Stonehenge | Stonehenge Stone Circle News and Information

Stonehenge builders had geometry skills to rival Pythagoras

8 11 2010

Stone Age Britons had a sophisticated knowledge of geometry to rival

The Stone Age Britons who built Stonehenge had a knowledge of advanced geometry, 2,000 years before Pythagoras

Pythagoras – 2,000 years before the Greek “father of numbers” was born, according to a new study of Stonehenge. Five years of detailed research, carried out by the Oxford University landscape archaeologist Anthony Johnson, claims that Stonehenge was designed and built using advanced geometry.

The discovery has immense implications for understanding the monument – and the people who built it. It also suggests it is more rooted in the study of geometry than early astronomy – as is often speculated. Mr Johnson believes the geometrical knowledge eventually used to plan, pre-fabricate and erect Stonehenge was learnt empirically hundreds of years earlier through the construction of much simpler monuments. He also argues that this knowledge was regarded as a form of arcane wisdom or magic that conferred a privileged status on the elite who possessed it, as it also featured on gold artefacts found in prehistoric graves.

The most complex geometrical achievement at Stonehenge is an 87-metre diameter circle of chalk-cut pits which mark the points of a 56-sided polygon, created immediately within themonument’s perimeter earthwork. Mr Johnson used computer analysis and experimental archaeology to demonstrate that this outer polygon was laid out using square and circle geometry. He believes the surveyors started by using a rope to create a circle, then laid out the four corners of a square on its circumference, before laying out a second similar square, thus creating an inner octagon. The points of the octagon were then utilised as anchors for a surveyor’s rope which was used to “draw” arcs which intersected the circumference so as to progressively create the sides of a vast polygon. Indeed, his work has demonstrated that a 56-sided polygon is the most complex that can easily be created purely through square and circle geometry using a single piece of rope.

The Stonehenge Tour Company

It is likely that this basic limitation determined the number of sides of Stonehenge’s outer polygon – and may also have led to the 56-sided polygon concept becoming important within wider European religious belief. Ancient Greek classical mythology associated just such a 56-sided polygon with Zeus’s great rival for divine supremacy, the weather god Typhon. Johnson’s research, published as a book this week, shows that Stonehenge derived its design from geometrical knowledge and features no less than six concentric polygons – a 56-sided outer one built around 2950BC; a regular octagon built around 2500BC) inside that; two concentric (though partly inaccurate) 30-sided polygons built around 1650BC, which were based on a series of hexagons; a 30-sided inner polygon (the sarsen stone ring which was built around 2500BC) also based on hexagonal geometry; and two probable 40-sided concentric polygons (probable former blue stone positions built around 2600BC) that were later modified to 30-sided ones.

They also created the famous central stone “horseshoe” utilising the survey markers used to create the thirty-sided sarsen polygon. The experimental archaeology demonstrates that most of the monument was pre-planned and that the great stones were pre-fabricated off-site and then installed by surveyor-engineers. “For years people have speculated that Stonehenge was built as a complex astronomical observatory. My research suggests that, apart from mid-summer and mid-winter solar alignments, this was not the case,” said Mr Johnson. “It strongly suggests that it was the knowledge of geometry and symmetry which was an important component of the Neolithic belief system.” “It shows the builders of Stonehenge had a sophisticated yet empirically derived knowledge of Pythagorean geometry 2000 years before Pythagoras,” he said.

A leading British prehistorian, Sir Barry Cunliffe, from Oxford University, believes that Anthony Johnson’s research is “a major step forward in solving the puzzle of Stonehenge”. Details of Anthony Johnson’s research can be found in his book ‘Solving Stonehenge’ published by Thames and Hudson. Further information can be found at solvingstonehenge.co.uk/

Merlin @ Stonehenge
The Stonehenge Stone Circle Website

Comments : 1 Comment »

Categories : mythology, private access, salisbury guided tours, Solstice, special access tours, Stonehenge, Stonehenge news, Stonehenge tours, wiltshire, world heritage site

Stonehenge Private Access tours 2011 – Go beyond the fences!

