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STONEHENGE - FOREVER A MYSTERY Е.А. Федоренко Научный руководитель - кандидат филологических наук, профессор Л.П. Маркушевская
Стоунхендж является древнейшим памятником прошлых веков, самым большим в Европе и самым известным дольменом мира. До сих пор ученые так и не пришли к единому мнению, кто и для чего воздвиг это сооружение. Как возводили эти тонны камня? Почему люди до сих пор к ним едут только для того, чтобы прикоснуться, в надежде излечиться и набраться жизненной энергии?
Introduction
There is nothing quite like Stonehenge (fig. 1, fig. 2) anywhere in the world and for 5000 years it has drawn visitors to it. We shall never know what drew people here over the centuries or why hundreds of people struggled over thousands of years to build this monument, but visitors from all over the world come to marvel at this amazing feat of engineering.
Before Stonehenge was built thousands of years ago, the whole of Salisbury Plain was a forest of towering pines and hazel woodland. Over centuries the landscape changed to open chalk down land. What you see today is about half of the original monument, some of the stones have fallen down, others have been carried away to be used for building or to repair farm tracks and over centuries visitors have added their damage too. It was quite normal to hire a hammer from the blacksmith in Amesbury and come to Stonehenge to chip bits off.
The stones we see today represent Stonehenge in ruin. Many of the original stones have fallen or been removed by previous generations for home construction or road repair. There has been serious damage to some of the smaller bluestones resulting from close visitor contact and the prehistoric carvings on the larger sarsen stones show signs of significant wear.
Fig. 1. Stonehenge
Fig. 2. Stonehenge
It's thought that the name Stonehenge originates from the Anglo-Saxon period - the old English word "henge" meaning hanging. So what we have is literally "the hanging stones". Today the word "henge" has a specific archaeological meaning: a circular enclosure surrounding settings of stones and timber uprights, or pits.
Stonehenge was built in three phases. The first stage was a circle of timbers surrounded by a ditch and bank. The ditch would have been dug by hand using animal bones. Excavations of the ditch have shown that the first henge was built over 50 centuries ago. That's where the mystery begins. We haven't just found old bones, around the edge of the bank we also found 56 holes now known as Aubrey Holes, named after the 17th century antiquarian, John Aubrey, who found them in about 1666. We know that these holes were dug to hold wooden posts, just as holes were dug later to hold the stone pillars that you see today. So this was the first stage built about 5,050 years ago, wooden post circle surrounded by a deep ditch and bank.
Then about 4,500 years ago - about 2,400 years before the Romans set foot in Britain, it was rebuilt. This time in stone, bluestones were used which are the smaller stones. These came from the Priscilla Mountains in Pembroke, South Wales (380kms), dragged down to the sea, floated on huge rafts, brought up the River Avon, finally overland to where they are today. It was an amazing feat when you consider that each stone weighs about five tons. It required unbelievable dedication from ancient man to bring these stones all the way from South Wales.
Before the second phase of Stonehenge was complete work stopped and there was a period of abandonment. Then began a new bigger, even better Stonehenge, the one that we know today- this was approximately 4,300 years ago, the third and final stage of what we see now.
The bluestones were dug up and rearranged and this time even bigger stones were brought in from the Marlborough Downs, 20 miles. These Sarsen stones, as they are now called were hammered to size using balls of stone known as "mauls". Even today you can see the drag marks. Each pair of stones was heaved upright and linked on the top by the lintels. To get the lintels to stay in place, the first wood working techniques were used. This was all cleverly designed on the alignment of the rising of the mid summer sun.
How did they get these stones to stand upright? The truth is really known by nobody. It required sheer muscle power and hundreds of men to move one of these megaliths, the heaviest of them weighing probably about 45 tons.
There are some wonderful myths and legends and you can hear them on the audio tour at Stonehenge in nine different languages, English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Russian and Japanese. The legend of King Arthur provides a story of the construction of Stonehenge. It is told by the twelfth century writer, Geoffrey of Monmouth,
in his History of the Kings of Britain that Merlin brought the stones to the Salisbury Plain from Ireland. Sometime in the fifth century, there had been a murder of 300 British noblemen by the treacherous Saxon leader, Hengest. Geoffrey tells us that the king, Aurelius Ambrosius, wanted to create a fitting memorial to the slain men. Merlin suggested an expedition to Ireland for the purpose of transplanting the Giant's Ring stone circle to Britain.
