DOCSLIB.ORG

EH Stonehenge Guidebook Diffs

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
EH Stonehenge Guidebook Diffs Outline of the main differences between the 1st edition of the English Heritage Stonehenge guidebook (2005, reprinted 2007) and the 2nd Edition (2011) Summary This document tries to highlight the main changes that have been made since the first edition to bring the guidebook up to date with the current state of knowledge and understanding about Stonehenge. Mostly these relate to the excavations and discoveries by the Stonehenge Riverside Project (Parker Pearson et al) at Stonehenge, Woodhenge, Durrington Walls, the Cursus, the Avenue and West Amesbury and those by the S.P.A.C.E.S. Project (Darvill and Wainwright) within the stone circle. There are changes of emphasis to reflect a different interpretation of the evidence from that previously published. The key changes relate to: i) The possibility that the Aubrey Holes originally held stone pillars rather than timber posts. ii) Redating of other monuments in the landscape (e.g. Cursus from 3000 to 3500 BC and the Avenue construction to being at the same time as or just after the erection of the larger sarsens instead of well afterwards in the "final phase"). iii) Revision of dates relating to Stonehenge's construction phases (e.g. narrowing of the range of dates for the erection of the sarsens to about 2500 BC). iv) The possibility of stone rearrangement and active use in the Roman period. v) The possibility that Stonehenge's location was chosen as a result of the coincidental alignment with the solstice axis of natural landscape features (periglacial stripes underlying the Avenue) coupled with the occurrence of a natural sarsen (the Heel Stone) at the end of that alignment. vi) The monument's use as a cremation cemetery as well as a possible healing centre and the near certainty that it was used as a temple to the Sun. vii) The de-emphasis of a "timber phase" pre-dating the arrival of any stones. viii) The possibility that bluestones remained on site throughout and that the bluestone Q&R settings may have been contemporary with the erection of the sarsens. Alterations to picture captions are also noted, but not the rearrangement of existing or the inclusion of new imagery except where the content of an illustration has been altered. Page-by-page details of notable revisions to the content p3: Reference to "a circle of upright timber posts" has been removed. Date of 'about 2400BC' has been added to the caption for the Amesbury Archer's gold hair ornaments. p4: Reference to Aubrey Hole timber posts has been removed. Emphasis changed to suggest Aubrey Holes may have held stone pillars instead. Remaining text adjusted to discuss when stones were first erected in the centre. p5: Changed "each of which" to "many of which" in discussion of the small holes under the grass around / within the monument, and whether they held upright timber posts. Aubrey Holes now stated to have held either upright timbers or small stones. Re-worded to clarify that the "pale concrete spots in the grass" indicate the Aubrey Holes which have been excavated. p6: Changed "constructed in 3000 to 2920 BC" to "constructed between 3000 and 2920 BC" for the dating of the first phase. Changed "several hundred years earlier" to "several hundred years older" when discussing the age of animal bones found in the bottom of the ditch. Date of the early sarsen stone settings changed from "between 2600 and 2200 BC" to "about 2500 BC". Date of the final bluestone settings changed from "2200 to 2000 BC" to "2300 to 2000 BC". Changed "between 3000 and 2920 BC" to "shortly after 3000 BC" in discussion of the construction date for the first Stonehenge. Added "smaller" to the description of the southern entrance to distinguish it from the larger northeastern one. Reference to red deer antler "rakes" has been added. Reference to shovels made of cattle shoulder blades has been removed. Emphasis changed to highlight that the older cattle bones themselves must have been very special to have been carefully placed in the ditch terminals. p7: Changed "One possibility" to "One strong possibility" for the Aubrey Holes to have been contemporary with the early enclosure. Emphasis significantly changed to remove the implication that the Aubrey Holes held upright timbers and that they were used for cremation burial only after the posts had rotted or been removed. New emphasis is that it is uncertain whether they held timber posts or stone pillars and that these settings were used for cremation burials throughout their existence. Reference to Dorchester-on-Thames cemetery has been removed. Reference to the 2008 excavation of reburied cremation remains placed in an Aubrey Hole in 1935, and the results of the analysis of them, has been added ("about 60 individuals, almost entirely young