'Breakthrough' At Stonehenge Dig

BBC ^ | 4-9-2008 | Rebecca Morelle

[Empireoftheatom48]

Will get to see the place in July. As long as they are not still inspecting planes!

[DeFault User]

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

I hope no more graffiti artists lay claim to it. Years ago when you could walk among the stones, several had been spray painted. What would give anybody the idea they had the right to deface a world monument is beyond me.

The last time I visited, chains kept visitors at a distance from the stones. It was still jaw-dropping impressive, but sad that you couldn't stand in the middle of it.

[Bellflower]

What are the blue stones?

[Eternal_Bear]

I was able to visit back in 74. It was quite impressive. I got to walk among the stones. How many generations had touched these stones? Perhaps even some of my own ancestors?

[DeFault User]

On visits to Europe where you encounter sites such as Stonehenge and cathedrals that are a thousand years old, you begin to regard time from a different perspective. Buildings that are only 200-300 years old appear modern, part of recent history.

For those of us who can remember events from 50 years ago (or more), a lifetime seems to have passed quickly. Multiplying that time frame by 2, we are contemporaries with Teddy Roosevelt, by 3—Abraham Lincoln, by 4—Thomas Jefferson, and by 10—the discovery of the New World. But Stonehenge and the Pyramids are virtually outside of time, yet they still give us a connection to the distant past.

[Eternal_Bear]

I have a tintype photo of an ancestor who was born in 1818. Jefferson and Adams were still alive. My grandmother (b 1899) who was born to elderly parents says they used to talk about the Civil War which they experienced as children.

Only 200 generations to Stonehenge. Their genes still live in us. Have we improved? Materially yes and perhaps spiritually as well.