INTRODUCTION
Stonehenge is one of the most famous and
mysterious ruins in the world today. An ancient megalith or stone monument, it is situated in the
middle of Salisbury Plain, to the northwest of Southampton. Located in
southern England near the picturesque cathedral town of Salisbury, it is a
stone and earth monument whose history goes back nearly 5,000 years. It has
been associated with all sorts of astronomical and religious myths. On June 21
when the sun rises immediately over the Hell Stone of the circle and casts its
shadow on the Altar Stone in the middle, each year thousands of visitors gather
for a festival to mark the summer solstice, or mid-summer.
(р. № 1, 2, 3)
But what does it all mean, and who were the
people who built it?
What was Stonehenge used for?
Why was Stonehenge built?
How these vast stones were transported so far and
erected?
How were they got to stand upright?
These are the questions that ring in the mind of
every person who has ever seen this awesome and puzzling place.
STONEHENGE – FOREVER A MYSTERY
Stonehenge is probably the world's best-known
megalithic site. A megalith is a standing stone monument. It is a stone and earth
monument whose history goes back nearly 5,000 years.
The monument consists of 162 stones and is
about 30 meters across. The stones are called menhirs. Some are sandstone, and
others are blue stone. The ruins of the magnificent circular stone structure
stand inside a bank and ditch arrangement. Scientists have named the outer ring
of stones, the sarsen circle. Inside that circle is another circle, of
bluestones, and then a sarsen horseshoe. The innermost structure is a horseshoe
of bluestones. All of this is around the Altar Stone, a bluestone that is
situated near the back of the inner horseshoe. (p. №4)
THEORIES OF BULDING
STONES
There have been many theories over the years as
to who built the site and why. Probably the most famous one is that the Druids
built it as a place of worship. The problem with this theory is that there were
no Druids in England at the time it was built, and the Druids preferred places
with trees for their worship. (p. №5)
Another theory is that it was some sort of
religious site where human sacrifices were made, but this theory is the weakest
of all, since no human remains have been found there. There is some evidence
that ashes of cremated bodies were placed in the Aubrey holes, but much later
than the original time the site was built.
One more, and the best theory, is that it was
some sort of astronomical observatory. The sun rises directly over the heel
stone on midsummer's day. It is not very likely that this is a coincidence. The
problem with this theory is that over the 5000 years that it has stood,
midsummer’s day has changed, and so has the position of the sun. However,
people have estimated that 5000 years ago, midsummer’s day was June 24, and
that the sun would have risen over the Heel Stone then. (p.№6)
Other calculations show that it could have been
used to predict solar and lunar eclipses, and perhaps even as a daily calendar.
We will probably never know exactly
Why the site was built. One thing is certain,
though. It was built for an important purpose.
THE MYSTERY OF STONEHENGE
Stonehenge is one of the
most intriguing puzzles of the history. It is a circular group of huge stones
was built on Salisbury plain in western England between 3000 and 1000 BC.
There are two stone circles in Stonehenge. The first stone – circle is
consisted of small bluestones. They say the stones were brought from the
Prescelly Mountains. They are located 240 miles away from Stonehenge. The
bluestones weigh up to 4 tons each.
The giant sarsen stones form the second circle.
They weigh up to 50 tons each. They were transported from the Marlborough
Downs, located 20 miles to the north.
Who built Stonehenge? How did the “builders”
transport giant stones? These questions are unanswered even today.
The legend of King Arthur says that a great
magician Merlin brought the stones to the Salisbury plain from Ireland.
Historians and scientists can’t determine the
social functions of Stonehenge. It could be used as a market, a temple, a
calendar or the gathering place for religious ceremonies connected with the Sun
and Moon. Stonehenge, maybe, was a kind of huge computer itself. Who knows?
"Stonehenge" came from the Saxons.
Originally, they called it Stonehenge. Stan is Old English for stone,
and henge means, "to hang." There are several theories as to the
origin of this unusual name.
THE HEEL STONE AND THE
FIRST RAYS
For
most parts of the year, the sunrise can’t even be seen from the center of the monument. But on the longest day of
the year, the June 21st summer solstice, the rising sun appears behind one of the main stones,
creating the illusion that it is balancing on the stone.
This stone, called the “Heel Stone”, sits along a wide
laneway, known as the Avenue, which extends from the northeast corner of the
main monument. The rising Sun creeps up the length of the rock, creating a
shadow that extends deep into the heart of five pairs of sarsen stone
Trilithons - two pillar stones with one laid across the top - in the shape of a
horseshoe that opens up towards the rising sun. (p.№7)
Just as the Sun clears the horizon, it appears to hover
shortly on the tip of the Heel Stone. A few days later, on midsummer’s day, the
sun will appear once again, but this time, it will begin to move to the right
of the heel stone. The same phenomenon happens again during the winter
solstice, only it’s in the opposite direction and a sunset. Both indicate a
change of the season.
WHAT STONEHENGE IS
The megalithic ruin known
as Stonehenge is not a single structure but consists of a series of earth,
timber, and stone structures that were revised and re-modeled over a period of
more than 1400 years.
