A Year at Stonehenge

The past twelve months has been an eventful time at Stonehenge with further work on the provenance of the Bluestones generating much debate,  a new book summarising the work of the Stonehenge Riverside Project included a revised dating of the construction phases, work started on the new visitor centre, and the monument continues to attract theories of the wacky and the bizarre.

Spotlight on Stonehenge
Following Approval for the closure of the Stonehenge road in November last year (2011) calls were heard for Stonehenge to be 'lit at night' as part of the multi-million-pound redevelopment of the site and to capitalise on its appeal. Lady Mimi Pakenham, of Warminster, in Wiltshire made the suggestion on the letters page of the Times that Stonehenge should be tastefully illuminated at night to "add some magic" to the stones.

Stonehenge at Night by Harold Edgerton 1944

The suggestion prompted a national debate with the Royal Astronomical Society and the International Astronomical Union, along with a number of groups, who have been working closely with English Heritage for several years in effort to keep the night sky as dark as possible in the Stonehenge area and Clive Ruggles, professor of archaeoastronomy  said they have been exploring ways in which "night tourism" might be permitted and encouraged in the future. Anyone in any doubt is urged to walk the Stonehenge landscape at night to appreciate that lighting up the monument would immediately cut the visual connection between the monument and the starry night sky.

Processional Route may link Cursus to Stonehenge 
Also in November 2011 the team that brought us 'New Henge', promoted with the sensational headline of the discovery of  a Neolithic henge, a sister monument to Stonehenge, the University of Birmingham and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection, claimed to have uncovered the “secret history” of Stonehenge as part of the Stonehenge Hidden Landscape Project. The team claimed that Stonehenge may already have been an important sacred site at least 500 years before the first Stone circle was erected. The project discovered two anomalies, one towards the enclosure’s eastern end, the other nearer its western end, which they are interpreting as two great pits with a celestial alignment that could have contained tall stones, wooden posts or fires. They claim that when viewed from the ‘Heel Stone’ at Stonehenge, the pits were aligned with the rising and setting of the sun on the summer solstice, the longest day of the year.

The team considered the possibility that the pits within the Cursus could have defined a processional route used by agriculturists to celebrate the passage of the sun across the sky at the summer solstice. They also discovered a previously unknown gap in the middle of the northern side of the Cursus, which may have provided the main entrance and exit point for processions that took place within the enclosure.

Sourcing the Bluestones 
The turn of the year saw a flurry of press releases on the source of the Stonehenge Bluestones following a paper from RA Ixer & RE Bevins in Archaeology in Wales 50 (2011)  reporting on the latest stage in their work to pin down the precise origin of the Bluestones that may have formed the first stone circle at Stonehenge. Ixer and Bevins identified the outcrop at Craig Rhos-Y-Felin, Pont Saeson, north of Mynydd Preseli, as the dominant source of a particular Bluestone rock type found amongst the Stonehenge ‘debitage’.

Stonehenge Bluestones

The source of the Stonehenge Bluestones has long been a subject of fascination and controversy; what are these Welsh stones doing over 200 miles away on Salisbury Plain? The term ‘Bluestone’ is used by geologists as a convenient generic name for all the non-local stone used in the construction and workings of Stonehenge.

The Bluestones of Stonehenge constitute several different rock types; spotted and unspotted Dolerites (also known as Preselite), in addition to rhyolites, tuffs, volcanic and calcareous ashes. One type of Bluestone was traced to north Pembrokeshire in the early 1920s, but now geologists have directly matched another type to a different part of north Pembrokeshire.

In 2009 Amgueddfa Cymru, in collaboration with the University of Leicester, began new petrological investigations. Examination of debris from the Cursus Field, adjacent to the Stonehenge Cursus, were found to be broadly similar to four standing Bluestones at the monument (SH38, SH40, SH46 and SH48), yet showed key differences. The source of this distinctive rhyolitic rock type from the Cursus debris has been identified at Pont Saeson, in the low ground to the north of Mynydd Preseli.