4 11 2010

Hot off the press – Stonehenge Access Dates!
I have just been sent 2011 dates for Stonehenge ‘private access’ tours (see below) If you are planning on visiting Stonehenge in the next 12 months then I highly recommend joing one of these trips.

Stonehenge Inner Circle Tours – Go beyond the fences

For those of you who have not visited this sacred site, I should mention that the complex is roped off. Visitors observe the stones from a distance and are not permitted within the temple complex……….Stonehenge special access tours allow you to be amongst the stones and to experience the magic.

There are a few sightseeing tour operators who offer this service and I have just been advised of the 2011 dates. There are limited spaces and I highly recommend booking sooner rather than later – this is a very popular tour. A fantastic photograph opportunity!

Stonehenge Special Access dates 2011
January 2011 – 2nd, 14th, 21st, 24th, 31st
February 2011 – 4th, 7th, 18th, 28th
March 2011 – 7th, 14th, 25th, 28th
April 2011 – 3rd, 6th, ,7th, 10th, 11th, 14th, 17th, 20th, 21st, 24th, 25th, 28th
May 2011 – 1st, 4th, 5th, 8th, 9th, 12th, 15th, 18th, 22nd, 23rd, 26th, 29th
June 2011 – 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, 9th, 12th, 15th, 21st
July 2011 – 3rd, 6th, 7th, 11th, 10th, 14th, 17th, 18th, 21st, 24th, 28th, 31st
August 2011 – 4th, 7th, 8th, 10th, 11th, 14th, 17th, 18th, 21st, 22nd, 25th, 28th
September 2011 – 1st, 5th, 8th, 11th, 15th, 18th, 29th

Private tours can often be arranged for alternative other dates for families and small groups but need to be booked well in advance

These Stonehenge access tours can be booked through the excellent ‘Stonehenge Tour Company’ website. For a selection of other Stonehenge Tours from London that can also include: Bath, Lacock Village, Salisbury Cathedral, Windsor Castle, Avebury Stone Circle, The Cotswolds, Oxford etc click here

The Stonehenge Tour Company

Avebury Stone Circle

One or two operators offer tours that include Stonehenge and Avebury plus nearby Silbury Hill, West Kennet Long Barrow, Chalk hill figures and even crop circles (April – September) Try The Stonehenge Tour Company, Histouries UK and Salisbury Guided ToursShould you need any unbias advice on organising a tour to Stonehenge please do email me – tours@stonehenge-stone-circle.co.uk

Merlin @ Stonehenge
The Stonehenge Stone Circle Website

Comments : Leave a Comment »

Categories : Avebury, Crop Circles, Druids, private access, silbury hill, Solstice, special access tours, Stonehenge, Stonehenge news, Stonehenge tours, UK Stone Circles, wiltshire, world heritage site

Druids mark festival after becoming official religion

1 11 2010

Druids are celebrating their first major festival since their beliefs were granted official status as a religion.

Sanhain

For them and other pagans, 31 October is not Halloween, but Samhain, and marks the turning of the year from light into dark.

Earlier this month, the Charities Commission ruled that the Druid Network should have the same status as other faiths such as Christianity and Islam.

Pagans do not worship one single god, but look for the spiritual in nature.

The number of pagans, including druids, witches and wiccans, has grown in recent years.

Many believe that the absence of rules, the focus on the environment and particular regard for the female have a strong resonance in contemporary society.

Druids worship the spirits they believe inhabit the earth. Among them are those embodied in forces of nature, such as thunder, and places, like mountains and rivers.

Their rituals, including Samhain, are focused particularly on the turning of the seasons.

After a four-year inquiry, the Charity Commission decided that druidry offered coherent practices for the worship of a supreme being, and provided a beneficial moral framework.

Earlier this month the Charities Commission gave the Druid Network the status of a religion.