According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, the stones of the Giant's Ring were originally brought from Africa to Ireland by giants (who else but giants could handle the job?). The stones were located on "Mount Killaraus" and were used as a site for performing rituals and for healing. Led by King Uther and Merlin, the expedition arrived on the spot on Ireland. The Britons, none of whom were giants, apparently, were unsuccessful in their attempts to move the great stones. At this point, Merlin realized that only his magic arts would turn the trick. So, they were dismantled and shipped back to Britain where they were set up as they had been before, in a great circle, around the mass grave of the murdered noblemen. The story goes on to tell that Aurelius, Uther and Constantine were also buried there in their time.
Stonehenge was formerly owned by a local man, Sir Cecil Chubb, and he gave it to the nation in 1918 and it is now managed by English Heritage on behalf of the Government. In 1986, it was inscribed as a World Heritage Site and you can learn more about this on the World Heritage Site section. It is without doubt one of the finest prehistoric monuments in existence and an even more remarkable mystery.
The area is not special just because of the stones or the archaeologically rich landscape it sits in, but because of the plants that grow there. There is rare sedge grass and even the yellow and grey patches on the stones are tiny, slow growing plants called lichens.
Three kilometres to the north-east of Stonehenge, Woodhenge is another henge monument. Dated to around 2,300BC, originally it comprised six concentric rings of wooden post. It was probably covered with a roof, or perhaps the wooden posts were joined in the Stonehenge fashion. Now, although there is no evidence for animal or human sacrifice at Stonehenge, some believe that the presence of the grave of a young child, found at Woodhenge, would seem to indicate a ritual sacrifice, possibly a dedicatory burial.
Another feature which is worth mentioning, which was built before the stone settings, is the Cursus — which lies to the north. It consists of two straight banks and ditches 90— 130 metres apart running 2.8 kilometres in length, from east to west. When it was called the Cursus in the eighteenth century, it was thought to be some sort of racetrack. Some people also think that it has a processional ritual use. However, its true function remains a mystery.
English Heritage is charged with caring for Stonehenge and is committed to its conservation and good management and preservation for future generations. In the landscape around it, the National Trust — who owns nearly 1500 acres - is equally concerned for the well-being of this area. This is a vast prehistoric scene, with Stonehenge as the ultimate expression of the power which held society together at that time.
Stonehenge itself remains a steadfast observer of the world, watching the seasons change thousands of times over. But it also bears witness to movements in the heavens, observing the rhythm of the Moon and, more noticeably, the Sun.
For most parts of the year, the sunrise can't even be seen from the centre of the monument. But on the longest day of the year, the June 21st summer solstice, the rising sun appears behind one of the main stones, creating the illusion that it is balancing on the stone.
This stone, called the "Heel Stone", sits along a wide laneway, known as the Avenue that extends from the northeast corner of the main monument. The rising Sun creeps up the length of the rock, creating a shadow that extends deep into the heart of five pairs of stone trilithons in the shape of a horseshoe that opens up towards the rising sun.
Just as the Sun clears the horizon, it appears to hover momentarily on the tip of the Heel Stone. A few days later, on midsummer's day, the sun will appear once again, but this time, it will begin to move to the right of the heel stone. The same phenomenon happens again during the winter solstice, only it's in the opposite direction and a sunset. Both indicate a change of seasons.
But who would have needed to make this connection between Earth and Sun? The first builders, who may have just started farming the land, might have needed to know when the seasons were about to change. At a later phase in its development, Stonehenge may have been used as some sort of temple, or it could have been an astronomer's tool, used to judge the movements in the heavens.
"Nobody really knows at all what [Stonehenge] was intended for," says Christopher Witcombe, a professor of art history an authority on Stonehenge.
"The fact that it was built over a long period of time makes it difficult to know if it maintained the same function over the time period or not."
But this doesn't mean there aren't a number of theories that set out to explain Stonehenge's purpose. Eighteenth century British antiquarian, William Stukeley, was one of the first people to report seeing the event of the sunrise on that special day in June. This led him to believe that Stonehenge was a temple, possibly an ancient cult centre for the Druids. This theory isn't as popular now.