male adults"). p9: Cross-reference to Dorchester-on-Thames (p7) has been removed. Location of Preseli Hills has been changed from "west Wales" to just "Wales". Caption to the first map has been changed from "Map showing a likely route" to "Map showing one possible route" from the Preseli Hills to Stonehenge. p10: Discussion of the bluestones "original setting" of "an incomplete circle of paired stones", the dismantling of it prior to the inner sarsen structure's construction and the later reintroduction of the bluestones, has all been removed. This has been replaced by a paragraph noting that the sarsen structures do not appear to have been moved once erected whereas the bluestones have been rearranged more than once. It notes that the stone settings were built between about 2500 and 2000 BC. In the discussion of the gaps between sarsen uprights, mention is made of the slightly wider gap that exists between the uprights that directly face the northeastern entrance. The error "while only five of the lintels are still in place" hasn't been corrected (there are six lintels in place in the sarsen circle). p11: Changed "ring of stone suspended high above the ground" to "ring of stone suspended high and perfectly level above the ground". Removed "resembled a giant doorway" from and changed "huge uprights" to "closely spaced huge uprights" in the trilithon description. Reference has been added to the carvings of daggers and axes on some uprights, these decorations being made over 700 years after the trilithons were raised. Changed "prominent mortise" to "prominent tenon" in the first picture caption. p12: Changed "2000 BC" to "1800 BC" in second picture caption dating the carvings of daggers. The phrase "without the benefit of the wheel" has been removed from the discussion of how the stones were shaped. Changed "Several" to "Many" as being the number of sarsen mauls found. Reference is now made to the discovery of the main sarsen working area "just to the north of the enclosure, on the opposite side of the modern road". Discussion of the dating of the carvings has been changed from "earlier part of the Bronze Age, some time in about 2000 BC" to "later in the Bronze Age, about 1800 BC". p16: Added "just outside the main entrance to the earthwork enclosure" to the location description of the Heel Stone. Reference made to the possibility that the Heel Stone may not have been transported from the Marlborough Downs but may have been found close to where it now stands. Changed "The Avenue was constructed at the same time as the great stone structures were completed, some time shortly after 2300 BC" to "The Avenue was probably constructed at the same time, or just after the great stone structures were completed just before 2500 BC". p17: Added mention of the natural "visible stripes" that are Ice Age landscape features in the chalk parallel to the Avenue along the straight section leading up to the monument. Changed emphasis in discussing the solstice axis from "this cannot be a coincidence" to "this alignment is deliberate". p19: Extensive rewording of the section "Why was Stonehenge built?". Emphasis has shifted away from a description of the society and the requirement for co- operation between large groups of people in the early stages along with mention of the later development of metalworking and the rise of material wealth. The discussion of the importance of winter being the important turning point of the year has been retained, but now two additional potential reasons for its construction are also outlined. These are: its use as a cremation cemetery from the earliest monument coupled with the idea that the stones represent long dead ancestors compared to timber circles which represented the houses of the living; and, a possible belief in the healing powers of bluestones as a reason for going to the effort of transporting them from Preseli. Reference to the near certainty of Stonehenge having been built as a temple to the sun and the changing seasons has been replaced by its likening to the prehistoric equivalent of a great cathedral such as Salisbury - a place of worship, healing, and the burial of important people. The point has been retained that archaeology cannot ever answer the question of what form the special ceremonies during the year may have taken. p20: West Amesbury Henge has been added to the Landscape Tour map and key. Minor rewording of the text to create the space to say that "more recently, a major campaign of excavations across the landscape has revealed far more about how the landscape developed at the time Stonehenge was being built." p22: Causewayed enclosures' dating of "between 4000 and 3500 BC" has been changed to "in about 3600 BC", and the subsequent phase "but they were in use until about 3000 BC" has been changed to "but some may have remained in use for several centuries".