Happy New Year Pagans!
Merlin @ Stonehenge
The Stonehenge Stone Circle Website

Comments : Leave a Comment »

Categories : Avebury, Druids, Pagans, private access, Solstice, special access tours, Stonehenge, Stonehenge news, Stonehenge tours, UK Stone Circles, wiltshire

Stonehenge expert awarded OBE

29 10 2010

ONE of the world’s leading experts on Stonehenge discovered his passion for archaeology as a child in his Cheltenham back garden.
Professor Timothy Darvill has been awarded an OBE, in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours List, for services to archaeology. He is a leading expert on prehistoric Britain.

He said it was a “great privilege” to receive the honour from the Queen earlier this month at Windsor Castle and thanked his colleagues, friends and family.

“I have always been passionate about archaeology and feel fortunate to have contributed to so many amazing projects that have revealed such a great deal about our nation’s history and heritage,” he said.

Born and bred in Cheltenham, Prof Darvill has been passionate about archaeology since he was a child, according to his mother Win Darvill.

“He has always been interested from when he was a small boy. He used to dig holes in the garden all the time,” she said.

“His father, who was a civil engineer, was interested in fossils and passed it all on to Timothy and it went from there.”

The family lived in the Battledown area and Mrs Darvill now lives in Pittville.

Timothy Darvill is now a professor at Bournemouth University.

Mrs Darvill said: “When he was in his teens he was always either involved in archaeology in Cirencester or on field walks. It has always been his passion. I could not believe it when he was awarded the OBE but I am so proud.”

She said her son grew up in the right area to find all kinds of interesting landscapes.

But he developed an interest in Stonehenge from a young age too.

“He has done a lot of work on it and written many books about it. I read them but I wouldn’t like to write an essay on them,” she said.

The author of more than 20 books and 200 papers and articles, Mr Darvill famously co-directed the first excavations within the stone circle at Stonehenge for more than 40 years in April 2008.

His work featured in a BBC Timewatch programme, which examined the theory that Stonehenge was a prehistoric centre of healing.

After completing a PhD at Southampton University on the Neolithic of Wales and the west of England, he worked with the Western Archaeological Trust and the Council for British Archaeology before establishing a private practice offering consultancy services in the field of archaeological resource management.

In October 1991, he was appointed to the chair of archaeology in the newly-established archaeology group at Bournemouth University and led the Monuments at Risk survey commissioned by English Heritage in the mid 1990s and has worked in Russia, Malta, Greece, and Germany. He is chairman of the board of directors of Cotswold Archaeology, one of the top archaeological companies in the UK, and vice-president of the Society of Antiquaries of London.

Merlin @ Stonehenge
The Stonehenge Stone Circle Website

Comments : Leave a Comment »

Categories : Blue Stones, Stonehenge, Stonehenge archaeological digs, Stonehenge news, Stonehenge tours, UK Stone Circles, wiltshire

Silbury Hill – David Attenborough’s big dig

26 10 2010

Silbury Hill is as ancient and enigmatic as Stonehenge. David Attenborough tells us why he set out to crack it

Tomb or temple? ... Silbury Hill, Wiltshire.

^‘The past,” says David Attenborough, “is a haunting and fascinating place.” The great naturalist is revealing a little-known side of himself: his love of archaeology – and his fascination with Silbury Hill in Wiltshire. The tallest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe, Silbury Hill rises to a height of 37 metres, making it comparable with the Egyptian pyramids and the ziggurats of Mesopotamia.

In a new English Heritage book about the hill, Attenborough tells how, in 1968 as controller of BBC2, he commissioned a programme that involved tunnelling into its depths to discover why it was there. At the time, the programme was judged a flop, since it found no treasure, no tomb, no real answers at all.