In June 2011 more detailed sampling at Pont Saeson identified the outcrop of Craig Rhos-y-felin as the source of the rock types recovered from the Cursus Field. By comparing the chemical properties of stone taken from outcrops in Wales with samples from the Bluestone debitage at Stonehenge the results revealed this as the major source of the majority of the rhyolite debris recovered during excavations at Stonehenge and the vicinity.

Three defined types of rhyolite (groups A-C), all deriving from Craig Rhos-y-Felin, have been recognized as debitage (waste created by shaping and dressing the stones, known as the Stonehenge Layer) from the 2008 (Darvill and Wainwright) excavations within the Stonehenge circle, the Heel Stone area, several Aubrey Holes, the Stonehenge Avenue, and the Stonehenge Cursus. Yet none of these rock types is represented amongst the surviving standing Bluestones at Stonehenge.

The hunt continues for the source of four standing Stonehenge Bluestones  (SH38, SH40, SH46 and SH48) that have been found not to have any petrographical match for any rhyolitic lithology at Pont Saeson.

North Pembrokeshire showing key Bluestone localities.
After British Geological Survey (2010)

Silbury Bluestones
Bluestone fever continued in the January/February 2012 issue of British Archaeology magazine, No 122, which reported on a fragment of Bluestone found during Atkinson's  excavations at Silbury in 1969-70 being matched to three spotted dolerite bluestone fragments recovered during Jim Leary's excavations (2007-08) on the mound top at Silbury as part of the English Heritage Conservation Project program. All four Silbury bluestone fragments are considered as belonging to a single block of spotted dolerite.

The Sound of Stonehenge
Whilst back in April 2012 Salford scientists revealed the 'sound of Stonehenge' after a four-year project led by Dr Bruno Fazenda and colleagues at Huddersfield and Bristol Universities, has established how the shouts, speeches, songs or even sacrificial screams (?) would have sounded. The method has been a painstaking piece of the relatively new discipline of 'archaeoacoustics', which reveals the sound quality of buildings from the past.

Obviously missing megaliths at the famous monument must have affected the results, however the team claim it was possible to make proper acoustic measurements that allow an investigation into striking effects such as echoes, resonances and whispering gallery effects. However, the data failed to reveal whether the site was designed specifically with acoustics in mind, like Greek or Roman theatres but it did demonstrate that the space reacted to acoustic activity in a way that would have been noticeable to the Neolithic man.

Drenched Druids

Drenched Druids! 
"Drenched Druids" was the headline on the Mail Online as the summer solstice at Stonehenge was the wettest in years with many swapping their white robes for pac-a-macs to welcome the midsummer sunrise at the prehistoric monument. Around 14,500 people are reported to have braved the miserable weather to welcome the dawn at Stonehenge with some of the heaviest rainfall falling overnight in England Wales. The village of Evershot in Dorset had 21.4mm in just six hours. In 2009 a record crowd of around 36,000 people gathered on Salisbury Plain to witness the Solstice sunrise at Stonehenge.

Stonehenge: Exploring the Greatest Stone Age Mystery
Do we really need yet another book on Stonehenge? June saw the publication of a new book on Stonehenge by Mike Parker Pearson recalling the work of the Stonehenge Riverside Project: Stonehenge: Exploring the Greatest Stone Age Mystery (Simon & Schuster, 2012 )

Is there anything new here? This is not just another work on Stonehenge; this book offers the latest theories on the monument and brings us up to date with results of the archaeological work of the Stonehenge Riverside Project (SRP) led by Mike Parker Pearson who argues that the previous chronology and dating of the monument was wrong and presents the SRP's corrected version. He also recalls the discovery of Bluestonehenge, a circle claimed to have held 25 of the Bluestones from south-west Wales. Parker Pearson further presents the theory that Stonehenge was a monument of the dead based on the finding of more than 64 cremation burials at the site spanning the monument's use during the third millennium BC.