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Concrete Prehistories: the Making of Megalithic Modernism 1901-1939
    Concrete Prehistories: The Making of Megalithic Modernism Abstract After water, concrete is the most consumed substance on earth. Every year enough cement is produced to manufacture around six billion cubic metres of concrete1. This paper investigates how concrete has been built into the construction of modern prehistories. We present an archaeology of concrete in the prehistoric landscapes of Stonehenge and Avebury, where concrete is a major component of megalithic sites restored between 1901 and 1964. We explore how concreting changed between 1901 and the Second World War, and the implications of this for constructions of prehistory. We discuss the role of concrete in debates surrounding restoration, analyze the semiotics of concrete equivalents for the megaliths, and investigate the significance of concreting to interpretations of prehistoric building. A technology that mixes ancient and modern, concrete helped build the modern archaeological imagination. Concrete is the substance of the modern –”Talking about concrete means talking about modernity” (Forty 2012:14). It is the material most closely associated with the origins and development of modern architecture, but in the modern era, concrete has also been widely deployed in the preservation and display of heritage. In fact its ubiquity means that concrete can justifiably claim to be the single most dominant substance of heritage conservation practice between 1900 and 1945. This paper investigates how concrete has been built into the construction of modern pasts, and in particular, modern prehistories. As the pre-eminent marker of modernity, concrete was used to separate ancient from modern, but efforts to preserve and display prehistoric megaliths saw concrete and megaliths become entangled.
    [Show full text]
  • Stonehenge OCR Spec B: History Around Us
    OCR HISTORY AROUND US Site Proposal Form Example from English Heritage The Criteria The study of the selected site must focus on the relationship between the site, other historical sources and the aspects listed in a) to n) below. It is therefore essential that centres choose a site that allows learners to use its physical features, together with other historical sources as appropriate, to understand all of the following: a) The reasons for the location of the site within its surroundings b) When and why people first created the site c) The ways in which the site has changed over time d) How the site has been used throughout its history e) The diversity of activities and people associated with the site f) The reasons for changes to the site and to the way it was used g) Significant times in the site’s past: peak activity, major developments, turning points h) The significance of specific features in the physical remains at the site i) The importance of the whole site either locally or nationally, as appropriate j) The typicality of the site based on a comparison with other similar sites k) What the site reveals about everyday life, attitudes and values in particular periods of history l) How the physical remains may prompt questions about the past and how historians frame these as valid historical enquiries m) How the physical remains can inform artistic reconstructions and other interpretations of the site n) The challenges and benefits of studying the historic environment 1 Copyright © OCR 2018 Site name: STONEHENGE Created by: ENGLISH HERITAGE LEARNING TEAM Please provide an explanation of how your site meets each of the following points and include the most appropriate visual images of your site.
    [Show full text]
  • Researching Stonehenge: Theories Past and Present
    Parker Pearson, M 2013 Researching Stonehenge: Theories Past and Present. Archaeology International, No. 16 (2012-2013): 72-83, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/ai.1601 ARTICLE Researching Stonehenge: Theories Past and Present Mike Parker Pearson* Over the years archaeologists connected with the Institute of Archaeology and UCL have made substantial contributions to the study of Stonehenge, the most enigmatic of all the prehistoric stone circles in Britain. Two of the early researchers were Petrie and Childe. More recently, colleagues in UCL’s Anthropology department – Barbara Bender and Chris Tilley – have also studied and written about the monument in its landscape. Mike Parker Pearson, who joined the Institute in 2012, has been leading a 10-year-long research programme on Stonehenge and, in this paper, he outlines the history and cur- rent state of research. Petrie and Childe on Stonehenge William Flinders Petrie (Fig. 1) worked on Stonehenge between 1874 and 1880, publishing the first accurate plan of the famous stones as a young man yet to start his career in Egypt. His numbering system of the monument’s many sarsens and blue- stones is still used to this day, and his slim book, Stonehenge: Plans, Descriptions, and Theories, sets out theories and observations that were innovative and insightful. Denied the opportunity of excavating Stonehenge, Petrie had relatively little to go on in terms of excavated evidence – the previous dig- gings had yielded few prehistoric finds other than antler picks – but he suggested that four theories could be considered indi- vidually or in combination for explaining Stonehenge’s purpose: sepulchral, religious, astronomical and monumental.
