Early attempts at networking?
Posted on 01/13/2007 3:00:37 PM PST by blam
Stonehenge Didn't Stand Alone, Excavations Show
James Owen
for National Geographic News
January 12, 2007
Recent excavations of Salisbury Plain in southern England have revealed at least two other large stone formations close by the world-famous prehistoric monument.
One of the megalithic finds is a sandstone formation that marked a ritual burial mound; the other, a group of stones at the site of an ancient timber circle.
The new discoveries suggest that many similar monuments may have been erected in the shadow of Stonehenge, possibly forming part of a much larger complex, experts say.
The findings were part of the Stonehenge Riverside Project, a joint initiative to explore the land around the iconic monument. Led by Mike Parker Pearson of Sheffield University, the project involves six English universities.
Cremation Mound
The first monument—a 9.2-foot-long (2.8-meter-long) sarsen stone—was found lying in a field next to the River Avon, 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) east of Stonehenge, which is located near the modern-day city of Salisbury (United Kingdom map).
The riverside sarsen—large sandstone blocks that occur naturally in southern England—had been stood upright, archaeologists say, like the blocks that form the main structure of Stonehenge.
A team lead by Colin Richards of Manchester University and Joshua Pollard of Bristol University found the hole that originally held the stone, dug between 2500 and 2000 B.C., as well as human remains and artifacts that date to the same period.
The partially cremated remains of two people were buried next to the stone, Pollard said. One was a large male whose unburned vertebrae suggest he was at least 6 feet (182 centimeters) tall.
"Seemingly he was so big they weren't able to cremate him properly," the archaeologist noted. "The unburnt bone is the product of that poor process of cremation."
Stone knives and arrowheads, a piece of limestone carved into the shape of a megalith, two pottery bowls, and a rare rock crystal were also unearthed near the burial site.
The rock crystal find is the earliest known example from Britain and possibly came from as far away as the Alps, Pollard said. Archaeologists have suggested that other prehistoric burials in the area were connected to mainland Europe, Pollard added.
Such a connection ties in with theories that Stonehenge was an important pilgrimage destination or a place where people traveled in the hope of miracle cures. (Related: "Pagans Get Support in Battle Over Stonehenge" [October 31, 2002].)
The megalithic burial site could also support theories that link Stonehenge and other standing stones to ancestor worship and commemorating the dead, Pollard added.
Circle of Stone
Pollard's team also found new evidence for stone settings at Woodhenge, a site 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) northeast of Stonehenge where a timber circle was constructed in about 2200 B.C.
Pollard said excavations in the 1920s hinted a stone monument may once have been present at the site.
"We were able to confirm last summer that there had been standing stones—some very considerable stones—at Woodhenge," he said.
While only fragments of the formation were found, the holes the stones were set in suggest the blocks stood up to 3 meters (9.8 feet) tall, Pollard said.
The team also found evidence for two phases of stone settings that probably came after the timber circle had rotted, he added.
"Four smaller stones were replaced by two much bigger sarsen settings," he said. "So it goes from a timber monument to being a megalithic monument, albeit not on the same scale as Stonehenge."
What happened to the stones at Woodhenge remains a mystery, Pollard added, though one possibility is that they were added to Stonehenge.
Network of Monuments
The research team says there is evidence from old maps and ancient sources for other similar monuments near Stonehenge.
"There may have been many smaller megalithic settings across this landscape," Pollard said.
"I think it's extremely likely there would have been other standing stones," particularly to the east, added Julian Thomas, professor of archaeology at Manchester University.
Such monuments would have had an important connection to Stonehenge, Thomas said. The stones and artifacts buried alongside the satellite monuments may have also played a symbolic role in spreading the authority of Stonehenge into the wider landscape.
"It was a way of referring to its powerfulness and to the importance and significance of the activities that are taking place at the henge and the people who are officiating," Thomas said.
He added that these latest finds show that Stonehenge shouldn't be seen in isolation.
"There's an overarching scheme of things which links Stonehenge to the broader landscape."