The new staging of the features inside Stonehenge that Parker Pearson presents here is assembled on the basis of a revised modelling of the available radiocarbon dates with data from the 2008 excavations in the central part of Stonehenge, together with new information from work at Aubrey Hole 7, is interpreted as the central Trilithon Horseshoe was the first structure to be built in the central area, perhaps along with the Sarsen Circle. The Bluestone circles were added later. Based on information from Darvill and Wainwright's 2008 excavations Parker Pearson also questions the chronology of the Q & R holes, initially thought to have been the first Bluestone phase at Stonehenge.

In the late Summer of 2011 Parker Pearson travelled to Craig Rhos-y-felin near Pont Saeson, identified as the source area of the Stonehenge Bluestones, in search of the quarry site. Craig Rhos-y-felin outcrop is some 70m long with many narrow slabs up to 2m tall splitting off from the parent rock in blocks that are reminiscent of the Stonehenge Bluestones. Evaluation trenches at the outcrop site revealed a detached columnar bock and associated tools such as hammerstones. This evidence suggests it was a genuine quarry worked by man with obvious implications for the transportation of the Bluestones to Salisbury Plain.
(See Green Man Archaeology Tour blogspot for an account of the excavation at Rhos-y-felin)

Following publication of Stonehenge: Exploring the Greatest Stone Age Mystery press releases followed presenting the theory that Stonehenge was constructed to unify Neolithic Britain:

Stonehenge built to unify the peoples of Britain 
In June research reveals that the Stonehenge monument was constructed to mark the unification of Britain. After 10 years of archaeological investigations, researchers at the University of Sheffield have concluded that Stonehenge was built as a monument to unify the peoples of Britain, after a long period of conflict and regional difference between eastern and western Britain.

Stonehenge was constructed at a point on Salisbury Plain as a point of intersection between adjacent prehistoric territories, serving as a seasonal gathering place during the 4th and 3rd millennia BC for groups living in the lowlands to the east and west. Sound familiar? Colin Renfrew hypothesised in the 1970s that Stonehenge was the centre of a confederation of Bronze Age chiefdoms.

Impression of the new Stonehenge Visitor Centre

New Stonehenge Visitor Centre 
In July preparation work began this month with pre-construction tests being carried out to allow building work to begin next month on the new Stonehenge visitor centre scheduled to open in Autumn 2013.

Did Neolithic farming fail? 
An article in the September issue of Antiquity Vol 86 by Chris Stevens of Wessex Archaeology in Salisbury, England, and Dorian Fuller of University College London suggested that Herders, not farmers, built Stonehenge, presenting the case for a Bronze Age agricultural revolution in the British Isles with the ancient pastoralists linked to construction of massive stone monuments. The paper rewrites the early history of Britain, showing that while the cultivation of cereals arrived there in about 4000 cal BC, it did not last.

Between 3300 and 1500 BC Britons became largely pastoral, reverting only with a major upsurge of agricultural activity in the Middle Bronze Age. This loss of interest in arable farming was accompanied by a decline in population, seen by the authors as having a climatic impetus. But they also point to this period as the time of construction of the great megalithic monuments, including Stonehenge. We are left wondering whether pastoralism was all that bad, and whether it was one intrusion after another that set the agenda on the island.

Sacrilege?

Bouncey Castle Stonehenge 
During the summer we had Bouncey Castle Stonehenge doing a tour of the Olympic sites before the grand opening. Jeremy Deller's bouncy-castle Stonehenge, entitled 'Sacrilege', was in London on an national Olympic tour, the latest in a long line of artistic images of Britain's most famous ancient monument.

A Prehistoric Art Gallery
And only last month (October) Stonehenge was declared as a Prehistoric Art Gallery after the discovery of a further 72 previously unknown Early Bronze Age carvings during a detailed laser-scan survey of the entire monument was been interpreted as indicating that Stonehenge was a huge prehistoric art gallery.

And finally, after all these studies and theories, are we any nearer cracking the mystery of the monument?

