Stonehenge - Academics | IVC

Stonehenge:
Mystique and Mystery
Greg Chen
Mamoruko Ishizuka
David Le
Di Ouyang
Erica Vu
1
Historical Context

Stonehenge is a megalithic monument erected about four thousand years ago
during the Neolithic Era. Stonehenge resides approximately eight miles northwest of
Salisbury in the English county of Wiltshire, and is one of Britain’s greatest national
icons. The construction of Stonehenge occurred in several planned phases over the
course of two thousand years, with signs of constructing beginning as early as 3100
B.C. It is estimated that Phase 1 of the project took roughly four hundred and sixty
days to complete. Phase 2 took about forty one years to complete; while Phase3
took two hundred years of work to complete. It is also estimated that the stone
working took about two thousand years to complete; thus, suggesting a united
community that was extremely dedicated and advanced in their effort to construct
Stonehenge.
Surviving through the ages, it has
been the center of a numerous of folk tales,
all attributing its imposing visage as well as
its illustrious design and construction to a
variety of sources. Many legends beheld that
the wizard Merlin erected the monument with
the aid of a giant; while others believe it was
the work of the devil. It is also speculated to
have been built by the Romans, the Saxons,
or the Danes. In 1740, after returning from a
survey of Stonehenge, William Stukeley
believed that Stonehenge was the work of
extra terrestrial beings.

David Le
2
Historical Context cont.



At the beginning of the nineteenth century, John Lubbock concluded that
Stonehenge was constructed during the Bronze Age due to various bronze
materials found scattered in nearby burrows. However, it wasn’t until 1900,
under the leadership of William Gowland with the aid of William Hawley that the
first major excavation of Stonehenge began; which first suggested that
Stonehenge was a multi-phase project. In 1950, Stuart Piggott and John Stone
began further excavation of Stonehenge; their findings and theories are the
foundation for the information regarding the different phases of construction.
At the beginning of the 20th century, a great deal of conservation work was put
forth in an effort to balance unstable stones and reposition fallen stones. These
stones were placed in their original positions with the help of antique drawings.
Speculation over the purpose of Stonehenge has gone on for decades,
with debates still raging today. Many archeologists and anthropologists believe
that Stonehenge served a ritualistic purpose during funerary processions; while,
astronomers believe Stonehenge to be a gigantic astrological calendar; which
was used to predict both lunar and solar eclipses. Neo-Druids and Neo-Pagans
have beheld Stonehenge as sacred territory and often make pilgrimages during
the summer seasons. However, Stonehenge was officially closed in 1985, due
to a massive riot that broke out between police and visiting new age pilgrims. In
the summer of 2000, after fifteen years of closure, the British government
agreed to grant limited access to Stonehenge during the summer season.
David Le
3
Cultural Influences



Stonehenge is one of the world’s most
recognized pieces of megalithic monument,
attracting scores of tourists every year. The
site is also one of England’s most treasured
archeological sites. The baffling nature of
the site however leaves the influences it
has upon culture hard to quantify.
Stonehenge has been used as a site for
druidic rituals since perhaps its very
conception. The druids considered
Stonehenge a holy site and practiced many
pagan rituals there. And even to the
modern era the Mystic Society of Druids
(whom Winston Churchill is a member) still
hold ceremonies on the solstice
Though the Stonehenge on the Salisbury
Plain is the best known stone circle, it is not
known whether it is the first, however the
appearance of various other stone circles
around England and Europe indicate that it
inspired others
Di Ouyang
4
Cultural Influences cont.


With the henge aligned in various directions, it shows that
the ancient druids were very archaeo-astronomic aware and
were quite systematic in celebrating the equinox and
solstice, probably using them to help time their crop rotations
and harvesting.
The cultural significance of
Stonehenge does not only
link England back to it’s
Celtic and Druidic roots but
has inspired various other
imitations, including this
one by artist Jim Renalds
called Carhenge, it is
located in Nebraska and is
made from classic
American cars
Di Ouyang
5
Subject and Style


Stonehenge isn’t only a remarkable structure for the mysteries and
methods of how it was built. Its amazingly accurate ties with the
movements of the sun and moon make it an extraordinary
astronomical calendar. By using different parts within Stonehenge, a
person could figure out calculations such as the days of the summer
and winter solstice, keep track of the cycle of the moon and estimate
the times when eclipses would occur.
The heelstone of Stonehenge, which is located to the northeast of
the ring, can be used as a marker for the summer solstice. On the
summer solstice, when the sun rises, it will appear directly above the
heelstone if viewing the stone from the center of the ring, through the
reference holes made by the three connected megaliths. Just as the
heelstone is the marker for the summer solstice, it also helps identify
the day of the winter solstice, the day when the sun sets above the
opposite location from the heelstone. So, if a person were to face the
sunrise during the summer solstice, he would find the sun set directly
behind him during the winter solstice.
Erica Vu
6
Subject and Style cont.



