September 12, 2014

Recent studies done at Stonehenge uncovered buried features of which modern scholars had been unaware. (© Bryan Busovicki, Shutterstock)

European researchers have been using ground-penetrating radar and other advanced imaging techniques to “see” underground and map the landscape surrounding Stonehenge in unprecedented detail. This work has revealed long-buried features showing that the iconic megalithic monument (structure made of large stones by prehistoric people) was part of a much larger ceremonial center. The investigation, led by scientists from universities in the United Kingdom and Austria, revealed hidden features belonging to as many as 60 other prehistoric structures surrounding the site. These features include 17 small henge-like shrines, 20 burial pits, and 4 burial mounds over an area of more than 4.5 square miles (11.6 square kilometers). The new findings from the four-year survey will allow researchers to reconstruct how Stonehenge, built in 3100 B.C., was used by ancient peoples for the next 1,500 years; the site was abandoned in about 1600 B.C.

Stonehenge was probably used as a ceremonial gathering place and a religious center. It was built and used between about 3100 and 1600 B.C. The drawing shows what scholars believe was the original arrangement of the monument’s huge stones. (Aerofilms)

Stonehenge, on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, southwestern England, consists of huge, rough-cut stones set in a circle. A huge circle of dark volcanic bluestones, weighing up to 4 tons (3.6 metric tons), is surrounded by a ring of huge gray sandstones, weighing up to 25 tons (23 metric tons) and standing up to 13¹/2 feet (4.1 meters) tall. The outer circle surrounding the bluestones measures 108 feet (33 meters) in diameter. Its center contained five archlike stone settings, called trilithons (two large stone posts set vertically, with a horizontal stone set across the top.) There was also a large altar stone at the center. A paved avenue once connected the site to the nearby Avon River. A similar avenue runs from the river to Durrington Walls, a large monument about 2 miles (3 kilometers) from Stonehenge.

The survey discovered underground traces of some 60 huge stones pillars up to 9-feet (3-meters) long beneath the mounds at Durrington Walls. These stones were arranged into an enormous henge (circle) nearly 1 mile (1.5 kilometers) in diameter. This “super henge” dwarfs the stone circle at Stonehenge and is the largest megalithic monument of its kind in the world. Ground-penetrating radar images of one of the mounds at Stonehenge revealed remains of a timber building over 100-feet (33-meters) long that was probably used for funeral rites.

The modern underground survey and mapping techniques demonstrate that scholars still have much to learn about Stonehenge and surrounding ancient sites. Scientists think that the Stonehenge and Durrington Walls formed a huge complex of temples, shrines, burial sites, and processional walkways that were used together for religious ceremonies.

Additional World Book articles:

• Funeral customs
• Prehistoric people

June 20, 2014

The sounds of celebrations welcoming the summer solstice at Stonehenge in England thousands of years ago might have included rock music. If so, the music made from striking the huge stones used to construct the monument might explain why ancient Britons went so far afield to find the stones. People who gather at the valued World Heritage site for the arrival of the summer solstice tomorrow, however, will almost certainly have to content themselves with beating drums and singing.

The ancient ruin of Stonehenge, which lies on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, consists of huge, rough-cut stones set in a circle. Archaeologists think that ancient Britons constructed the site as a gathering place and religious center, particularly for ceremonies linked to the solstices, the times of the year that mark the beginning of summer and winter. In fact, the paved avenue at Stonehenge lines up with the sunrise on the summer solstice. Thousands of people continue to gather at the site twice a year to celebrate the solstices.

Stonehenge was probably used as a tribal gathering place and a religious center by ancient inhabitants of England. It was built between about 2800 and 1500 B.C. The drawing shows what scholars believe was the original arrangement of the monument's huge stones. (Aerofilms)

One of the many mysteries of Stonehenge is why its ancient builders used rocks from hundreds of miles away for the inner ring–despite the presence of rock deposits much closer. Stonehenge’s inner stones, called bluestones, were quarried some 245 miles (395 kilometers) away in the Preseli Mountains of Pembrokeshire in southern Wales. After quarrying, the stones were dragged to the sea, loaded onto barges, and floated up Hampshire’s River Avon to near Stonehenge. For the ancient Britons, this was no small effort. The bluestones are massive, with some weighing up to 4 tons (3.6 metric tons).

Now researchers from the Royal College of Art in London have suggested an answer: The rocks were chosen for the bell-like sounds they produce when struck. Such sounding stones, also called lithophones, are often associated with healing rituals and can be found throughout the world. In the United States, Ringing Rock State Park in Pennsylvania is known for the chime-like qualities of its ancient boulders. Stonehenge’s bluestones, like the Pennsyvania boulders, are diabase rocks, dense, fine-grained igneous rocks with deposits of iron and magnesium. The volcanic rocks spent some 170 million years cooling below ground, explained geologist Lawrence L. Makinconico of Lafayette College in Pennsylvania. “When they cool, it’s something like forging a cast-iron bell,” he told The New York Times.

Additonal World Book articles:

• Avebury
• Megalithic monuments
• History of the United Kingdom (Prehistoric Britain)
• Archaeology (1966) (a Back in Time article)
• Cahokia: Mysteries in the Mounds (a Special Report)
• Reading the Sky: Early Places of Astronomy (a Special Report)

To hear sounds made by rocks in the Preseli Mountains, where Stonehenge’s bluestones were quarried, go to:

http://www.landscape-perception.com/acoustic_mapping/