Transcript STONEHENGE – LOCATION

STONEHENGE – LOCATION
WHERE IS STONEHENGE? Stonehenge is in Wessex-- part of central-southern England
on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire .
WHEN AND HOW DID STONEHENGE BEGIN? For some 400 years beginning about
2950 BCE the site was little more than a simple circular earthwork, inside of which
was a space about 85 metres or some 90 yards in diameter but at the centre of which
there appears to have been a simple wooden structure or timber circle. A ring of 56
pits lies close to the circumference of this open space, and according to the argument
presented by Cleal, Walker and Montague (1995) every pit formerly held a timber
post, thus forming a large-diameter timber circle. The holes left after the decay of the
ring of posts are called Aubrey Holes. The Neolithic people later filled these pits with
chalk and re-used them for ritual deposits.
The major causeway opening to the north-east embraces the direction of the most
northerly risings of both moon and sun. Not until about 2550 BCE did construction of
a ring of stones commence. There being no natural stone on this part of the chalk
plain, the stones had to be imported.
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WHENCE? The first choice of stones, called bluestones, came from South-West
Wales, 200 km to the west. Between 60 and 80 bluestones arrived, each weighing
3-4 tons, and there was one exceptional stone at 8 tons which was placed near the
centre, on the summer solsticial axis, at the focus of the monument.
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The later sarsen stones, weighing between 6 and 60 tons each, were dragged
about 32 km (20 miles) southwards from near Avebury. Sarsens are the fractured
remnants of ancient sandstone beds dating from the Eocene some 26 million years
ago. The photograph, taken in the direction of midsummer sunrise, indicates the
immensity of the sarsens of the outer ring. The overhead lintel, which weighs
about 6 tons, is supported by 25-ton megaliths.
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WHEN DID THE STONES ARRIVE ? The bluestones came about 2550 BCE, possibly
at a rate of just a few (3 to 6, say) annually. At some point, delivery of the
bluestones stopped. This happened before the ring of bluestones had been
completed. Fairly soon afterwards, sarsen stones started arriving, and their delivery
is presumed to have taken one or two centuries commencing about 2500 BCE.
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HOW ? The bluestones were rafted from Wales by sea and
river. The sarsens were dragged from the Avebury Hills by haulage
teams, probably aided by oxen. The stones were then tipped endfirst into pits dug into the sub-surface chalk The lintels for the
trilithons were raised on wooden cribs or by using earthen ramps.
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BY WHICH ROUTES? (1) The bluestones came along the Bristol
Channel, then possibly up the River Avon to Bath and overland to
the River Wylye at Warminster; thence to Salisbury and Amesbury
via a second River Avon to Stonehenge. A ditch-and-bank avenue
from the latter river to the monument likely marks their final
journey. An alternative possibility is a sea-crossing via Lundy Island
(as suggested by Rodney Castleden) and then around the Cornish
Peninsula to the Salisbury Avon.
(2) The sarsens went probably
south-west from the Avebury Hills to a col near Devizes and West
Lavington, and then south and east across the chalkland.
• WHAT WAS THE MASTER BUILDING PLAN? The first sarsen stone
erected may have been the huge Heel Stone, set outside the
monument. Also early were the 4 station stones, placed within the
circular ditch near the Aubrey ring.
A circle of bluestones was commenced but the stones were
dismantled after 60 had been raised. Sarsen circles and U-settings
then went up, the dominant feature being the trilithon idea of a 6ton lintel lying across pairs of 25 to 60-ton uprights. In the final
stage, the bluestones were put back, some in a circle, the others on
a U-setting. The common axis of all the sarsen stones and the
bluestone settings is towards the midsummer sunrise. The sparkling
8-ton bluestone went to the heart and focus of the monument
where the rays of the rising sun can fall on it only for a few minutes
each year at the time of midsummer solstice. It was a devout,
clever people who did this. Who were they?