    [Show full text]
  • A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down
    A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down TR010025 6.3 Environmental Statement Appendices Volume 1 6 Appendix 6.1 Annex 8 Influences of the monuments and landscape of the Stonehenge part of the World Heritage Site on literature and popular culture APFP Regulation 5(2)(a) Planning Act 2008 Infrastructure Planning (Applications: Prescribed Forms and Procedure) Regulations 2009 October 2018 HIA Annex 8 – Influences of the monuments and landscape of the Stonehenge part of the WHS on literature and popular culture Introduction Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site List in 1986, one of the original list of seven sites in the UK to be put forward for inscription. The Statement of Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) was adopted in 2013. The Statement of OUV notes that ‘the monuments and landscape have had an unwavering influence on architects, artists, historians and archaeologists’ (UNESCO 2013). The 2015 Management Plan (Simmonds & Thomas 2015) identifies seven Attributes of OUV for the entirety of the WHS, of which the seventh is: ‘The influence of the remains of the Neolithic and Bronze Age funerary and ceremonial monuments and their landscape setting on architects, artists, historians, archaeologists and others.’ The landscape around Stonehenge, comprising natural and cultural elements, is not just a physical environment, but an abstraction that is perceived by the human observer. Such observers have included literary writers, poets and travel writers, who have used their sense of the place as they experienced it to inspire their creative writing. The unique strength of Stonehenge is that the monument is an instantly recognisable structure which resembles no other and onto which a range of fantasies can be projected (Hutton 2009, 45).
    [Show full text]
  • 2019-2020 Annual Report and Financial Statements
    ANNUAL REPORT and FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - for the year ended 31 MARCH 2020 STATEMENTS REPORT and FINANCIAL ANNUAL The Museum, 41 Long Street, Devizes, Wiltshire. SN10 1NS Telephone: 01380 727369 www.wiltshiremuseum.org.uk Our Audiences Our audiences are essential and work is ongoing, with funding through the Wessex Museums Partnership, to understand our audiences and develop projects and facilities to ensure they remain at the core of our activities. Our audience includes visitors, Society members, school groups, community groups, and researchers. Above: testimonial given in February 2020 by one of our visitors. Below: ‘word cloud’ comprising the three words used to describe the Museum on the audience forms during 2019/20. Cover: ‘Chieftain 1’ by Ann-Marie James© Displayed in ‘Alchemy: Artefacts Reimagined’, an exhibition of contemporary artworks by Ann-Marie James. Displayed at Wiltshire Museum May-August 2020. (A company limited by guarantee) Charity Number 1080096 Company Registration Number 3885649 SUMMARY and OBJECTS The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Researchers. Every year academic researchers Society (the Society) was founded in 1853. The carry out important research on the collection. Society’s first permanent Museum opened in There are over 500,000 items in the collections Long Street in 1874. The Society is a registered and details can be found in our online searchable charity and governed by Articles of Association. database. The collections are ‘Designated’ of national importance and ‘Accreditation’ status Objects. To educate the public by promoting, was first awarded in 2005. Overseen by the fostering interest in, exploration, research and Arts Council the Accreditation Scheme sets publication on the archaeology, art, history and out nationally-agreed standards, which inspire natural history of Wiltshire for the public benefit.
