The Enigmatic Stonehenge: A Journey Through Time and Space.
Updated: Aug 19, 2024
Welcome to the Stone Temple Gardening!
As I write, today is the full moon of August, 2024 in the year of the Major Lunar Standstill and in the middle of the Perseids meteor shower currently lighting up the night sky. As a student of astronomy and sacred sites, today is an auspicious date to launch my blog.
Since a teenager, I have been intensely interested in the mysteries of the ancient past and the spectacular monuments of lost civilisations left behind. From the famous sites like the Pyramids and Stonehenge, through to obscure standing stones and bramble hidden burial chambers, the magic of enigmatic prehistoric sites has fascinated me, and I have visited, photographed and researched many during my life. Although an historian by training, my fascination with prehistoric archaeology predates my academic career. Now semi-retired I have the time to indulge in my first love, and as I’m not an archaeologist I’m free to speculate and explore the more esoteric side of these monuments without criticism from within my discipline! I hope to share my knowledge, experience and understandings gained from this lifelong preoccupation of mine to all of you through Stone Temple Gardening Blog. I will be using this site to examine ancient and modern sacred sites with an emphasis on standing stones, stone circles and neolithic burial remains, landscapes and natural features important to the builders, but also other sacred sites from around the world from prehistory up to the modern day. We will explore their histories, myths and speculations of use. Mainly concentrating on factual archeological knowledge, but also interpretations from the esoteric aspects of sacred sites such as sacred geometry, site choices and placement, archeoastronomy and acoustics, through to pseudo-archeology, ley lines, UFOs and other related craziness that attaches itself to the topic. I remain open minded, and nothing is off limits. Also, I will give my personal views of sites I have visited, experienced and photographed. Hope you enjoy my content. If you do, please subscribe and share!
The prehistory of the world is a vast subject, and the immediate question is where to start?
Well, it’s an easy answer really, although an enormous subject, the most famous stone circle in the world…
The Enigmatic Stonehenge: A Journey Through Time and Space.
Standing tall in southern England lies Stonehenge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the planet’s most famous prehistoric monuments. Stonehenge has captivated historians, archaeologists, mystics and tourists for centuries. Located on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, this iconic stone circle is shrouded in mystery and intrigue. While much about its purpose and origins remains speculative, advancements in archaeology and archeoastronomy have provided valuable insights into this ancient site's history and significance. There is so much to say about this site and its surroundings that I will have to add many more posts on this most famous but ironically unique stone circle. To start, an overview of its form, construction and, importantly, its incredible astronomical significance is necessary. Over the millennia Stonehenge was altered, re arranged and probably repurposed many times. Its complicated, but I will endeavor to keep it simple. Many of my points raised here will be followed up in detail in later posts.
Stonehenge is a prehistoric megalithic structure two miles (3 km) west of the town of Amesbury and a short drive from the magnificent cathedral city of Salisbury in Wiltshire, southern England. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around 13 feet (4.0 m) high, seven feet (2.1 m) wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connecting horizontal lintel stones. Inside is a ring of smaller bluestones. At the center of the circle are three free-standing trilithons, two taller, bulkier vertical sarsens joined by one lintel and arranged in a horseshoe. The whole monument, now ruinous, is aligned towards the sunrise on the summer solstice and sunset on the winter solstice. The stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the densest complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred tumuli (burial mounds).
The Construction of Stonehenge
Early Beginnings (c. 3000 BCE)
The story of Stonehenge we see today begins around 3000 BCE during the Neolithic or New Stone Age. The first stage of Stonehenge was not the iconic door like trilithions, but the construction of a circular earthwork enclosure, known as a henge, which included a ditch, bank, and the enigmatic Aubrey Holes—56 pits dug out of the chalk ground with antler picks, named after the 17th-century antiquarian John Aubrey, who first identified them. These holes may have originally held wooden posts or small standing stones. A ditch was dug with simple antler tools, and the chalk piled up to make an inner and an outer bank. Within the ditch was set the 56 timber or stone posts. The monument was used as a cremation cemetery for several hundred years, many remains being deposited in some of the 56 pits. Possibly all of them, but many remain unexcavated. At this time the Bluestones arrived and may well have been set in the Aubrey Holes.
The Arrival of the Sarsen Stones (c. 2500 BCE)
The next phase of construction saw the arrival of the first set of iconic stones that we see today the Sarsen Stones.
