a horseshoe.

Most of these, made from different types of igneous rock, were quarried in south west Wales - I estimate their journey at 220 miles. However, the really big stones, and the ones that give Stonehenge its distinctive silhouette, were found in southern England.

 The Purpose

There is strong archaeological evidence that Stonehenge was used as a burial site, at least for part of its long history, but most scholars believe it served other functions as well—either as a ceremonial site, a religious pilgrimage destination, a final resting place for royalty or a memorial erected to honor. 

But why was Stonehenge built and was was it used for? As mentioned above, the monument certainly functioned as a cremation cemetery early in its history, probably for the burial of elite members of clans or prominent local families. The presence of a number of burials around Stonehenge which exhibit signs of trauma or deformity have suggested to some researchers, among them Professor Timothy Darvill of Bournemouth University, that the monument was a place of healing, akin to a prehistoric Lourdes. 

Other researchers, such as Professor Mike Parker Pearson, head of the Stonehenge Riverside Project at the University of Sheffield, believe that Stonehenge functioned as the domain of the dead in a ritual landscape that involved sacred processions to the nearby henge monument of Durrington Walls.

But it would be wrong to attempt to define a single use for Stonehenge. The function of the monument probably changed many times over its 1500 year history as different peoples came and went in the surrounding landscape, and the nature of society changed irrevocably from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age.

 Facts

1. It is really, really old

The site went through various transformations and didn’t begin as a ring of stones. The circular earth bank and ditch that surrounds the stones can be dated back to about 3100 BC, while the first stones are believed to have been raised at the site between 2400 and 2200 BC.

Over the next few hundred years, the stones were rearranged and new ones added, with the formation we know today being created between 1930 and 1600 BC.

2. It was created by a people who left no written record.

In association with Great Little Breaks visit mysterious Stonehenge, one of the world's most famous prehistoric monuments, as part of a two-night break to glorious and historic Salisbury.

3. It could have been a burial ground

In 2013, a team of archaeologists excavated the cremated remains of 50,000 bones at the site, belonging to 63 men, women and children. These bones date back as early as 3000 BC, though some are only dated back to 2500 BC. This suggests that Stonehenge may have been a burial ground at the start of its history, though it is not clear if that was the site’s primary purpose.

4. Some of the stones were brought from nearly 200 miles away. The sun rises over Stonehenge on the summer solstice in 2005. They were quarried at a town near the Welsh town of Maenclochog and somehow transported to Wiltshire – a feat that would have been a major technical accomplishment at the time.

5. They are known as “ringing rocks”

The monument’s stones possess unusual acoustic properties – when struck they produce a loud clanging sound – which likely explains why someone bothered to transport them over such a long distance. In certain ancient cultures, such rocks are believed to contain healing powers. In fact, Maenclochog mean “ringing rock”.

6. There is an Arthurian legend about Stonehenge

According to this legend, the wizard Merlin removed Stonehenge from Ireland, where it had been erected by giants, and rebuilt it in Wiltshire as a memorial to 3,000 nobles slain in battle with the Saxophone.

7. The body of a decapitated man was excavated from the site. The 7th century Saxon man was found in 1923.

8. The earliest known realistic painting of Stonehenge was produced in the 16th century. Flemish artist Lucas de Heere painted the watercolour artwork on site, sometime between 1573 and 1575.

9. It was the cause of a battle in 1985

The Battle of the Beanfield was a clash between a convoy of approximately 600 New Age travellers and around 1,300 police that took place over the course of several hours on 1 June 1985. The battle erupted when the travellers, who were en route to Stonehenge to set up the Stonehenge Free Festival, were stopped at a police roadblock seven miles from the landmark.

The confrontation turned violent, with eight police and 16 travellers being hospitalised and 537 of the travellers arrested in one of the biggest mass arrests of civilians in English history.

10. It attracts more than a million visitors a year

The enduring myths surrounding Stonehenge make the UNESCO World Heritage Site hugely popular. When it first opened to the public as a tourist attraction in the 20th century, visitors were able to walk among the stones and even climb on them. However, due to serious erosion of the stones, the monument has been roped off since 1997, and visitors only allowed to view the stones from a distance.

Exceptions are made during the summer and winter solstices, and the spring and autumn equinoxes, however.

 

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