Erratic boulders...they sure get around, sitting on top of a mountain in the USA and on an island off the coast of Scotland...for example:
http://www.oceanlight.com/lightbox.php?x=glacial_erratic_boulder__mountain_and_peak__natural_world
http://www.tireeimages.com/collections41.html
...but the pic I really like is the one below with the huge 'pothole' - how might that have happened?
http://www.fotolibra.com/gallery/image/?s=4681826&sid=21
I agree. The builders of Stonehenge may have used erratics...it's the glacial origin that's not convincing IMO.
A water vortex when it was part of a stream in it's past?
Where is "the following link"? I would like my brother to have his tested.
Go to my post #20, click on "Origins Of The British" then, go to the botton of that page and you'll see: "Anyone interested in knowing the identity and distribution of their male founding cluster as described in Stephen Oppenheimer's book "The Origins of the British" may use the following link to have their Y chromosome tested for this."
Click on the link provided there at the bottom on that page.
Ahhh, I was looking for the link at the bottom of your post, duh. :-)
Ahhh, I was looking for the link at the bottom of your post, duh. :-)
Early attempts at networking?
Probably full of demonic spirits, too. Brrr.
And my guess is that they're going to get "resolved" much to the original participants great chagrin ;o)
I believe demonic spirits are in places where evil reigns. Human sacrifice is a horrific evil. That may be why you felt the way you did.
MORE MORE!
The four of you have spiked my interest. (to understate.)
Excellent writing by the way.
I would love to hear more and if any others have made the visit- please divulge!
Cremation or sacrifice?
Depends on what you worship, doesn't it. In modern western society, we have the cult of Me, where the greatest sin is to limit anything "I" want. Abortions and euthanasia are sacrifices to this ethos.
Because Scotland is famously unhaunted. ;^)
I liked Stonehenge, felt it was a place where some sort of entertainment took place. Now with neighboring building sites emerging, I imagine it as some sort of Stonehenge MegaMall. Come to buy and sell, give thanks at the temple, catch a performance, quaff a mead, enjoy your stay. Ancient people had the same needs and desires that we have.
Not ridichlous. It's the same insanity as environmentalism, which is an attack on the basic elements of life in the name of humanism. They think that they can reach godhood through their manufactured worship.
In many ways modern environmentalism has become a religion for secularists who have abandoned traditional faiths. The logic seems to be that if we sacrifice some percentage of our economy to atone for our sins against "the earth" then the gods will allow the earth to be "saved" and the global warming will end.
Good point.
I arrived at Stonehenge with a traveling companion and we walked the well-worn visitor path around the great megaliths. Walking slowly on the path, we passed another couple who were chatting in muted voices. There were very few visitors due to the December season and the cold, windy weather that day. It was quiet, and only the sound of the wind disturbed the silence.
We had walked nearly half way around Stonehenge when I was drawn to look away from the stones into the distance of the surrounding plain. Soon it was all I thought about and Stonehenge was forgotten. To the aggravation of my companion, I turned outward off the visitor path and began to make my way alone across the uneven surface of the barren ground.
It was then that I felt the strong presence of something or someone nearby and glanced quickly once or twice to the side expecting to see someone approaching. I was alone and yet not alone. I had a strange compulsion to look only at the ground around my feet as if searching for something. When I finally looked up I was surprised at the long distance I had walked from the monument; seeing the great, gray stones of Stonehenge in the distance blending into the ashen, overcast sky.
During the solitary trek on the plain, I sensed great loneliness and desperate need. The feeling clung to me like a frightened child, separated from a parent, hugs the legs of a friendly adult for solace. It was very eerie and unsettling, but not threatening. Thinking back now on that time, the presence might have been imploring me to follow and bear witness, but there was nothing memorable in the low stubble of grasses on the cold ground.
While Stonehenge might have been an ancient place of unspeakable evil and terror, after my odd experience I don’t conclude the spiritual presence encountered was a demonic perpetrator of evil or the tortured soul of a victim. My intuition tells me it was one who dearly loved a victim, terrorized and murdered long ago, who walked beside me that day on Salisbury Plain to show me a grave they cannot bear to leave.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.