To keep track of the cycle of the moon, there is a circle made by a group of
56 holes, called the Aubrey holes, named after their discoverer, John Aubrey,
which is approximately 285 feet in diameter. These holes were measured in a
way that makes it possible to keep track of the days of the moon’s cycle
within a month. The moon completes one cycle in 27.3 days. A person could
keep track of this cycle by using a marker and moving it by two holes per day,
which would take him a total of 28 days to complete one full circle, an
amazingly accurate measurement to go along with the moon’s cycle.
The Aubrey holes can also be used to keep track of the nodes, the points
where the sun and moon meet to create eclipses. If the marker was moved 3
holes per year, it would take 18.67 years to complete one full circle. About
the same amount of time, 18.61 years, is how long it would take for the nodes
to complete it’s circuit, based on the moon’s revolutions in relation with the
sun.
The hours and years of observation as well as the measurements and
calculations that went into creating this astronomical calendar makes
Stonehenge a truly great and astonishing accomplishment for it’s time.
Erica Vu
7
Subject and Style cont.
Erica Vu
8
Materials and Processes


Stonehenge is a Neolithic and Bronze
Age megalithic monument located in the
English county of Wiltshire, which is
about 8 miles northwest of Salisbury.
The Stonehenge complex was built in
several construction phases spanning
2,000 years. The tallest upright stone is
6.7m high, with another 2.4m below
ground. Stonehenge was composed
mainly of thirty upright stones known as
the sarsens that were aligned in a circle.
It contained thirty lintels that perched
horizontally atop the sarsens in a
continuous circle.
There were 3 distinctive phases for the
construction of Stonehenge that
occurred after the Pre-Stonehenge era
in the 9th-8th millennium BC:
Stonehenge 1 (c. 2950-2900 BCE),
Stonehenge 2 (c. 2900-2400 BCE) and
Stonehenge 3 (c. 2550-1600 BCE).
Phase 3 was divided furthermore into 3ii,
3 iii, 3iv, 3v, 3vi. (Witcombe, 1).
Greg Chen
9
Materials and Processes cont.


There were 3 distinctive phases for the construction of
Stonehenge that occurred after the Pre-Stonehenge era in the
9th-8th millennium BC: Stonehenge 1 (c. 2950-2900 BCE),
Stonehenge 2 (c. 2900-2400 BCE) and Stonehenge 3 (c. 25501600 BCE). Phase 3 was divided furthermore into 3ii, 3 iii, 3iv, 3v,
3vi. (Witcombe, 1).
On the central area of the site there are the stone settings. There
were two types of stone used: sarsen and bluestone. The sarsens
used in the central settings are much larger and the bluestone is
a mixture of rocks found on the Prescelly Mountains in Wales.
The outermost stone setting consisted of a circle of 30 upright
sarsens. The sarsen stones are believed to have been brought
from Marlborough Downs, 30 kilometers to the north of
Stonehenge. The inner circle consisted of bluestone setting. They
are believed to have come from the Prescelly Mountains in
southwest Wales, nearly 385 kilometers away. Inside these two
circles lies the sarsen horseshoe, consisted originally of five
sarsen trilithons, each comprising two uprights with a horizontal
lintel (Stonehenge, 2).
Greg Chen
10
Materials and Processes cont.

The stone was moved forward with rollers toward a ramp, until
the base of the rock was just sticking over the hole. The outer
end was then levered up, allowing the base to dip into the hole
until the stone was balanced on a 30 degree angle. It was then
hauled up by 100 men pulling on ropes. The lintels were raised to
the top of the pillars by first being laid parallel to the base of the
uprights. They were slowly lifted with the use of wooden levers
and temporary timber platforms, which slowly raised the lintel to
the top of the stones (Dimitrakopoulos, 3). The transportation of
the materials and the construction of Stonehenge were
remarkable accomplishment by the ancient Neolithic citizens and
there are still great mysteries of Stonehenge that were unsolved.
Greg Chen
11
The Inner Circles of Stonehenge and
Mysteries of Bluestone