The Sarsen Circle, about 33 meters in
diameter, was originally comprised of 30 neatly trimmed upright sandstone
blocks of which only 17 are now standing. The stones stand on average 4 meters
above the ground. They are about 2 meters wide and 1 meter thick and taper
towards the top. They originally supported sarsen lintels forming a continuous
circle around the top. The average length of the rectangular lintels is 3.2
meters .The Sarsen Circle with its lintels is perhaps the most remarkable
feature of Stonehenge in terms of design, precision stonework, and engineering
Sarsen stones are hard-grained sandstone with siliceous cement.
The Trilithons are ten upright stones arranged as five
freestanding pairs each with a single horizontal lintel. They were erected
within the Sarsen Circle in the form of a horseshoe with the open side
facing north-east towards the main entrance of the monument. They were arranged
symmetrically and graded in height; the tallest is in the central position.
Only three of the five Trilithons are now complete with their lintels. The
other two both have only one standing stone with the second stone and lintel
lying on the ground.
CONSTRUCTION OF
STONEHENGE
Lying on the windswept
plains of southern England, Stonehenge, with its construc-tion of massive
stones, or megaliths, evokes wonder and haunts our imagination: how was
Stonehenge created, and why?
Like Rome, Stonehenge wasn't built in a day.
Over 25 generations were involved. Most of it was the result of human muscle
and a system of ropes and wooden levers used to transport the massive stones.
Primitive tools, such as red deer antlers, were used to dig up the chalky
countryside of Salisbury Plain, which was then taken away on ox shoulder
blades. (p. №8)
A thousand years later,
new builders erected a monumental circle of linked sarsen stones, a form of
very hard sandstone. They also raised an inner horseshoe-shaped design of ten
megaliths, which stand up to 7 meters tall and weigh as much as 45 tons each.
Perhaps using a system of levers, timber, and ropes, the builders topped these
slabs with horizontal stones called lintels, thus forming five Trilithons, or
squared arches. (р.9)
The bluestones are believed to have come from
much farther—the Presley Mountains, nearly 385 kilometers away. They 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
end-first into pits dug into the sub-surface chalk. The lintels for the
Trilithons were raised on wooden cribs or by using earthen ramps. (p. №10)
PERIODS OF STONEHENGE
BULDING
About 100 years later the bluestones were
dismantled and the Stonehenge as we see it today started to show. (р.№11)
Construction of Stonehenge was broken into three
periods:
Stonehenge Period I
(c. 2950-2900 BC) the first period of Stonehenge was a circular enclosure
outlined by two banks and a ditch with an entrance to the northeast and a
standing stone a bit away from the entrance. The outer circle was made from
earth and even though it is now mostly destroyed, it was about 380 feet in
diameter, 8 feet wide and 2 or 3 feet high. The ditch was not uniform in shape
or Depth and it varied in width from 10-20 feet and a depth of 4.5- 7 feet. (p.
№12)
Archaeologists have been
able to use the varied fragments found near the bottom of the ditch to help
date its construction.
From the center of the circle, facing northeast
is the entrance into Stonehenge. It is about 35 feet wide and is set so that a
person standing in the center of Stonehenge can see the sunrise on midsummer
morning just to the left of the heel stone.
Inside the circle are 56 Aubrey holes (named
after their 17th century discoverer John Aubrey). They were spaced quite
accurately in a 288-foot diameter circle with an average center point for each
hole of 19 inches.
At this time The Heel, stone was
also placed. It is the considered the most important stone at the site,
weighing 35 tons. During the summer solstice if you stand in the center of the
circle, you will see the sunrise directly over the pointed tip of the heel
stone. (p. №13)
Lastly, Stonehenge's old ditch bank entrance was
widened another 25 feet and a 40-foot wide "Avenue" lined by
parallel banks and ditches 47 feet apart extended out from it.
Two parallel stones were erected at the
entrance to the circle, one of which, the Slaughter Stone, still
survives.
Stonehenge Period II (c.
2900-2400 BC) during this stage of construction, a double circle of about 60-80
stones was placed in the middle of the circle formed by the ditch. They are the
smallest stones used at the site, but they still each weighed about 4 tons.
They came from the Presale Mountains in South Wales, nearly 250 miles away. 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.
Although no one knows for sure how they got
there, it is thought they were transported mostly on barges, using the sea and
rivers, and barely had to travel over
Land at all. For some reason, this circle of
stones was never completed and was part replaced with a horseshoe arrangement
of larger stones.
Stonehenge Period III (c. 2550-1600 BC) Stonehenge's third period
was the longest and contained the most changes of all the periods.
A 100-foot diameter circle of 30 sarsen-stone
uprights capped by a continuous ring of sarsen lintels was erected in the
center of the site. This circle surrounded a horseshoe -shaped setting of
five sarsen Trilithons with its opening pointing to the northeast side.
Within this stone ring was erected a
horseshoe formation of the same construction, using 10 upright stones. The
horseshoe shape opens directly towards the Slaughter Stone and down the Avenue,
aligned with the summer solstice sunrise.