    [Show full text]
  • Stonehenge and Ancient Astronomy Tonehenge Is One of the Most Impressive and Best Known Prehistoric Stone Monuments in the World
    Stonehenge and Ancient Astronomy tonehenge is one of the most impressive and best known prehistoric stone monuments in the world. Ever since antiquarians’ accounts began to bring the site to wider attention inS the 17th century, there has been endless speculation about its likely purpose and meaning, and a recurring theme has been its possible connections with astronomy and the skies. was it a Neolithic calendar? A solar temple? A lunar observatory? A calculating device for predicting eclipses? Or perhaps a combination of more than one of these? In recent years Stonehenge has become the very icon of ancient astronomy, featuring in nearly every discussion on the subject. And yet there are those who persist in believing that it actually had little or no connection with astronomy at all. A more informed picture has been obtained in recent years by combining evidence from archaeology and astronomy within the new interdiscipline of archaeoastronomy – the study of beliefs and practices concerning the sky in the past and the uses to which people’s knowledge of the skies were put. This leaflet attempts to summarize the evidence that the Stonehenge monument was constructed by communities with a clear interest in the sky above them. Photograph: Stonehenge in the snow. (Skyscan/english heritagE) This leaflet is one of a series produced by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). An electronic version is available for download at www.ras.org.uk. It has been written by the following members of the RAS Astronomical Heritage Committee: Clive Ruggles, Bill Burton, David Hughes, Andrew lawson and Derek McNally.
    [Show full text]
  • THE SINCEREST FORM of FLATTERY: an ANALYSIS of FULL-SCALE, EX SITU REPLICAS of WORLD HERITAGE SITES by REBECCA LEIGH MCMANUS
    THE SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY: AN ANALYSIS OF FULL-SCALE, EX SITU REPLICAS OF WORLD HERITAGE SITES by REBECCA LEIGH MCMANUS (Under the Direction of WAYDE BROWN) ABSTRACT Full-scale, ex situ replicas of UNESCO World Heritage Sites can be found in five countries and their constructions predate even the World Heritage Convention itself. Clearly, the desire of humans to copy the architectural wonders of the world has a long and enduring history. This thesis will attempt to answer three related questions. First, what is the intent behind constructing these replicas? Second, how do the public and cultural heritage professionals receive these replicas? And third, how do these replicas fit into the ongoing discussions on authenticity and interpretation in historic preservation? INDEX WORDS: Replica, Full-Scale, Ex Situ, World Heritage Convention, World Heritage Sites, Stonehenge, Maryhill Stonehenge, Foamhenge, Parthenon, Nashville Parthenon, Hallstatt Village, Luoyang Hallstatt, Great Sphinx at Giza, Chuzhou Sphinx, Duplitecture, Nara Document, Venice Charter, Postmodernism, Forgeries, Umberto Eco, Jean Baudrillard, Richard Handler, Albert Lessing, Biana Bosker. THE SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY: AN ANALYSIS OF FULL-SCALE, EX SITU REPLICAS OF WORLD HERITAGE SITES by REBECCA LEIGH MCMANUS BA, Emory University, 2013 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION ATHENS, GEORGIA 2016 © 2016 Rebecca Leigh McManus All Rights Reserved THE SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY: AN ANALYSIS OF FULL-SCALE, EX SITU REPLICAS OF WORLD HERITAGE SITES by REBECCA LEIGH MCMANUS Major Professor: Wayde Brown Committee: Scott Nesbit Akela Reason Taylor Davis Electronic Version Approved: Suzanne Barbour Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2016 iv DEDICATION I dedicate this work to my parents, who encouraged me to keep pursuing knowledge, and to Alex Green, Sophia Latz, and Lesa Miller for their support and editorial advice.
