Traditionally, it has been believed that Stonehenge, that neolithic circular structure made of enormous standing stones located on Salsbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, was its own solitary structure. A religious site where the stones lined up to greet the solstices. We don't know who built them or to what exact purpose. We do know that there used to be wooden posts before the stones were brought in from great distances, truly a community project to end all community projects.
But in an article in March's edition of the magazine Scientific American, new evidence has come to light to integrate the other mounds in the area, that perhaps the landscape itself was part of a larger development. There are other line of sight mounds that used to be timber henges and other ditches and banks with interconnecting paths. Even one mound once thought to be a burial mound with many bones present, might have been a site of healing. Remains of a teenage boy, for instance, in such a mound near Stonehenge, was found to have come from the Mediterranean and might have come to the area for its magical healing properties. Or maybe he was just a slave. It's fun to speculate.
We don't need to get into a discussion about ley lines, or the idea that the entire area was some sort of interconnected viewing port of the cosmos. A Very Large Array like the one in New Mexico? We'll not go there.
For more on this and to view a video, go to the Scientific American site here.
On a side note, the man who wrote the article is named Underhill. More than just coincidence?
It's well known that the area around Stonehenge is rich in prehistoric remains. Many, such as the Stonehenge Cursus were constructed some 1,000 years before the iconic stone monument; others, such as the large round barrows, several hundred years later. The whole idea of 'sight lines' and the existence of purported astronomical alignments is very insecure, it relies more on peoples imagination than hard fact.
Posted by: AJ | February 19, 2011 at 03:37 AM
I saw a documentary on this subject, but can't remember where. Probably on BBC America. Prehistoric Britain is a complex and fascinating subject, and I think there's a lot more to discover out there! When I go to England to visit, I always stop by the Salisbury Plain!
Posted by: Sarah Shaber | February 19, 2011 at 05:50 AM
AJ, the article was definitely NOT talking about that. Rather, they were talking about how the entire landscape might be more interrelated than previously thought. Yes, they knew about the other mounds--it's rather obvious from arial views--but that it is more of a neighborhood.
Posted by: Jeri Westerson | February 19, 2011 at 08:16 AM