'Breakthrough' At Stonehenge Dig

BBC ^ | 4-9-2008 | Rebecca Morelle

[blam]

'Breakthrough' at Stonehenge dig

By Rebecca Morelle
Science reporter, BBC News

(Go To The BBC Site To View The Video)
Professor Darvill explains what is happening at the Stonehenge dig

Archaeologists carrying out an excavation at Stonehenge say they have broken through to a layer that may finally explain why the site was built.

The team has reached sockets that once held bluestones - smaller stones, most now missing or uprooted, which formed the site's original structure.

The researchers believe that the bluestones could reveal that Stonehenge was once a place of healing.

The dig is the first to take place at Stonehenge for more than 40 years.

The team now needs to extract organic material from these holes to date when the stones first arrived.

(Go To The BBC Site To View The Video)
Professor Geoff Wainwright explains why the dig is taking place

Professor Tim Darvill, of Bournemouth University, who is leading the work with Professor Geoff Wainwright, president of the Society of Antiquaries, said: "The first week has gone really well. We have broken through to these key features.

"It is a slow process but at the moment everything is going exactly to plan."

The two-week excavation is being funded by the BBC and filmed for a special Timewatch programme to be broadcast in the autumn.

Professors Darvill and Wainwright say that finding out more about the history of the bluestones could be key to solving the mystery of why the 4,500-year-old landmark was erected.

They believe that the bluestones, which were transported 250km (150 miles) from the Preseli Hills in Wales to the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, were brought to the site because the ancient people believed they had healing properties.

Professor Geoffrey Wainwright said the site could have been a "Neolithic Lourdes".

The giant sarsen "goal posts", which came from about 20km (12 miles) away, were thought to have arrived much later.

As well as reaching the bluestone sockets, the archaeologists have also unearthed a whole host of other finds as they have peeled back the layers of the 2.5m-by-3.5m (8.2ft-by-11.5ft) trench.

These include a beaker pottery fragment, Roman ceramics and ancient stone hammers.

(Go To The BBC Site To View The Video)
Yvette Staelens reveals some of the unearthed treasures

Daily text and video reports on the Stonehenge dig are published at the BBC Timewatch website. A BBC Two documentary will be broadcast in the autumn and will detail the findings of the investigation

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[Sacajaweau]

It was a health spa....Okay

[blam]

Rochdale's Stonehenge?

'Rochdale's Stonehenge', photographed by archaeologist Stuart Mendelsohn.

Alice McKeegan and David Ottewell
9/ 4/2008

ARCHAEOLOGISTS have unearthed a "mini-Stonehenge"... on the moors of Rochdale.

The two nearby sites - an oval made up of collapsed slabs, and a 30-metre circle of rounded stones - are believed to be ancient burial sites dating back as far as 5,000 years.

They were spotted by archaeologist Stuart Mendelsohn during a walk on the hills in December and could now become a major tourist attraction.

"I suppose you could describe it as Rochdale's version of Stonehenge," said Mr Mendelson, 52, who is based in Sweden but originally from Middleton. "It would have been a sacred site and what we've found so far I feel will be the tip of the iceberg.

"It was very unexpected and I didn't believe it at first. I just can't believe that it's been missed by everyone.

"The stones are not arranged randomly and it's quite clear to see.

"For our area and beyond, it's very significant. We've found two burial mounds. The stones may represent particular lunar events in the calendar. I think it would have been a focal point for the whole community."

Archeaological expert

The two sites have been visited by Peter Iles, a leading archaeological expert from Lancashire County Council. They have also been inspected by English Heritage and entered on the official Greater Manchester archaeology database.

English Heritage described both as "fairly well preserved" and claim both are "possible of Bronze age date" - meaning they could date back to 3,000 BC.

Unlike the famous monument at Stonehenge, however, they are believed to be made of local materials.

The first site, made up of fallen stones, is 10.2m in overall diameter.. The second, which includes the circle, is on the western slope and - according to an English Heritage report - "seems to have been sited to be visible from some distance to the west, rather than the valley floor".

The report adds that both finds "probably represent Bronze Age burial monuments."

Around 20 stones have been uncovered it total - the largest being 1.5m tall - and the entire site covers an acre.

Prehistoric flints

"It's great news for Rochdale," said Mr Mendelsohn. "Prehistoric flints have been found in Littleborough, but as far as I'm aware, this is the first significant discovery in the town.

"I don't know why that site was chosen originally but it has fantastic views of Rochdale and was fairly close to where people lived.

"It's a great site and we really need to get it protected and preserved."

Norman Redhead, the Greater Manchester county archaeologist, said he planned to visit the site in the next few weeks.

The construction of Stonehenge, one of the most famous pre-historic sites in the world, is believed to have been carried out in three stages, with the earliest starting in 3,100 BC - around 500 years before the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Historians are still puzzled as to exactly why Stonehenge was built and how its creators managed to transport rock from the Preseli mountains to a site in Wiltshire more than 200 miles away.

The site currently attracts an estimated one million visitors from around the world, every year.

[weegee]

"Rock on!"

[Disambiguator]

Stonehenge.

[Continental Soldier]

An awful lot of no information double-talk here. What is the bottom line? Is there a bottom line? Oh, we will have to wait until lengthy analysis is complete. LOL

[JerseyHighlander]

ping

[FormerLib]

And now the modern-day Pseudo-Druids and Wiccans will march forth, claiming things about their “holy” site, oblivious to the fact that they have no connection to the place whatsoever.

[Eternal_Bear]

No connection? The people who built Stonehenge are still around. All the invaders did not displace the original inhabitants who absorbed the invaders. All Britons have a right to claim Stonehenge as their own in any way they wish.

[FormerLib]

All Britons have a right to claim Stonehenge as their own in any way they wish.

But if some Britons claim Stonehenge as exclusively their own, doesn't that refute your claim about it being the claim of "all Britons?"

My point exactly.

[Eternal_Bear]

Well, It is a pagan site and has never been Christian so I see no problem in allowing pagan observances there. That should not obviate the pride of all Britons on what their ancestors created there.

Pyramids were created by pagans too and the Egyptians still revere them.

[FormerLib]

Pagan, most likely, but it predates the Druids, who came centuries later, and it certainly predates the Wiccans, who were an invention of the 20th Century.

History, matters, you see. Without it, you can be easily tricked, as in the recent example of the Global Warming hoax.

Anyone passingly familiar with the Medieval Warm Period or the Little Ice Age knew it was all a load of codswallop.

[SunkenCiv]

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	Gods Graves Glyphs	Thanks Blam. The giant sarsen "goal posts", which came from about 20km (12 miles) away, were thought to have arrived much later. IOW, the Stonehenge United team won an away game, and stripped some neighboring megalithic sports site of its goal posts. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are Blam, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
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[coconutt2000]

The researchers believe that the bluestones could reveal that Stonehenge was once a place of healing.

Imagine all the laborers who needed healing after building the place...

[ApplegateRanch]

stripped some neighboring megalithic sports site of its goal posts.

Uhm, guess if you can't burn them, steal them?

[John O]

"I suppose you could describe it as Rochdale's version of Stonehenge," said Mr Mendelson, 52, who is based in Sweden but originally from Middleton. "It would have been a sacred site and what we've found so far I feel will be the tip of the iceberg.

Every time I read something like this I imagine way back when, some caveman decorating his yard and thinking "I really think a circle of stones would look great right about there!"

[sneakers]

bttt

[Rebelbase]

LOL! My thought too!

[wildbill]

Take two stones and come back on Midsmmer’s Eve