The 'No Purpose' Hypothesis
These NEWS snippets suggest that scholars and archaeologists are still struggling to understand the enigma of Stonehenge; what it is and why it was constructed. So in their wisdom they are now moving towards the hypothesis that Stonehenge was built for no real purpose other than something to keep the ancient people occupied.

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Newgrange - Monument to Immortality

A new book by Anthony Murphy, co-author of Island of the Setting Sun

This book looks beyond the archaeology and the astronomy to reveal a much more profound and sacred vision of the very spirit of the people who built Newgrange.

Older than both Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid of Giza, the 5,000-year-old megalithic construction of Newgrange, the Palace of the Boyne, is classified by archaeologists as a passage tomb - but Newgrange is so much more as Anthony Murphy demonstrates in his new book, Newgrange: Monument to Immortality, described as "the work of a spiritual warrior."

Described by Finn as the "house of Óengus of the Bru" and the legendary home of the Dagda, Newgrange is perhaps best known for the winter solstice illumination of its passage and chamber by the rays of the rising sun through a light-box construction, permitting the soft morning sunlight to hit the floor of the passage, gradually travelling slowly to penetrate the rear of the chamber on the shortest days of the year.

The  passage tombs of the UNESCO designated World Heritage Site of Brú na Bóinne have all been found to contain enigmatic large stone basins, four in Newgrange alone, conjectured as the Dagda's Cauldron, one of the four treasures brought to Ireland by the Túatha Dé Danann. Yet, one of the best known aspects of the Brú na Bóinne monuments is their megalithic art inscribed on many of the chamber walls, Knowth being the most decorated of the three passage mounds. This artwork is illuminated by the light of celestial bodies at specific times in their journey through the heavens confirming that these engravings possess astronomical themes.

In his previous book, Island of the Setting Sun: In Search of Ireland's Ancient Astronomers (Liffey Press, 2008), Anthony Murphy and Richard Moore gave a comprehensive account of the ancient astronomers who built the remarkable megalithic monuments and left a vast astronomical legacy in their myths and stones, a people they termed "the megalithic builders of the Stone Age, cunning engineers and master astronomers who systematically assembled a vast calendrical and astronomical scheme which would stand intact over five millennia". 

From the publisher:
Many people who visit the ancient and magnificent Newgrange monument in the Boyne Valley are driven by some deep longing to connect with their most distant roots. The giant 5,000-year-old megalithic construction evokes awe and wonderment, and a keen sense of melancholy for the community of people who created and fashioned it from stone and earth in the remote past, a people now lost to time. For the past two centuries, archaeologists, antiquarians, writers and researchers have been probing Newgrange in the hope of revealing something about its purpose, and something about the mysterious people of the New Stone Age who created giant structures using primitive technology. What has become clear from these investigations is that Newgrange is a uniquely special place, and that its construction was carried out not by a grizzly mob of grunting barbarians, but rather by an advanced agrarian community who had developed keen skills in the sciences of astronomy, engineering and architecture.

In Newgrange: Monument to Immortality, writer and researcher Anthony Murphy goes deep into the mind and soul of his neolithic ancestors to attempt to draw forth some answers to these questions. In a deeply moving, poetic and philosophical exploration, he looks beyond the archaeology and the astronomy to reveal a much more profound and sacred vision of the very spirit of the people who were driven to such marvellous and wondrous efforts.

Anthony Murphy is a freelance journalist and the co-author of Island of the Setting Sun. He lives in Drogheda. He is a former newspaper editor, journalist and author who lives just four miles from Newgrange, Ireland's most famous monument. His long-held interest in astronomy was one of the many factors that led him to write 'Island of the Setting Sun' with Richard Moore in 2006. That book has since been republished and has been widely acclaimed.

Anthony has devoted the past thirteen years to the study of the monuments of the Boyne Valley and their associated cosmology and mythology. He has appeared on many TV shows and in films and documentaries, including on The History Channel.