About 2,000 BC, the first stone circle, comprised of small bluestones, w as set
up but abandoned before completion. They are currently know n as the inner
circles of the Stonehenge. The stones used in that first circle are believed to
be from the Prescelly Mountains. The term "bluestone" refers to various types
of mostly igneous rocks including dolerites, rhyolites, and volcanic ash. It also
includes some sandstones (Witcombe, 1). The bluestones w eigh up to 4 tons
each and about 80 stones w ere used. The construction of inner circle began
in the second phase at around 2200 BC. The blue dolerite stones w ere erected
in tw o concentric circles. In sub-phase 3iv, the inner circle w as constructed.
The inner circle w as made by adding a bluestone oval inside the Trilithons
Horseshoe. Another circle w as made by adding another bluestone circle
outside the Trilithons Horseshoe but inside the Sarsen Circle. In sub-phase 3v,
an arc of stone w as removed from the bluestone oval to form a bluestone
horseshoe. This setting, know n as the bluestone setting, consisted originally of
about 60 stones, but many have fallen, dissolved or crushed. The final
construction of the circle w as abandoned and w as never completed. The
origin of the bluestones w as thought to have quarried from the rock of the
Prescelly Mountains and there has been much speculation about the w ay they
w ere transported to the Wiltshire Dow ns. Prescelly Mountains is located
roughly 240 miles aw ay, at the southw estern tip of Wales. The bluestones
w eigh up to 4 tons each and about 80 stones w ere used. Given the w eight of
the stone and the distance and they had to travel, this presented quite a
transportation problem. It is a great mystery that nobody could answ er. Among
the earliest references to the transportation of the bluestones comes in the
w ork of Geoffrey of Monmouth (c.1135); he stated that the stones w ere
magically transported from Ireland by the prophet, Merlin - a comment w hich
may enshrine a folk memory of the transport of the blue stones (BBC new s, 1).
Some speculation may be that these bluestones w ere already in the local area
due to the movements of glaciations (Britannia, 1). Modern theories speculate
that the stones w ere dragged by roller and sledge from the inland mountains to
the headw aters of Milford Haven, but nobody know s the actual truth on how
the bluestones w ere transported.
Greg Chen
12
Pentre Ifan


Though there are many famous megalithic sites in England and France, such as Stonehenge,
similar stone structures can be found across Western Europe. On the outskirts of Fishguard in
Wales lies Pentre Ifan, a megalithic monument built in 3,500 B.C. Pentre Ifan is a Dolemen
structure, a burial site constructed to include a variety of large stones with a capstone stone
balancing on top. The capstone of Pentre Ifan weights over sixteen tons and is about
seventeen feet long, resting eight feet above the ground. The stones of Pentre Ifan are all
igneous rock found in the surrounding vicinity.
In 1936 and 1958, year long excavations concluded that the burial chamber was constructed
at Pentre Ifan was a shallow oval pit, with a one hundred and twenty foot long mound
constructed over the burial chamber. Though very little artifacts were found in the tomb,
archeologists believe that the tomb was originally used for a collective burial. Locals often tell
tales of seeing fairies playing around the mound.
David Le
13
Stone Circles

Stone Circles built in 3000-2000 BC were related to henges, but many
of them might have been built before henges. They stood alone, but
some circles are erected closely. The purpose of circle building is not
quite clear; it might be ritual observation, study of the passage of the
seasons, years, phases of the moon and sun, or burial and cremation
ceremonies. Stone circles were continuously built throughout the
millennium; therefore, the purpose might have changed over time. Like
marker monuments, stone circles remain an enigma.
Di Ouyang
14
Long Barrows/ Round Barrows

Barrows known funerary
structure are the very earliest
man-made. In the context of
Stonehenge, earliest graves
especially long barrows are the
Neolithic causewayed
enclosures. Long barrows dated
from 4200 to 3200 BC contain
chamber in which human
remains such as bones tissues,
and sinews dissolved are kept.
Chambers are timber structure
covered with earth, or stones
leading off a central spine and an
earth covering. Some barrows
are aligned with the raising and
setting sun, usually in an eastwest direction, though many are
also built along natural ridges.
The longest barrow is 110 yard in
length.
Belas Knapp Long Barrow
A classic stone chambered long
barrow of the type distinctive to
upland and western Britain,
contrasting with the timber and
earth-built barrows of lowland
Britain.
Mamoruko Ishizuka
15
Long Barrows/ Round Barrows cont.

Round barrows dated from 3000 to 1900 BC are the earthen burial
mounds constructed to receive bodies or cremated remains of the dead.
The borrow systems were clearly built to exploit the line of sight. Many
barrows are surrounded Stonehenge and monumental landscapes.
Round barrows are characteristic of the later part of the Neolithic, and
were followed by the Early to Mid Bronze Age. Types of round barrows
in Neolithic are mostly bowl or bell-shaped mound, and complex types
were constructed in the Bronze Age.
Bowl barrow, Normanton Down
Simple bowl shaped mound are usually
surrounded by a ditch.
Mamoruko Ishizuka
16
Causewayed Enclosures

