Posted on 11/20/2001 9:49:22 AM PST by blam
Druids despair as Seahenge set for dry berth
November 19 2001 at 04:16PM
London - A Bronze Age timber circle dug up on a beach two years ago should not be returned to its original site, where it would be vulnerable to the forces of the North Sea, English Heritage said on Monday.
The 4 000-year-old structure, which became known as Seahenge, was found off the coast of Norfolk, north-east England, and removed despite prolonged protests by locals and Druid groups, who said the circle was a religious monument.
English Heritage, the preservation group that oversaw and financed the removal of the 54 oak posts which surrounded an upturned tree stump, said the prehistoric structure was in danger of being destroyed by the sea.
The organisation is talking with the timber circle's owner, le Strange Estate, and local groups about the chances of putting the structure on public display and will hold a public meeting on its recommendation later this month.
Three-dimensional laser scanning techniques are giving archeologists new insights into the circle, which has been dated to the spring of 2049 BC, when the trees were cut down to create the posts.
The research has so far indicated that the community which built the structure was more advanced and organised than previously believed.
"It is remarkable that this tiny community was able to lay hands on such a large number of tools only about 100 years after the knowledge of how to make bronze arrived in this country," said Francis Pryor, director of archaeology at Flag Fen Archaeological Center, where the scanning is being done.
English Heritage estimated it would take five years and cost £40 000 (about R550 000) to complete the conservation process. - Sapa-AP
http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/03814.html
The megalithic monuments of France and Great Britain, notably those at Carnac and Stonehenge, were once ascribed to them, but these are now known to predate Celtic culture.
http://www.thehistorynet.com/britishheritage/articles/1997/0397_text.htm
There is no proof that Druidic ceremonies ever took place in stone circles, and it is now understood that henges, stone circles and circle henges long predate the Celtic Druids.
http://www.duke.edu/~kkb1/arch.html
A common belief that started around the sevententh century was that Stonehenge was built by the Druids. Today a modern sect of druids tries to hold rituals there and claim it for themselves, but the evidence from excavations and dating would actually prove that the Druids had nothing to do with Stonehenge, and in fact Stonehenge is much older.
http://www.bartleby.com/65/dr/druids.html
In the late 18th and 19th cent., interest in the druids was spurred by archaeological discoveries and by the romantic movement. The megalithic monuments of France and Great Britain, notably those at Carnac and Stonehenge, were once ascribed to them, but these are now known to predate Celtic culture.
http://www.comp-archaeology.org/15OrientationLocation.htm
Since megaliths predate the Celtic Druids, the Beltane Fires might be something handed down from the darkness of prehistory.
http://www.mm2000.nu/sphinxii.html
John Aubery was the first to suggest the Druids as makers of Stonehenge (~1660), which is certainly false because the Druids are much later -- contemporary with the writings of Julius Caesar in Britannia or dating from a few centuries before -- by which time the Henge was 2000 years old.
3195BC, Stonehenge constructed, Start Egyptian civilization
2354BC, Bronze Age begins.
1628BC, Stonehenge abandoned, Exodus of Moses, plagues of Egypt, end Xia dynasty, start Shang dynasty
(these dates were taken from my tree ring 'event' dates notes)
I'm impressed. I hadn't realized wood fragments from the construction had been recovered.
I'm not sure that they have. I have 'the/my' list of tree ring 'event' dates and anytime I see a date that correlates, I write it on that list, mainly as a reference to myself. I don't remember the source of that date for the construction of Stonehenge. It may or may not be supported by tree ring data, I'll see if I can clarify that.
I worked at a large electronics company and once a year we had to update the employee data sheets and there was a question of race. One year an employee told me that he was a race that I knew that he wasn't so, I called the personnel office for advise. They said, "write down what-ever he says he is," so I did. lol.
Actually, I was listening to a couple of Art Bell recordings from the past few days as background. Egyptians in Illinois. (High-Grade) Copper minings in Michigan supported the bronze age in Troy.
Then again, maybe the pilings are left over from a circular dock. The US went through a period where circular barns were popular.
http://store.yahoo.com/magazinesofamerica/1771-6.html
Fair enough, but you'd probably be better off saying something like "the people who built Stonehenge" since we know the Druids didn't (particularly since some modern-day pseudo-Pagans are attempting to legitimize their recently created "faith" via such claims).
I lived by a sea
where to be
was a thing of pure joy
My people were fair
and had sky in their hair
but now they're content to wear stars on their brows.
Marc Bolan, R.I.P.
It looks like I've picked up that date from dendrochronologist Mike Baillie and he does not connect it to tree ring data either. I suspect he has just conveniently 'grabbed' it from someone else just like I did from him.
Thanks for the advice, but it actually was Druids, we just don't have any proof it was Druids since all Druids are dead. Our modern neo-Druids are not real Druids.
If you insist on holding to a seventeenth-century fiction, I guess that's your right.
...we just don't have any proof it was Druids...
But we do have proof that it wasn't, specifically that it pre-dated them by a couple of thousand years. OK, so we have proof that it wasn't them and no proof that it was and you still want to say they did it. Man, if I'm ever charged with a crime that I didn't commit, I do NOT want you on my jury!!!
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.