Monday, October 5, 2009
Newly discovered stones enhance understanding of Stonehenge
By Thomas H. Maugh II
Los Angeles Times
British archaeologists have found the remains of a massive stone henge, or ceremonial circle, that was part of the ancient and celebrated Stonehenge complex, a find that is shedding new light on how the monument was built and its religious uses.
The new henge, called Bluestonehenge because it was built with blue Preseli dolerite mined in Preseli, Wales, more than 150 miles away, was sited on the banks of the Avon River, where ancient pilgrims carrying the ashes of their dead relatives began their journey from the river to Stonehenge, nearly two miles away. Some are calling it the "little sister" of Stonehenge.
The approximately 25 massive bluestones were erected in a circle about 5,000 years ago and eventually were encircled by a ditch and an earthen embankment. About 500 years later, however, the stones were moved and incorporated into Stonehenge.
All that is left of the stone circle are the holes where the stones sat in the ground and a few chips of dolerite.
That the monument was found at the beginning of the avenue near the river "not only solidifies the view that Stonehenge covers the entire landscape but also the sacred importance of the river itself," said archaeologist Christine Hastorf of the University of California, Berkeley, who was not involved in the research. "It means that there was a link between Stonehenge and the water, out to the ocean."
Stonehenge is composed of concentric circles of stones, some weighing as much as 50 tons, surrounded by a ditch and an earthen bank. The structure is aligned with sunrise at the summer solstice, and researchers have long viewed it as both an astronomical observatory and a cemetery.
A team led by archaeologist Michael Parker Pearson of the University of Sheffield made the new discovery while excavating in the area of Stonehenge during the past several years. Their findings have suggested that the entire site, which stretched from the river to the Stonehenge monument itself, was a religious complex where ancient peoples gathered to celebrate life and bury their dead.
Some of their discoveries also have suggested Stonehenge was a burial site for early kings.
The team had long suspected there was some kind of monument near the river at the beginning of the avenue that leads to Stonehenge, but they had great difficulty finding it, Parker Pearson said in a telephone interview Monday.
"We tried every method we could to prospect for the circle — radar, magnetic signals, electrical resistance in the Earth — but we couldn't see anything there at all."
Only when they began digging in August and September did they find what they were looking for.
So far, they have found nine holes that they believe were part of a 30-foot-wide circle of about 25 standing stones. The dimensions of the holes are too wide and shallow for them to have been post holes, sites where wood posts once were driven into the ground.
The holes were too small to have held sarsen stones, the larger limestone rocks that form part of the Stonehenge monument and that were mined at Marlborough Downs 25 miles to the north.
But the dimensions correlate precisely with those of bluestones in the inner circle of Stonehenge.
The stone circle at Bluestonehenge eventually was replaced by a henge, a circular ditch nearly 74 feet across with an external bank. Little trace of the bank remains except at one place where it was pushed back into the ditch. Elsewhere, the ditch filled with silt and sediment over thousands of years.
Broken antler pickaxes in the ditch date its construction to about 2470 B.C. to 2280 B.C. At least one entrance has been discovered. That was on its east side and contained a specially placed deposit of antlers, an antler pickax, cattle bones and stone and flint tools.
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After the ditch had fully silted up, its northern quadrant was recut during the Bronze Age, which lasted from 2300 B.C. to 600 B.C. in Europe. During the Medieval period, particularly during the 13th century, a complex series of east-west and north-south trenches were dug and filled. Their purpose is unknown.
The team also found the riverside end of the avenue to Stonehenge. It was marked by two parallel ditches about 54 feet apart. These originally held upright posts, forming a small palisade on either side. The avenue apparently terminated at or close to the outer bank of the newly discovered henge.
Archaeologist Josh Pollard of Bristol University, a co-director of the project, noted that the circle and henge "should be considered an integral part of Stonehenge rather than a separate monument, and it offers tremendous insight into the history of its famous neighbor."
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Previous research had shown that Stonehenge originally consisted of 56 bluestones set in a circle inside a ditch and bank. Sometime around 2500 B.C., those stones were moved to their current location in the center of Stonehenge, leaving behind the holes now known as Aubrey holes.
But there are 80 bluestones in the monument and only 56 Aubrey holes, Parker Pearson said. "Where did the other 24 stones come from? I think we have solved that problem. They uprooted the other circle and moved the stones. Why they did it, we don't know."
But, "What it tells us for sure is that the river is essential to understanding Stonehenge," Parker Pearson added, because why else would the ancient builders have erected a monument there?
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Burning ceremonies, too, appear to have been important rites at the site. When the stones at Bluestonehenge were pulled out, a lot of topsoil fell in, and that topsoil, the team found, is full of charcoal. "They were building a lot of fires there. That may have been where they were cremating bodies," Parker Pearson said, before burying them at Stonehenge.
"This is a very exciting time," he added. "Our seven years of work have completely rewritten the story of Stonehenge."
But the work is not done. For example, Parker Pearson said the team thinks it has located the quarry where the sarsen stones were excavated and is working to confirm the identification.
The group also is using isotopic analysis of teeth from cattle that were eaten during the large celebrations at the site and during its construction to determine where the animals came from.
"The vast majority are coming from long distance away," he said, many of them from Wales or Southwest England. "There was a very large (number) of animals being brought to support the population building Stonehenge."
The story was released Monday by the National Geographic Society, which funded much of the research.
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