The first large scale monuments, Causewayed Enclosures, are earthwork monuments
built in the first half of the fourth millennium BC and in use for probably as long as a
thousand years. These monuments consisted of open earth hilltop platforms surrounded
by a circuit of ditches. The ditches were not continues, but had land bridges or
causeways between their sections. The sites were closely associated with both the living
and the dead. At there, people gathered, sometimes dwelled seasonally outside the
entrance, feasted in a ritual, and fought or defended themselves. The dead might be
exposed to the nature before their skeletal remains were deposited in the ditches and
pits, often along with other detritus of communal life. There are forty causewayed
enclosures across southern and midland England. Some camps can define to particular
tribal group. The causewayed enclosure stands in a direct line of descent leading to
others, later structures: the cursuses, meaning ‘racetrack’ and henges that shared as
earthwork ditch and bank construction, alignments on the sunrise.
Robin Hood’s Ball causewayed enclosure
One of the earliest monuments in the
Stonehenge landscape consists of two
circular rings of discontinuous ditches
that only are seen from the air.
Mamoruko Ishizuka
17
Cursuses
Cursus is a narrow enclosure
bounded by ditches and about 1 ¾
miles long.



Cursus was given the name by William Stukeley who first noticed in 1720. He chose
the Latin word “Cursus” meaning racetrack because the site had imagining of a
chariot racing. Cursuses are a lengthy liner earthwork that a narrow-set, pair of
more or less parallel banks and ditches extending sometime for many miles across
the countryside. The period of them belongs after causewayed enclosures, but
before henges: 3700-2900 BC. They were probably used for celestial event such as
a solstice sunrise or sunset.
Cursus is a narrow enclosure bounded by ditches and about 1 ¾ miles long.
Cursuses have almost always been ploughed out, so their shape and size is known
by crop marks and surface variations. The longest is over 6 miles long.
Mamoruko Ishizuka
18
Marker Monuments
The Piper Stone, Cornwall
A single monument of an upright stone might be
grave marker or horizon point used in celestial
observation.

When barrows and graves were constructed, big stones
marked a grave site. Marker is single or small groups of
stones, and might link to the past, to the ancestors, and
connect the earth to the sky. They seemed to represent
the point of sunrise or sunset at a particular date because
they often remain mysterious purpose. Highly visible
symbol showed relationship between living and dead.
Mamoruko Ishizuka
19
Sources





























Bhadley , Richard. The Signif icance of Monuments. London: Routledge. 1998.
Dimitrakopoulos, S. 2004. Discov ery Channel, Construction of Stonehenge: A process of
blood, sweat, and tears. Bell Globemedia Inc. 2006. May 5, 2006.
< http://www.exn.ca/my sticplaces/construction.asp>.
History , Stonehenge and the Bluestones. 2006. BBC News Inc. May 3, 2006.
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/history /timelines/wales/blue_stones.shtml>.
"Irish Neolithic Tombs." Nov 2004. BBC. 19 Apr 2006
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3181673>.
Lacy , Norris J. Stonehenge. 7 May 2006. < http://www.britannia.com/history /h7.html>.
O'Connell, Robert W.. "The Moon, Eclipses, and Stonehenge." Introduction to the Sky
and the Solar Sy stem. Jan 2004. Univ ersity of Virginia. 7 May 2006 <http://www.astro.v irginia.edu/class/oconnell/astr121/guide05-s04.html>.
Pentre If an Dolemen Tomb. Univ ersity of Michigan. 7 May 2006.
< http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/the_univ erse/uts/pentre.html>.
Smith, Kristina. "Stone Age Monuments and Neolithic Structures in Ireland and
Scotland." The Cultured Trav eler. Mar 2006. Adenture Canada. 11 April 2006
<http://www.theculturedtrav eler.com/Archiv es/Jan2003/Scotland.htm>.
Souden, Dav id. Stonehenge Rev ealed. New Y ork: Facts on File, 1997.
Stonehenge. Ency clopedia of Britannia. Britannia Inc. 2003.
< http://www.britannia.com/history /h7.html>.
"Stonehenge." V-b Tech. 2005. 7 May 2006. <http://www.v btech.co.za/stonehenge.htm>.
Stonehenge: Stone Circle, Henge and Standing Stone, Wiltshire. 2003.
<http://www.stonepages.com/england/stonehenge.html>.
Wernick, Robert. The Monument Builders. New Y ork: Time- Lif e Books. 1973.
Wikipedia. 7 May 2006. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge>.
Witcombe, Chris. "Archeoastronomy at Stonehenge." Earth My steries. 29 Sep 1999.
Sweet Briar College. 7 May 2006 <http://witcombe.sbc.edu/earthmy steries/EMStonehengeD.html>.
Witcombe, Chris. Stonehenge, Earth’s My steries. 2002. Sweet Briar College. May 2,
2006.
<http://witcombe.sbc.edu/earthmy steries/EMStonehenge.html>.
20