The-Story-of-Silbury-Hill

Attenborough is now seeking to set the record straight. He argues that, far from failing, TV’s first live dig triggered an unlikely chain of events that recently led to the tunnel being reopened and re-examined, using modern techniques. “They did not unearth any material treasure either,” he writes, but instead “added more details to our knowledge and understanding.” And this, you could say, is the true purpose of archaeology. In fact, the reopening of the tunnel vindicated the project Attenborough is so proud of: it revealed perhaps as much as will ever be known about this most mysterious of ancient monuments.

Silbury Hill is near Avebury, a quaint English village set inside a prehistoric stone circle. The village is part of a world heritage site that takes in Stonehenge and Silbury Hill. Raised in the same era as the mighty Stonehenge, and just as much of an enigma, the hill boasts chalk sides covered with grass. Construction of the vast, flat-topped cone would have required hundreds of workers and taken an age, but the people who built it left no records as to why.

BBC2 was a new channel in the 60s, with a brief to experiment. “We were going to do new television,” says Attenborough. “Everything we did would be in some way identifiable as new. With archaeology we thought, ‘Why can’t we do a live excavation?’ We would have cameras there so, if necessary, we could interrupt other programmes.”

The plan was to dig a tunnel into the heart of the hill. Professor Richard Atkinson, who led the dig, had interesting ideas about what might be in there. “Richard was the first to notice Mycenean daggers on Stonehenge,” says Attenborough. These made Atkinson believe Stonehenge was built by a culture in contact with ancient Greece, whose chief wanted a dramatic tomb.

This was TV as real adventure, and it captured the public imagination. Some saw it as a treasure hunt; others as a mix of horror and science-fiction. “Atkinson,” says Attenborough, “didn’t necessarily think there was going to be a burial [site]. The press said, ‘This is a treasure hunt, isn’t it?’ I said, ‘No, it’s about little bits of mud.'”

As the tunnel took shape, with news reported continually, nothing much emerged. “People kept saying, ‘It’s a failure,'” says Attenborough. “But we did discover how it was made.” Some people maintained the dig was actually harmful. “Since then, if there have been slumps in the top, people have said, ‘Ah ha, it’s the BBC’s tunnel.’ ”

In 2000, not just a slump but a hole appeared. Was the tunnel collapsing? No: this was caused by an 18th-century shaft, but archaeologists were still worried. They decided to reopen the BBC tunnel, deploying the latest tools and tests, and then seal it forever.

The new dig suggested that the hill was not a tomb, but a temple – perhaps the greatest in Europe 4,000 years ago. It also showed the hill started as a sacred site, where people came bearing stones; they may have believed they possessed healing powers. Certainly, stones are embedded in the structure and are thought to be highly meaningful by archaeologists. It is like Britain’s later cathedrals, which rose up over shrines. Sun worship flourished in prehistoric Britain, so perhaps this was – like those ancient ziggurats – a stairway to heaven to let priests get closer to the sun.

Atkinson’s tunnel is now sealed, but its creation marked a time when TV set out to bring drama and glamour to archaeology. As Attenborough says: “Anybody would be thrilled to find a Roman coin in their garden. I know I would.”

Visit Silbury Hill, Stonehenge and Avebury in a small group day tour – The Stonehenge Tour Company are the only operators who offer such a trip. Histouries UK based in nearby Salisbury and Bath also bespoke private guided tours of the region. You can look at more discounted tour operators here

Merlin @ Stonehenge
The Stonehenge Stone Circle Website

Comments : 1 Comment »

Categories : Avebury, silbury hill, special access tours, Stonehenge, Stonehenge archaeological digs, Stonehenge news, Stonehenge tours, UK Stone Circles, wiltshire, world heritage site

STONEHENGE AND PHOTOGRAPHY – ENGLISH HERITAGE RESPONSE

22 10 2010

English Heritage looks after Stonehenge on behalf of the nation. But we do not control the copyright of all images of Stonehenge. And we have never tried to do so.