The Altar Stone is the biggest of these
newly-arranged bluestones that remains. (р.14)
ASTRONOMICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Already in the 18th century, the British
antiquarian William Stukeley had noticed that the horseshoe of great Trilithons
and the horseshoe of 19 bluestones at Stonehenge opened up in the direction of
the midsummer sunrise. It was quickly surmised that the monument must have been
deliberately oriented and planned so that on midsummer's morning, the sun rose
directly over the Heel Stone and the first rays shone into the center of the
monument between the open arms of the horseshoe arrangement.
At the midwinter
solstice, the setting sun sinks between the two uprights of the largest
Trilithon and behind the altar stone - thought by many to symbolize the death
of the year.
This discovery has had tremendous impact on how
Stonehenge has been interpreted. This alignment implied a ritualistic
connection with sun worship and it was generally
concluded that Stonehenge was constructed as a
temple to the sun. It can be used to predict such events as eclipses.
The alignment also made it clear that whoever
built Stonehenge had precise astronomical knowledge of the path of the sun and,
moreover, must have known before construction began precisely where the sun
rose at dawn on midsummer's
morning while standing on the future site of the
monument. (р.15)
HOW THEY REBUILT
STONEHENGE
The first restoration of Stonehenge was launched
100 years ago this year. The Stonehenge makeover was to gather momentum and
more work was carried out in 1919, 1920, 1958, 1959 and 1964. Christopher
Chippendale, author of Stonehenge Complete, admits: 'Nearly all the stones have
been moved in some way and are standing in concrete.
A stone was straightened and set in concrete in
1901, six further stones in 1919 and 1920, three more in 1959 and four in 1964.
There was also the excavation of the Altar stone and re-erection of the
Trilithon in 1958.
A number of the leaning and fallen stones have
been straightened and re-erected. These pictures clearly show the rebuilding in
progress. (р.16,
17)
STONEHENGE LEGENDS
The story of Stonehenge wouldn't be complete
without its legends. One such story says that the hangs are gateways to where
we originally came from. The legend goes on to suggest that every 5,000 years
or so, someone attempts to open one of them, which brings about some horribly
catastrophic event.
But the most popular myth stems from a story
written in the 12th century by Geoffrey of Monmouth. According to Monmouth, the
king of the Britons, Aurelius, wanted to build a monument over the site of
several hundred graves believed to be slain Saxon soldiers. King Aurelius, or
the father of King Arthur, asked Merlin the magician where such a monument
could be found. Merlin told him to look in a
mountain of Ireland where a circle of massive
stones stood, named the Giant's Dance. Merlin suggested an expedition to
Ireland for the purpose of transplanting the Giant's Ring stone circle to
Britain.
These stones, believed to have the ability to
heal, were so named after a myth that they were brought from Africa long ago by
giants. King Aurelius and his army tried to dismantle the stones without
success. Merlin once again came to help and used his own gear of "engines
and other contrivances" to take apart the monument for transport. He later
reconstructed the site on Salisbury Plain. It is only one of probably many
legends that reflect the inability to explain how the heavy stones could have
ever been transported by primitive humans.
Evil powers have also been associated with
Stonehenge. One myth tells the story of the devil who buys magical stones from
an Irish woman. He transports them through the air to Salisbury Plain and then
dares the entire village to count the stones in a bizarre-type of riddle. The
friar of the village tells him there are too many to tell.
It is supposedly
impossible to count all the stones. The devil once bet that no one in the
nearby village would be able to come up with the right answer. However, a monk
replied 'more than could be told'. The devil angrily threw one of the stones
at the monk and it bounced off the back of his foot - the outlying stone was
then named the Heel Stone.
DRUID CONNECTION
In the 17th Century John
Aubrey made the connection of the ancient Druids to Stonehenge. He had suggested that the
Druids were probably responsible for building Stonehenge.
SPIRITUAL REBIRTH
Druids are believers in
reincarnation. They believe that the soul is immortal and after a person dies,
they are transported to the 'Otherworld’. They also believe that that
person will come back
again in another human body. The traditional meeting place of the Druids is
Stonehenge. Druids claim that their religion has marked the summer
solstice at Stonehenge for nearly 800 years. (р. №18, 19, 20)
CONCLUSION
Over the years many theories have appeared and
people continue to present their versions. Nobody really knows the truth. But
we see that ancient people were very clever, and could construct huge monuments
though they did not have machines.
No matter what the claim
has been for Stonehenge's original purpose, the truth is that it has inspired
countless generations of people to strive to learn and figure out the history
of our past. Stonehenge is somewhat a "gateway to the realms"
providing insights into humanities past and showing that maybe we were not as
"technically challenged" as some would like us to believe.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1.
Фарлонг Д . Стоунхендж и пирамиды Египта: Ключи от храма жизни
(пер. Медникова В.). Серия: Тайны древних цивилизаций. 2001
2.
Гарри Гаррисон, Леон Стоувер. «Стоунхендж». 2002
3.
Уайт Дж., Хокинс Дж. «Разгадка тайны Стоунхенджа»
4.
http://icompas.ru/compas/stonehenge
5.
http://www.garshin.ru/history/archeology
6.
http://www.celtica.ru/content/blogcategory
7. http://dic.academic.ru
8. http://www.abc-people.com
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