Stonehenge
As both my faithful readers know, I’ve written about the
ancient history of Britain. The Celts
owned it. The Romans owned it. The
Vikings owned it. With the successful
invasion of William the Conqueror (1066) the French owned it. That may be a bit of an overstatement, since
William (known as William the Bastard by his French foes) was not the King of
France, but the powerful Duke of Normandy.
Still, the English court soon spoke nothing but French and the English
language still reflects it. Also, those who spoke despairingly of William the
Conqueror’s parentage soon lay decomposing in the cold ground.
Ok, good thumbnail review, yes?
For something more thorough check these blog entries:
But, now let’s move back a few millennium and talk about the
rocks on Salisbury Plain., a couple of hours by bus from London. Before even
the Celts, another race or ethnicity or other PC vernacular came along, the
Neolithic people lived all around the British Isles. This was some 5000 years ago. Yes, even
before your parents were born, kiddies.
You’re probably mumbling, “Wonderful news for historians and
archeologists, but what’s this pile of rocks got to do with me? “ You’re right.
Go back to your video games. For the
rest of us, who enjoy mysteries and are fascinated by the world around us, and
how the human species evolved, there are plenty of reasons.
Better tell you how Neolithic people fit in. Stone age right? Mainly no.
Stone age was the Paleolithic period, some 2.5 million years ago and
Homo sapiens was only one of the species of humanoids and the only one that
survived into the Neolithic Period. The
Neolithic Period is often called The Cradle of Civilization. Homo Sapiens began
cultivating crops and animals. The
groups or tribes began to congregate.
When did this happen? About
10,500 to 8000 years ago, put nobody can put a date on it. The Stone Age morphed into the copper age and
the bronze age and the iron age, but at different rates around the world,
mainly Europe, East Asia, and the Middle East.
Technology was on a roll. Houses.
Pottery. Metallurgy. But, the roll was a slow roll. In many parts of the world, South America and
Australia for example, languished in Pre-History (unwritten history) until the
arrival of Europeans. In the case of
Australia, there was no written language until the late 18th
Century.
Now let’s move on to the world’s most famous circle of rocks,
circa 2500 B.C.
Mysteries abound. Who
exactly were these people who built Stonehenge?
Why did they disappear? How did
they live? What’s important about Stonehenge?
With a visit you’ll find some answers, but also discover mysteries that
still linger. The most important mystery
is: Did they drink beer?
 |
| You can see the burial mounds and feasting mounds in the distance. |
 |
| One of the burial cylinders near the circle of stones. |
I called these folks Neolithic, but scientists figure they
lived at the cusp between the Stone Age and the bronze age. These aren’t guesses. Burial mounds surround the Salisbury Plain,
many in sight of the famous stones.
Ancient people left numerous artifacts with their dead.
 |
| Archeologists found evidence of what the people ate. |
Other spots apparently were used for feasts and celebrations
and prove a treasure trove of cooking pots, old animal bones and skins, giving
an insight into what the people ate, what clothes they wore and which things
were important to them. But, the ancient
people give up their secrets slowly.
Every year the explorers of these remnants are able to tell us more.
What examination of the feasts sites is unable to tell us is
if the ancients drank beer. Well, dang,
Honey, you call that a feast? One thing
we do know is that these people were lactose intolerant, but pots that once
contained dairy products lead historians to believe milk was used to make milk
derivations, such as butter, cheese, and yogurt. How do they know this? Caulk it up to microbiological examinations
of pots.
Lots of misinformation about Stonehenge. Just one
example: For a hundred years or more, it
was thought Stonehenge was a place for Druid ceremonies. Problem is, the Druids lived in the centuries
after the common era (CE or AD), some 2500 years after Stonehenge was
built. Still the idea persists.
How about the arrangement of the stones and where did the
stones come from and how did they get where they are?
The construction appears to have taken about 1500 years,
beginning with a big circle likely used for ceremonies involving burials. I’m painting with a broad brush here,
folks. The stones were set in place
between 2500 and 1500 BCE/BC.
Based on the types of stones, they came from Wales, some of
them were moved over 150 miles. Two
types of stones, bluestones and sandstones.
Hard to see any blue in the bluestones, but I’m told when it rains
there’s a blue tint.
As for the arrangement of the stones, archeologists and
historians go with the theory that the arrangement is metrological, with the
sun at sunrise shining over one stone at dead center and dead center through
another stone exactly at the summer and winter solstice.
The summer solstice occurs on 20- 22 June, the longest day of
the year, and the winter solstice occurs on 21- 22 December, the shortest day.
Variations depend on time zones and where you live in the world. Here’s a converter: https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/seasons.html
Now your know more than 99% of the people who visit this
wonderful Pre-history. Time for a beer!