Stonehenge image

We have no problem with photographers sharing images of Stonehenge on Flickr and similar not-for-profit image websites. We encourage visitors to the monument to take their own photographs. If a commercial photographer enters the land within our care with the intention of taking a photograph of the monument for financial gain, we ask that they pay a fee and abide by certain conditions. English Heritage is a non-profit making organisation and this fee helps preserve and protect Stonehenge for the benefit of future generations. The majority of commercial photographers respect this position and normally request permission in advance of visiting. We regret the confusion caused by a recent email sent to a picture library.

Merlin @ Stonehenge
The Stonehenge Stone Circle Website

Comments : Leave a Comment »

Categories : Pagans, Solstice, special access tours, Stonehenge, Stonehenge news, Stonehenge tours, Stonehenge Visitor Centre, world heritage site

The man who bought Stonehenge

22 10 2010

It was 95 years ago, this week, that a man walked into a property auction in Salisbury and came out £6,600 poorer and the owner of Stonehenge.
Stonehenge had never been put up for auction before and never would again.
Sir Cecil Chubb, a wealthy Shrewton resident, was the new owner of Stonehenge. He was also the last man to own it.

Bought ‘on a whim’

Stonehenge had been in private hands since the middle ages and been in the Antrobus family since the early 1800s.

But when the heir to the Antrobus baronetcy was killed in the Great War the estate was put up for sale.

Stonehenge undergoes restoration work in 1950

In the hands of Messrs Knight, Franck and Rutley, on the 21st September 1915, the historic site went under the hammer.

And Lot 15: Stonehenge with 30 acres of adjoining down land was sold at the Palace Theatre in Salisbury to the highest bidder.

Sir Cecil Chubb, who’d had no intention of bidding at the sale, bought it ‘on a whim’ as a gift for his wife who, it’s claimed, was none too pleased.

For the price of £6,600, the equivalent of £392,00 in today’s money, Sir Cecil Chubb’s intention that a “Salisbury man ought to buy it” was realised.

Stonehenge worth £51m

Just 95 years on and, according to a survey of 500 estate agents invited to put a price on national monuments across the UK, Stonehenge is now worth a monumental £51m.

Whilst the recommended estate agent’s blurb, suggested in the same survey carried out by findaproperty.com, could read:

Stonehenge “Airy property with bags of potential. Comes with land but needs serious renovation, including new roof and double-glazing.”

We would still advise our client to sell it at auction

Andrew Rome, Knight and Franck

But how would Messrs Knight, Franck and Rutley, the estate agents who originally handled the sale, sell Stonehenge today?

“We would still advise our client to sell it at auction,” says Andrew Rome from Knight and Franck.

“And to sell it as a going concern as a business based on the income it generates.”

With Stonehenge attracting around 900,000 visitors a year, paying an average of £5 per head, a £51m valuation starts to sound like a good investment.

Free admission

For Sir Cecil, however, Stonehenge belonged to the nation, and in 1918 after owning it for just three years he formerly handed it over to the country with a number of conditions.

His conditions were that the entrance fee should never be more then a shilling (5p) and that local residents should have free access.

“The 1918 deed of gift didn’t actually specify free access for local residents,” says Joy Kaarnijoki at English Heritage, “it was an agreement with the Parish Council.

“The road passed very close to the stones. The Council agreed that the rights of way could be diverted further from the stone circle on condition that local residents would be granted free access.”

Whether it was stipulated by Sir Cecil Chubb himself, or not, it’s an agreement that has continued to the present day.

According to English Heritage, the 30,000 local residents living in and around Stonehenge can still take up the offer of free access to one of England’s most famous monuments

Merlin @ Stonehenge
The Stonehenge Stone Circle Website

In 1915 Stonehenge was bought for just £6,600, its current valuation is estimated at £51m

Comments : Leave a Comment »

Categories : funny, private access, special access tours, Stonehenge, Stonehenge news, Stonehenge tours, Stonehenge Visitor Centre, wiltshire, world heritage site

Delight for Druids says Avebury priest

18 10 2010

It has taken more than 11,000 years but finally the Druids, who lead the seasonal celebrations at Avebury and Stonehenge, can say they belong to an officially recognised religion.