    [Show full text]
  • 2021-01-15 - Lecture 03
    2021-01-15 - Lecture 03 1.3 Megaliths and Stone Circles; Building as Memory 1) Architecture as Second Nature begins as creating mere dwelling… a place of protection from the forces of nature. Soon, building begins to take on more significance as it embodies symbolic and ritualistic meaning, becomes a place of reverence, and becomes a place of memorialization of the dead and the marking of time of human memory… 2) Vocabulary: • cairn — burial mound of stones (may have earth on top of stones). British Isles term. • dolmen — two megaliths (or more) standing upright and capped by a trabeated megalith • menhirs — raised stones, similar to a stele or gravestone but may have more meaning due to formal attributes of their arrangement • orthostats — vertical megaliths revetting the lower cella (chamber) of a proto-temple • poché — in an architectural diagram, the poché is the representation of material that forms space within a building. This is it’s first meaning. There are more. • revetment — sloping or battered walls reinforced with stronger material, usually stone • trabeation — a word that describes a post and lintel structural configuration • trilithon — a dolmen-type arrangement of three megaliths • tumulus — burial mound of earth, not necessarily including stone (but may) • vernacular — a building tradition based on tradition rather than formal education. May be based more on local programmatic needs (bank barns, tobacco barns, dogtrot houses), availability of materials, and traditions of building rather than any formal ideas. Vernacular architecture rarely has a known architect. 3) Examples of stone arrangements for memory and for celestial understanding: • Carnac, Brittany, France. Fields of menhirs — 4000 - 2500 BCE.
    [Show full text]
  • The Engineering of Stonehenge
    Proceedings of the British Academy, 92, 231-256 The Engineering of Stonehenge JULIAN FUCHARDS & MARK WHITBY Introduction Julian Richards The experiments THE EXPERIMENTS DESCRIBED IN THIS PAPER, and the thoughts which both preceded and arose from them, are the direct result of the involvement of both authors in the production of a BBC programme in 1994. The series, ‘Secrets of Lost Empires’, exam- ined the greatest and most enduring engineering challenges of the ancient world, among which is the construction of Stonehenge, or more precisely, of the sarsen horseshoe and circle which form the most impressive elements of the stone structures. Within these, the single largest element is the Great Trilithon, now ruinous, but the largest of the individual stone settings, each of which consist of two uprights and one horizontal lintel (Fig. 1). The brief was to demonstrate, using human effort and such technology as could reason- ably be expected to have been available to the builders of Stonehenge during the earlier part of phase 3, now dated to between 2550 and 1600 BC (Cleal et al. 1995, 167) how this could have been accomplished. The nature of the experiment was dictated by the evidence provided by Stonehenge itself, the sarsen stones, estimated as weighing up to 40 tonnes, for which no convincing evidence for local origin could be produced. A possible source on the Marlborough Downs, some 30 km to the north, was first suggested by Samuel Pepys in 1665 (quoted in Brentnall 1946) and was reaffirmed by Colt Hoare in the early nineteenth century (Colt Hoare 1812, 149-50).
    [Show full text]
  • {FREE} Where Is Stonehenge? Kindle
    WHERE IS STONEHENGE? PDF, EPUB, EBOOK True Kelley | 112 pages | 01 Nov 2016 | Penguin Putnam Inc | 9780448486932 | English | New York, United States Stonehenge | History, Location, Map, & Facts | Britannica The ditch was continuous but had been dug in sections, like the ditches of the earlier causewayed enclosures in the area. The chalk dug from the ditch was piled up to form the bank. This first stage is dated to around BC, after which the ditch began to silt up naturally. Within the outer edge of the enclosed area is a circle of 56 pits, each about 3. These pits and the bank and ditch together are known as the Palisade or Gate Ditch. A recent excavation has suggested that the Aubrey Holes may have originally been used to erect a bluestone circle. A small outer bank beyond the ditch could also date to this period. In a team of archaeologists, led by Mike Parker Pearson , excavated more than 50, cremated bone fragments, from 63 individuals, buried at Stonehenge. Evidence of the second phase is no longer visible. The number of postholes dating to the early third millennium BC suggests that some form of timber structure was built within the enclosure during this period. Further standing timbers were placed at the northeast entrance, and a parallel alignment of posts ran inwards from the southern entrance. The postholes are smaller than the Aubrey Holes, being only around 16 inches 0. The bank was purposely reduced in height and the ditch continued to silt up. At least twenty-five of the Aubrey Holes are known to have contained later, intrusive, cremation burials dating to the two centuries after the monument's inception.