HISTORY OF STONEHENGE
• Stonehenge I
• The native Neolithic people of England began construction of
Stonehenge I by digging a circular ditch using deer antlers as picks.
The circle is 320 feet in diameter, and the ditch itself was 20 feet
wide and 7 feet deep.
• Next, they used the chalky rubble taken from the ditch to built a
steep bank circle just inside the outer circle. Inside the bank circle,
they dug 56 shallow holes known as the Aubrey holes (named after
their discoverer, 17th century scholar John Aubrey).
• Finally, two parallel stones were erected at the entrance to the
circle, one of which, the Slaughter Stone, still survives. Also
surviving are two Station Stones, positioned across from each other
on opposite sides of the circle, which may also have been erected
during this time. Stonehenge I seems to have been used for about
500 years and then abandoned.
HISTORY OF STONEHENGE
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Stonehenge II
Construction of Stonehenge II began around 2100 BC. In this phase, a semicircle of
granite stones known as bluestones (from their original coloring) was assembled
within the original bank and ditch circles. Several aspects of this phase are
intriguing.
First, the bluestones come from the Preseli Mountains in South Wales, nearly 250
miles away. There were about 80 of them, weighing up to 4 tons each. How they
were transported is not known, although scholars don't regard the feat as
impossible and various theories have been presented.
It is intriguing to wonder, however, what makes the Stonehenge site so special that
so much effort would be expended to drag the giant stones 250 miles instead of
constructing the monument near the quarry.
Second, the entranceway to the semicircle of bluestones is aligned with the
midsummer sunrise. The alignment was continued by the clearing of a new
approach to the site, "The Avenue," which has ditches and banks on either side
like the original outer circle. Two Heel Stones (so-named from the shape of the
one that remains) were placed on the Avenue a short distance from the circle
(and, today, very close to Highway A344).
HISTORY OF STONEHENGE
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Stonehenge III
Stonehenge III is the stone circle that is still visible today. During this phase, which was started in
about 2000 BC, the builders constructed a circle of upright sarsen stones, each pair of which was
topped with a stone lintel (horizontal capstone). The lintels are curved to create a complete circle
on top.
There were originally 30 upright stones; 17 of these still stand. These stones came from the
Marlborough Downs, 20 miles to the north, are 7 feet tall and weigh 50 tons each. The outside
surfaces of all these stones were pounded smooth with hammers, and dovetail joints fasten the
lintels to their uprights.
Within this stone ring was erected a horseshoe formation of the same construction, using 10
upright stones. Here the trilithons (set of two uprights plus the lintel) stand separated from one
another, in 5 pairs. Eight of the original ten stones remain. The horseshoe shape opens directly
towards the Slaughter Stone and down the Avenue, aligned with the summer solstice sunrise.
About a century later, about 20 bluestones gathered from Stonehenge II were placed in a horseshoe
shape inside the sarsen horseshoe. Less than half of these remain. Some shuffling around of the
bluestones and digging of holes (probably in preparation for placing the bluestones, which was not
completed) occurred around 1500 BC. The Altar Stone is the biggest of these newly-arranged
bluestones that remains. Around 1100 BC, the Avenue was extended all the way to the River Avon
(over 9,000 feet from Stonehenge), indicating that the site was still in use at that time.
STONEHENGE
ORIGINAL CONFIGURATION
TODAY
STONEHENGE TODAY
STONEHENGE LAYOUT – CLEAL ET. AL.
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1 = The Altar Stone, a six ton monolith of
green micaceous sandstone from Wales
2 = barrow without a burial
3 = "barrows" (without burials)
4 = the fallen Slaughter Stone, 4.9 metres long
5 = the Heel Stone
6 = two of originally four Station Stones
7 = ditch
8 = inner bank
9 = outer bank
10 = The Avenue, a parallel pair of ditches and
banks leading 3 km to the River Avon
11 = ring of 30 pits called the Y Holes
12 = ring of 29 pits called the Z Holes
13 = circle of 56 pits, known as the Aubrey
holes
14 = smaller southern entrance