No one is more delighted at this recognition than Druid priest Terry Dobney, who lives at West Kennett, and styles himself as the Archdruid of Avebury and Keeper of the Stones.

Every Midsummer’s Day Mr Dobney, 62, can be seen wearing his ceremonial robe, carrying his staff and with a pheasant feather in his flat cap leading the Summer Solstice celebrations in the stone circle at Avebury.

This week the Charity Commissioners revealed they were granting the Druid Network, the umbrella organisation for Druid groups across the UK, charitable status for the first time.

That decision establishes Druidry as a recognised religion under UK charity law for the first time giving it the same status as Christianity, Islam and Hinduism.

The ruling recognised that the Druid Network served “to advance religion for the public benefit” although in practice, said Phil Ryder, chairman of the Druid Network trustees, it means very little financial benefit for the Druids but established an important principle giving them official recognition.

Mr Ryder said: “It has been a long and frustrating process, exacerbated by the fact that the Charity Commissioners had no understanding of our beliefs and practices and examined us on every aspect of them.”

As well as regulating secular charities the Charity Commissioners decide what qualifies as a legitimate and genuine faith.

Mr Dobney, a practising Druid for more than 40 years, said: “It is high time that the Druids were recognised not only as a religion but as being one of the oldest religions in the world.

“Druidism dates back to more than 11,500 years ago and pre-dates Judaism.

“The early Druids were the priestly cast who ran societies and provided the leaders.”

To become a recognised Druid, he said, entrants had to serve an apprenticeship for seven years under a senior Druid and could not call themselves a Druid until completing 21 years of training.

As well as leading the summer solstice and other seasonal celebrations at Avebury, Mr Dobney also conducts Druid handfastings (marriages) and other religious ceremonies throughout the year.

Merlin @ Stonehenge
The Stonehenge Stone Circle Website

Comments : 2 Comments »

Categories : Avebury, Druids, Pagans, Solstice, Stonehenge, Stonehenge news, Stonehenge tours, UK Stone Circles, wiltshire, Winter Solstice, world heritage site

Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site- Defining its Outstanding Universal Value

12 10 2010

Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site is one of Wiltshire and the UK’s greatest assets. It is internationally recognised as one of the top ranking places in the world alongside cultural marvels such as the Pyramids and natural wonders like the Great Barrier Reef.

World Heritage Sites need very careful management and protection. A new consultation has just been launched on a document that should help us to provide this.

The consultation gives the public a chance to comment on a document that summarises exactly what it is that makes Stonehenge and Avebury internationally important. The document will provide a crucial reference for those making decisions on how best to manage the World Heritage Site and look after the very special features which qualify it to appear on the World Heritage List. A clear definition in one document should help us protect the World Heritage Site for this and future generations.

Since 2007 UNESCO has asked new World Heritage Sites to provide a Statement of Outstanding Universal Value as part of the nomination process. Stonehenge and Avebury became a World Heritage Site back in 1986 and along with a large number of other sites across the world we now need to produce a Statement of Outstanding Universal Value.

Stonehenge and Avebury are important to very many people for a wide range of different reasons that are taken into account in their respective Management Plans. The Statement of Outstanding Universal Value sets out to define only the values related to its impressive prehistoric monuments which got Stonehenge and Avebury onto the World Heritage Site list in 1986. If you would like to be part of the process of protecting the World Heritage Site you can look at the draft Statement of Outstanding Universal Value on line and leave your comments. The consultation is open until the end of October. You can find it by visiting the Wiltshire Council website.
The consultation closes on 31 October 2010.

For further information please contact: Sarah Simmonds, Avebury World Heritage Site Officer
Email: sarah.simmonds@wiltshire.gov.uk
Tel: 01225 718470
Mobile: 07966 900324

Statement of Significance

The Stonehenge, Avebury, and Associated Sites World Heritage property is internationally important for its complexes of outstanding prehistoric monuments.

