Stonehenge: Mysterious and Famous Archaeological Site
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University of----
Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Stonehenge
Seminar paper
Mostar, January 2007.
STONEHENGE
[title]
Stonehenge is one of the most mysterious and famous archaeological sites in the world. It was built on Salisbury Plain some time between 3050 and 2300 BC. How it was built? What is its purpose? -these are questions on which no one has a right answer. Stonehenge is probably the most important prehistoric monument in the Britain and has attracted visitors from earliest times. It stands as a timeless monument to the people who built it. There has been serious damage to some of the smaller bluestones resulting from close visitor contact (prohibited since 1978) and the prehistoric carvings on the larger sarsen stones show signs of significant wear.
In its day, the construction of Stonehenge was an impressive engineering feat, requiring commitment, time and vast amounts of manual labor. In its first phase, Stonehenge was a large earthwork; a bank and ditch arrangement called a henge, constructed approximately 5,000 years ago. It is believed that the ditch was dug with tools made from the antlers of red deer and, possibly, wood. The underlying chalk was loosened with picks and shoveled with the shoulderblades of cattle. It was then loaded into baskets and carried away. Modern experiments have shown that these tools were more than equal to the great task of earth digging and moving.
-The First Stage
-The Earthworks
The first Stonehenge was a large earthwork or Henge, comprising a ditch, bank, and the Aubrey holes, all probably built around 3100 BC. The Aubrey holes are round pits in the chalk, about one metre wide and deep, with steep sides and flat bottoms. They form a circle about 284 feet in diameter. Excavations have revealed cremated human bones in some of the chalk filling, but the holes themselves were probably made, not for the purpose of graves, but as part of the religious ceremony.
University of----
Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Stonehenge
Seminar paper
Mostar, January 2007.
STONEHENGE
[title]
Stonehenge is one of the most mysterious and famous archaeological sites in the world. It was built on Salisbury Plain some time between 3050 and 2300 BC. How it was built? What is its purpose? -these are questions on which no one has a right answer. Stonehenge is probably the most important prehistoric monument in the Britain and has attracted visitors from earliest times. It stands as a timeless monument to the people who built it. There has been serious damage to some of the smaller bluestones resulting from close visitor contact (prohibited since 1978) and the prehistoric carvings on the larger sarsen stones show signs of significant wear.
In its day, the construction of Stonehenge was an impressive engineering feat, requiring commitment, time and vast amounts of manual labor. In its first phase, Stonehenge was a large earthwork; a bank and ditch arrangement called a henge, constructed approximately 5,000 years ago. It is believed that the ditch was dug with tools made from the antlers of red deer and, possibly, wood. The underlying chalk was loosened with picks and shoveled with the shoulderblades of cattle. It was then loaded into baskets and carried away. Modern experiments have shown that these tools were more than equal to the great task of earth digging and moving.
-The First Stage
-The Earthworks
The first Stonehenge was a large earthwork or Henge, comprising a ditch, bank, and the Aubrey holes, all probably built around 3100 BC. The Aubrey holes are round pits in the chalk, about one metre wide and deep, with steep sides and flat bottoms. They form a circle about 284 feet in diameter. Excavations have revealed cremated human bones in some of the chalk filling, but the holes themselves were probably made, not for the purpose of graves, but as part of the religious ceremony.