    [Show full text]
  • Architecture and Meaning in the Structure of Stonehenge, Wiltshire, UK Timothy Darvill
    Houses of the Holy: architecture and meaning in the structure of Stonehenge, Wiltshire, UK Timothy Darvill Timothy Darvill is Professor of Archaeology in the Department of Archaeology, Anthropology and Forensic Science, Bournemouth University, UK. His research interests lie in the Neolithic of Northwest Europe and in archaeological resource management, and he has carried out fieldwork in Germany, Russia, Malta, England, Wales, and the Isle of Man. In 2008, together with Geoff Wainwright, he undertook excavations inside the stone circles at Stonehenge as part of ongoing research into the links between Stonehenge and the sources of the Bluestones in the Preseli Hills of southwest Wales. He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Time & Mind. [email protected]. Abstract Stonehenge in central southern England is internationally known. Recent re-evaluations of its date and construction sequence provides an opportunity to review the meaning and purpose of key structural components. Here it is argued that the central stone structures did not have a single purpose but rather embody a series of symbolic representations. During the early third millennium this included a square-in- circle motif representing a sacred house or ‘big house’ edged by the five Sarsen Trilithons. During the late third millennium BC, as house styles changed, some of the stones were re-arranged to form a central oval setting that perpetuated the idea of the a sacred dwelling. The Sarsen Circle may have embodied a time- reckoning system based on the lunar month. From about 2500 BC more than 80 bluestones were brought to the site from sources in the Preseli Hills of west Wales about 220km distant.
    [Show full text]
  • Stonehenge for the Ancestors, Part the Monograph Is a Hefty 602 Pages, Packed 1: Landscape and Monuments
    Early View: Zitierfähige Online-Fassung mit vorläufiger Seitenzählung. Nach Erscheinen des gedruckten Bandes finden Sie den Beitrag mit den endgültigen Seitenzahlen im Open Access dort: http://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/arch-inf Den gedruckten Band erhalten Sie unter http://www.archaeologische-informationen.de. Early View: Quotable online version with preliminary pagination. After the printed volume has appeared you can find this article with its final pagination as open access publication there: http://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/archParker-inf Pearson,The printed volumeM. et al.will (eds) be available (2020). there: Stonehenge http://www.archaeologische-informationen.de for the Ancestors 1 . Review of: Parker Pearson, M., Pollard, J., Rich- mations buried near the Cuckoo Stone are given ards, C., Thomas, J., Tilley, C. & Welham, K. but no further details are provided. (eds) (2020). Stonehenge for the Ancestors, Part The monograph is a hefty 602 pages, packed 1: Landscape and Monuments. Leiden: Side- with in-depth specialist reports and thorough stone Press. 606 pp, 202 illustrations (b/w), 190 excavation descriptions. The publisher Sidestone illustrations (colour), hb/pb/online. ISBN 978-90- Press has used an innovative publishing model, 8890-702-9. https://www.sidestone.com/books/ with the book available at various prices: an ex- stonehenge-for-the-ancestors-part-1 pensive hardback, a less expensive paperback, a very modestly priced downloadable PDF, or a free Susan Greaney version to read online. This aim to provide free public access is admirable; the website informs This is the first of four volumes setting out in full that it has been read online 890 times since pub- the results of the Stonehenge Riverside Project lication in October 2020.
    [Show full text]