It comprises two areas of chalkland in Southern Britain within which complexes of Neolithic and Bronze Age ceremonial and funerary monuments and associated sites were built. Each area contains a focal stone circle and henge and many other major monuments. At Stonehenge these include the Avenue, the Cursuses, Durrington Walls, Woodhenge, and the densest concentration of burial mounds in Britain. At Avebury, they include Windmill Hill, the West Kennet Long Barrow, the Sanctuary, Silbury Hill, the West Kennet and Beckhampton Avenues, the West Kennet Palisaded Enclosures, and important barrows.

The World Heritage property is of Outstanding Universal Value for the following qualities:

Stonehenge is one of the most impressive prehistoric megalithic monuments in the world on account of the sheer size of its megaliths, the sophistication of its concentric plan and architectural design, the shaping of the stones, uniquely using both Wiltshire Sarsen sandstone and Pembroke Bluestone, and the precision with which it was built.

At Avebury, the massive Henge, containing the largest prehistoric stone circle in the world, and Silbury Hill, the largest prehistoric mound in Europe, demonstrate the outstanding engineering skills which were used to create masterpieces of earthen and megalithic architecture.

There is an exceptional survival of prehistoric monuments and sites within the World Heritage site including settlements, burial grounds, and large constructions of earth and stone. Today, together with their settings, they form landscapes without parallel. These complexes would have been of major significance to those who created them, as is apparent by the huge investment of time and effort they represent. They provide an insight into the mortuary and ceremonial practices of the period, and are evidence of prehistoric technology, architecture, and astronomy. The careful siting of monuments in relation to the landscape helps us to further understand the Neolithic and Bronze Age.

Criterion (i): The monuments of the Stonehenge, Avebury, and Associated Sites World Heritage Site demonstrate outstanding creative and technological achievements in prehistoric times.

Stonehenge is the most architecturally sophisticated prehistoric stone circle in the world. It is unrivalled in its design and unique engineering, featuring huge horizontal stone lintels capping the outer circle and the trilithons, locked together by carefully shaped joints. It is distinguished by the unique use of two different kinds of stones (Bluestones and Sarsens), their size (the largest weighing over 40t), and the distance they were transported (up to 240km). The sheer scale of some of the surrounding monuments is also remarkable: the Stonehenge Cursus and the Avenue are both about 3km long, while Durrington Walls is the largest known henge in Britain, around 500m in diameter, demonstrating the ability of prehistoric peoples to conceive, design and construct features of great size and complexity.

Avebury prehistoric stone circle is the largest in the world. The encircling henge consists of a huge bank and ditch 1.3km in circumference, within which 180 local, unshaped standing stones formed the large outer and two smaller inner circles. Leading from two of its four entrances, the West Kennet and Beckhampton Avenues of parallel standing stones still connect it with other monuments in the landscape. Another outstanding monument, Silbury Hill, is the largest prehistoric mound in Europe. Built around 2400 BC, it stands 39.5m high and comprises half a million tonnes of chalk. The purpose of this imposing, skilfully engineered monument remains obscure.

Criterion (ii): The World Heritage Site provides an outstanding illustration of the evolution of monument construction and of the continual use and shaping of the landscape over more than 2000 years, from the early Neolithic to the Bronze Age. The monuments and landscape have had an unwavering influence on architects, artists, historians, and archaeologists, and still retain a huge potential for future research.

The megalithic and earthen monuments of the World Heritage Site demonstrate the shaping of the landscape through monument building for around 2000 years from c 3700 BC, reflecting the importance and wide influence of both areas.

Since the 12th century when Stonehenge was considered one of the wonders of the world by the chroniclers Henry de Huntington and Geoffrey de Monmouth, the Stonehenge and Avebury sites have excited curiosity and been the subject of study and speculation. Since early investigations by John Aubrey, Inigo Jones, and William Stukeley, they have had an unwavering influence on architects, archaeologists, artists, and historians. The two parts of the World Heritage Site provide an excellent opportunity for further research.

