Evidence human gathered at the monument for up to 3,000 years before it was built
Posted on 10/06/2011 8:38:54 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The most significant artifacts uncovered are two carved ducks, the first of their kind to be found in Britain and the oldest figurines ever hewn from the UK.
The ducks were likely, say the team, to be a result of the Bronze Age tradition of carving animal figurines which were then thrown into water as offerings.
But while the ducks date back to 700BC, a ceremonial dagger was also found which originated around 1400BC.
However, another item which Jacques initially believed was a cow's tooth was revealed by radiocarbon dating to date back to around 6250BC, some 3,000 years before work began on Stonehenge.
It was part of a tranche of more than 200 animal bones that were buried alongside evidence of a large fire, suggesting a Mesolithic feast for up to 100 people.
The bones transpired not to be from cows but instead from aurochs, a now extinct animal about the size of a buffalo...
The Mesolithic era is essentially the mid-period of the stone age. It is sandwiched between the other two 'lithics' -- Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) and the Neolithic (New Stone Age).
In Europe, the Mesolithic period covered the period from around 9660BC to 5000BC. However, given that civilisation developed at different paces on different continents, it took place in Japan between 14,000BC-400BC and in Western Asia between 20,000BC and 9500BC.
It is also sometimes referred to as the Epipaleolithic era.
Further excavations revealed a hoarde of more than 5,500 worked flints and tools.
Given that only a few Mesolithic items had ever previously been found around Stonehenge, the discovery is strong evidence of the continuity of human life at the site.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Evidence human gathered at the monument for up to 3,000 years before it was built
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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Looooks like a penguin. |
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Hope the carver didn’t give up his day job.
Doesn’t sound like a religious place to me, just a place to party ... drink, eat and practice debauchery. Kegger anyone?
Just what I suspected all along, Stonehenge was a duck blind.
Nope. It was a tavern. I’m sure of it.
Yeah. No. Huh. Ducks. I think they’re penguins. Probably French, too. They would have the Gaul.
mmmm... Debauchery. :-)
They were illiterate, so they used little figurines of ducks to show that they were covered by AFLAQ.
Book Mark for morning
M R not
O S A R
C M wangs?
L I B! M R ducks
not bad for an apemon..
“animal figurines which were then thrown into water as offerings”
Or maybe they were just toys for the kids?
Wouldn’t it be ironic if the real people living back then were not as obsessed with supposed ritual as their latter-day New Age imitators?
“Wouldn’t it be ironic if the real people living back then “
Exactly, they were people like the rest of us, and probably did not spend all day long in ritual observances.
LOL!
Where do they come up with these theories?
M R N ducks
O S A R
C M E D B D eyes
I'd go with rabbit. Better fertility offering...
Sunken Civ, thanks for posting this about Stonehenge. I love these articles.
Remember when they found the stone carving of a hedgehog at Stonehenge? Buried with the child? I think this is a fascinating discovery, because it shows these ancient people obviously had a spiritual belief of sorts.
Wonder what their beliefs were?
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