"When people started paying attention to Stonehenge, back in the 18th century, people like William Stukeley were calling it a temple," says Witcombe. "That sort of association has been more or less attached to Stonehenge for the last two or three hundred years."
Others, like 20th century British astronomer, Sir Norman Lockyer, also saw Stonehenge as a temple, but a temple to the Sun. For him, its significance lay in celebration of ancient Celtic festivals.
But to see Stonehenge as a temple, or retaining a religious quality may just be an assumption. It is a structure that clearly does not resemble a house or hall or anything else secular, which could indicate that it is sacred, according to Witcombe.
"We're also influenced by the fact that a lot of the more complex buildings that survive from the ancient past, like in Greece and Egypt, are buildings that are religious," says Witcombe. "We are presuming that's also the case with Stonehenge."
There are also more than 400 burial mounds surrounding the ancient monument. Many of these graves have been found to contain gold breast plates and other precious metal items. These people may have wanted to be buried close to Stonehenge, which could reinforce a spiritual aspect, or as modern day astronomer Gerald Hawkins says in his book, "Beyond Stonehenge", a concern for life after death.
In the middle of the 20th century, a new theory was born - one that suggests that Stonehenge could have been used as an astronomical calendar, marking lunar and solar alignments. If this is true, it would have held great power for the people who controlled the megalithic monument.
Aside from the sarsen horseshoe trilithons, there are four stones, called "Station Stones" that may have played an astronomical role. These were placed in a rectangle around the main monument, within the ditch and bank that surrounds the circle of stones. These are believed to point out the moonrise, moonset, sunrise and sunset. Only two stand today.
One of the first people to propose the idea that Stonehenge could have been a tool used in understanding the heavens was 20th century astronomer Gerald Hawkins. He proposed that Stonehenge, which he called a primitive astronomical computer, could predict events of the Moon and Sun as well as eclipses. Hawkins discovered astronomical patterns in the station stones, possibly erected in the first phase of building. This connection
was made by computer calculation, based on maps and charts. It led him to believe that because astronomical properties could be found in two aspects of the monument, there is definite evidence of a heavenly purpose.
Modern day astronomer, Fred Hoyle, tested Hawkins hypothesis. "I set myself the clearcut target of finding out if the stones that exist at Stonehenge could, in fact, be used to predict eclipses — and it seemed to me that they could."
Hoyle took a slightly different approach to Hawkins. His calculations are based on the 56 pits or "Aubrey Holes" first discovered in the 17th century by British antiquary John Aubrey. These holes can be found on the inside circle created by the ditch and bank, or henge. Hoyle believed it was possible to determine eclipses by moving three markers, or stones, around the Aubrey holes in such a way that when all three arrived at the same hole, an eclipse of the Sun or Moon was about to occur.
But Stonehenge may not have always been used in this way, according to Hoyle. He believes that the first phase of building, where it was simply a ditch and bank with 56 pits (the Aubrey holes) carved out on the inner side of the henge, is the only section of Stonehenge that holds astronomical value.
"I was convinced that the inner part, which was built around 1500 BC, was really mostly a matter of simply religious construction," Hoyle says. "I thought the people who built the first structures there, were the cleverest and that the later people didn't know what they were doing."
And there may be many theories that haven't even been explored or discovered yet. One just proposed suggests that Stonehenge is a sexually symbolic site, with both male and female represented in stone.
"In some cases, some of these ideas may initially sound a bit wacky, but you never know - there may be one or two aspects of them which may indeed have some bearing," says Witcombe.
Although the purpose of the stone monument is still unsure, most people think its worth preserving, for one reason or another.
Summary
Stonehenge and its purpose remains an enigma even now, more than 4,000 years after it was first begun. It could have been a temple, an astronomical calendar, or guide to the heavens. Despite the fact that we don't know its purpose for certain, Stonehenge acts as a prehistoric timepiece, allowing us to theorize what it would have been like during the Neolithic Period, and who could have built this megalithic wonder.
Literature
1. http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/
2. Burl A, Prehistoric Stone Circles (Shire 2001)
3. http://jaam2004.sbn.bz/base/view/document/1099671728
4. http://www.stonepages.com/england/stonehenge.html
