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| View from SSE looking NNW |
" . . . old stones that cannot be deciphered."
-- T.S. Eliot, "East Coker," Four Quartets
After a few days in London, our Morris mini-van was delivered to the German YMCA. We loaded up and set out for other iconic destinations in England. Tom (the husband of our chaperone couple) was our driver, an American in a right-hand drive van driving on the left-hand side of the road. There's no need to keep you in suspense: Tom did a terrific job; we did not have any accidents . . . although we did have a few mishaps with the vehicle that I'll describe in future posts.
First stop was Stonehenge, one of the most famous landmarks in the UK and a place on everyone's "must see" list. The structure is prehistoric, constructed in several phases over 1,500 years beginning about 3100 BCE and continuing until about 1600 BCE. For reference, the great pyramids in Egypt were constructed between 2700 and 1500 BCE.
The earliest portion of the site consisted of a circular embankment and ditch with a ring of 56 chalk pits, called Aubrey holes, named after the late 17th century antiquarian John Aubrey, who noticed some of the depressions on a visit in 1666. The Aubrey holes are the white dots in the diagram below.
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| Drawing by Adamsan, after Cleary et al. |
Here's what they look like from ground level:
Despite decades of argument and analysis, their purpose is still unknown. However, 25 of the holes contain cremated human remains dating from about 3000 BCE, which makes Stonehenge the earliest known cremation cemetery in the British Isles. And there is some evidence that the holes originally held small pillars (called bluestones, quarried 140 miles away) as markers for the cremated remains.
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| Image from NOVA "Ghosts of Stonehenge" (Season 44, Episode 14) |
At some point, the bluestone grave markers were removed and the holes were filled in. Beginning around 2600 BCE, and for the next 200 years, the huge vertical megaliths (called sarcens) and capstone lintels familiar to us were brought to the site -- some weighing as much as 50 tons -- and were rearranged multiple times during that period.
There is also evidence that between 2600 BCE and 2400 BCE as many as 4,000 people may have gathered at the site for mid-winter and mid-summer celebrations, as the megaliths of the stone circle are clearly oriented for the summer solstice sunrise and winter solstice sunset.
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| Northeast side, looking southwest (direction of winter solstice sunset) |
As I recall our visit (though my memory may be faulty), in 1966 there was no visitor center, no entrance fee, no explanatory display panels . . . just a small parking area near the site, from which we could walk anywhere we wanted.
These days, there's a very modern visitor center about a mile from the site, with a shuttle running between them. Entry fee now for a family of five (2 adults, 3 kids) is roughly $90. And except for special occasions (like the summer solstice) and private parties, you can't go into the stone circle. (See walkways in the image below.)
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| Stonehenge today |
However, as you can see from my photos above and below, when we were there, you could walk within the stone circle. There were probably 50 - 60 people (including a group of schoolboys), and we were free to touch and climb on the fallen stones.
Four years later, when my wife (before we were married) visited Stonehenge with a group from her college, people were still walking in the stone ring and climbing on the fallen sarcens.
In 1978 UNESCO began designating World Heritage sites; Stonehenge was named a World Heritage site in 1986. (What took so long?)
If you are interested in learning more about Stonehenge, there are thousands of articles, scientific papers, television documentaries, and more for your consideration. Here's a link to a NOVA program on YouTube about Stonehenge and the evidence for clues about the people who built it.
Needless to say, for us Stonehenge -- far, far older than any of the monuments and buildings in London -- was an awe-inspiring place.
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