Newgrange - Monument to Immortality - publication date 25th October can be ordered from the Liffey Press website

Anthony's websites:

Mythical Ireland
Newgrange: Monument to Immortality blog
Island of the Setting Sun blog

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The Sacred Stone Circles Of Stanton Drew

A new book by Gordon Strong

“During my long love-affair with Stanton Drew I have often wavered between wanting to share its mystery with as many people as possible and keeping the whereabouts of this ancient site to myself. I have been writing and lecturing about the place for some years now and the fact that I am still doing so perhaps proves that only a minority of people are familiar with it. I am certain that air of mystery I mentioned continues to permeate the consciousness of anyone who visits the site.” - Gordon Strong, The Secret of Stanton Drew

The village of Stanton Drew, north Somerset, is host to a remarkable group of ancient monuments which together comprise the third largest collection of standing stones in England.  Yet, the survival of the stone circles of Stanton Drew in such close proximity to a farm and church is somewhat surprising when we consider the fate of other less fortunate monuments lost to the plough and Christian zealots. Perhaps its very survival lies in part because the site is off the beaten track and far from the madding crowd; these remarkable prehistoric stone circles have not received anything like the same level of interest and exploration as the more famous Wessex henges at Avebury and Stonehenge.

Stanton Drew megaliths (copyright Jeebs)

The largest of its three stone circles, known as 'The Great Circle', at 113m in diameter the second largest stone circle in England after Avebury, encloses an area of some 2,000 square metres, exceeding the dimensions of Stonehenge. The Great Circle is thought to have once consisted of 30 unhewn reddish megaliths, 27 of which survive today. It was once approached by an avenue of standing stones, few remaining but many now lost, linking it to a smaller northern circle. A smaller southwest circle is aligned to Hautville's Quoit across the river Chew and The Cove behind the nearby church, in the garden of the Druids Arms pub. Recent archaeological survey has revealed evidence of multiple concentric rings of postholes indicating a substantial woodhenge once existed at Stanton Drew, underlining its importance as a major ritual centre of the Neolithic age.

All stone circles attract myths and legends and Stanton Drew is no exception, the best known tells how a wedding party was turned to stone. The wedding celebrations were held throughout Saturday, then a man clothed in black, said to be the very Devil himself in disguise, appeared and started to play his violin for the merrymakers. The partying went on after midnight, continuing into Sunday morning. When dawn broke, the wedding party had all been turned to stone for dancing on the Sabbath. The Stone Circles are said to be the dancers, the fiddlers are the Avenues and the bride and the groom with the drunken churchman at their feet is said to be The Cove.

Gordon Strong has spent many years exploring this fascinating site on multiple levels. In this new book, Stanton Drew and its Ancient Stone Circles, he presents the available archaeological detail along with local folklore and the testimonies of various commentators, from 18th century antiquarians to modern dowsing surveys, discussing ritual, mediumship, earth energies and mythology. He also gives his own observations and insights gleaned from his "long love-affair" with the site, interpreted through the Western esoteric tradition and British Mysteries. Most importantly, he offers the visitor some clues for making their own inner connection to this unique monument which still vibrates with ancient magic.

Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Introduction
what are Stone Circles?
The Woodhenge
Antiquaries and Analogies
Serpents, Dragons and the Sun
The Watery Moon
The Venus Cycle
Comets and Energy Lines
Sacrificing the King
The Holographic Universe
The Otherworld
The Eternal Waters
A Continuing Magic
Bibliography

Published September 21st 2012 by Skylight Press


Also by Gordon Strong:

Stanton Drew and its Ancient Stone Circles
This little book was the end result of years of research and transcendental investigations by Gordon Strong, an international authority on this singular monument.

The definitive history of the mysterious megalithic site at Stanton Drew in Somerset. Published by Wooden Books, this lavishly illustrated work features a comprehensive text and a host of contemporary engravings.

Ancient Stone Circles makes for fascinating reading and is an essential text for those who seek to know more about the power of stone circles and the magic of the celebrated Neolithic site of Stanton Drew.

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