Today, the Site has spiritual associations for some.

Criterion (iii): The complexes of monuments at Stonehenge and Avebury provide an exceptional insight into the funerary and ceremonial practices in Britain in the Neolithic and Bronze Age. Together with their settings and associated sites, they form landscapes without parallel.

The design, position, and inter-relationship of the monuments and sites are evidence of a wealthy and highly organised prehistoric society able to impose its concepts on the environment. An outstanding example is the alignment of the Stonehenge Avenue (probably a processional route) and Stonehenge stone circle on the axis of the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset, indicating their ceremonial and astronomical character. At Avebury the length and size of some of the features such as the West Kennet Avenue, which connects the Henge to the Sanctuary over 2km away, are further evidence of this.

A profound insight into the changing mortuary culture of the periods is provided by the use of Stonehenge as a cremation cemetery, by the West Kennet Long Barrow, the largest known Neolithic stone-chambered collective tomb in southern England, and by the hundreds of other burial sites illustrating evolving funerary rites.

The State Party also proposes the revision of the brief description as follows:

The Stonehenge, Avebury, and Associated Sites World Heritage Site is internationally important for its complexes of outstanding prehistoric monuments. Stonehenge is the most architecturally sophisticated prehistoric stone circle in the world, while Avebury is the largest in the world. Together with inter-related monuments and their associated landscapes, they help us to understand Neolithic and Bronze Age ceremonial and mortuary practices. They demonstrate around 2000 years of continuous use and monument building between c. 3700 and 1600 BC. As such they represent a unique embodiment of our collective heritage.

Merlin @ Stonehenge
The Stonehenge Stone Circle Website

Comments : Leave a Comment »

Categories : Stonehenge, Stonehenge news, Stonehenge Visitor Centre, wiltshire, world heritage site

Stonehenge Tour. Excavation at Durrington, Wiltshire open day – October 13th

8 10 2010

The village of Durrington is well known for its early archaeological heritage, including the largest Neolithic henge in Britain at Durrington Walls and nearby Woodhenge, both over 4500 years old. However, excavations by Wessex Archaeology in advance of the construction of new housing by Persimmon Homes South Coast on the former Ministry of Defence estate offices have started to uncover the remains of a late Iron Age/ Romano-British settlement.

Aerial view of the late Iron Age/ Romano-British settlement at Durrington, Wiltshire

This settlement lies within the north-west corner of the modern village of Durrington and at one time appears to have been surrounded by an enormous ditch over 6m in width and up to 4m in depth. The full extent of the enclosed settlement has yet to been determined, although it is possible- and further work will confirm this- that the enclosed settlement may be of a very substantial size.

The 6m wide enclosure ditch at Durrington

The excavations appear to be located at the southern edge of the settlement. Although the excavations are at an early stage, a wealth of archaeological features have been found including part of the enclosure ditch, possible granaries, large storage and quarry pits, cremation burials and a corn-drying kiln, as well as traces of earlier prehistoric activity within the site. The excavation is due to continue over the next year and will investigate the nature of this previously unknown settlement, which continued in the later Romano-British period and into the fifth century AD and may have been the first steps in the formation of the medieval estates at Durrington and the origin of the present village.

Come and see what they have found and find out more about the heritage of Avon Fields

Visit the Big Dig!
Wednesday October 13th 2010
Where: Avon Fields: Former MoD Headquarters
Netheravon Road
Durrington
Free site tours Wednesday October 13th 2010 at 3.00pm and 5.00pm.
No booking required.

Please wear boots or sturdy shoes.

For more information please contact Andrew Manning or Margaret Bunyard 01722 326867 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 01722 326867 end_of_the_skype_highlighting a.manning@wessexarch.co.uk

Histouries UK Tours and Salisbury Guided Tours in Salisbury offer independent tours of Stonehenge and the Durrington Walls.
Search this blog for more information on Durrington

Merlin @ Stonehenge
The Stonehenge Stone Circle Website