These large sarsens are made of a type of sandstone, weighing up to 25 tons each, and were sourced locally from the nearby Marlborough Downs, about 20 miles north of the site. The stones were erected in a horse-shoe arrangement of five trilithons (two vertical stones supporting a horizontal lintel) at the centre. The large central stones face east towards the sun’s rising on the longest day of the year. The smaller sarsens were arranged in a ring around the central horseshoe with their top connecting stones joined to each other by mortise and tenon joints – a technique of wood working. All were dressed with a smoother finish facing inwards. The smaller 4-ton Bluestones were rearranged here later to form an inner circle and oval between the sarsens. The Bluestones history is complicated. They may have been moved from an earlier setting at the opposite end of the Avenue, a banked earthwork that extends from Stonehenge along the summer solstice alignment before bending towards the river Avon where it ends. Here by the sacred river a small stone circle was set, and cremations took place here, it was thought the Bluestones may have been in a setting here at some point, but there is no physical evidence. The Bluestones may have been a complete relocated monument from Wales before that, each of these stories are worthy of a post. Watch this space.
The Avenue: a ritualised landscape feature.
The Avenue was built sometime around 2600 to 1700 BCE and extends from the circle to the river Avon. It consists of two parallel linear earth banks with standing stones at the entrance to Stonehenge and a stone circle at the end. Along some of its length, the avenue is aligned with the sunrise of the summer solstice. At the end of the avenue next to the river Avon, a ring of pits that contained standing stones at some point was discovered in 2009. There was evidence of ritual cremation at this site. No monoliths were found, but stone chips in the pits were assumed to be of bluestone. However, tests proved this to be false. It has been theorised that the dead bodies of the builders who lived nearby at Durrington Walls were landed here and cremated before processing along the Avenue for burial at Stonehenge or close by.
Was the Avenue the reason for this site being sacred in the first place?
A unique feature of the avenue was discovered recently. Natural ice age glacial grooves called periglacial stripes were found in the ground underneath the avenue. Professor Mike Parker Pearson of the Stonehenge Riverside Project believes that the Avenue was inspired by, and built over the top of, this existing natural formation of parallel rills which had a significant astronomical alignment to the solstices. The presence of ridges and gullies that happened to line up with the solstice directions may have been venerated, leading the Neolithic people to later build Stonehenge at this position in the landscape. Close to Stonehenge are also three far earlier Mesolithic pits that formerly contained large wooden “Totem” poles that could have been sited here for the same reason.
The Purpose of Stonehenge
The purpose of Stonehenge has long been the subject of debate. While definitive answers remain elusive, several theories have emerged, each offering a glimpse into the site's potential functions.
A Ceremonial Site
Many archaeologists believe that Stonehenge served as a ceremonial or religious site. The discovery of human remains, particularly cremated bones, suggests that it may have been used for burial rituals. The site's construction and subsequent modifications indicate its importance in Neolithic and Bronze Age societies. The whole area has a massive concentration of burials.
A Healing Centre
Another theory posits that Stonehenge was a place of healing. The Bluestones were believed to possess mystical properties. This idea is supported by the presence of burial sites and evidence of physical trauma in some of the remains found at the site, suggesting that people travelled to Stonehenge seeking cures for ailments. However, there is no evidence that Stonehenge burials differ in this respect to other contemporary sites.
Archaeoastronomy and Stonehenge
One of the most fascinating aspects of Stonehenge is its alignment with celestial events. Archaeoastronomy, the study of how ancient cultures understood and utilized astronomical phenomena, has revealed that Stonehenge was intricately linked to the movements of the sun and moon.
The Solstices
The most well-known alignment at Stonehenge is with the solstices. These are the shortest and longest days of the year when the movement of the sun stands still for a few days before moving higher or lower in the sky with the seasons. Summer solstice on the longest day, rises along the Avenue whilst on the shortest day of the winter solstice it sets behind the monument on the same line. During the summer solstice, the sun rises over the Heel Stone, an outlying stone to the northeast of the circle, and its rays shine directly into the heart of the monument. Conversely, during the winter solstice, the sun sets in alignment with the central Altar Stone, creating a dramatic interplay of light and shadow. These alignments suggest that Stonehenge was used as a solar calendar, helping its agrarian builders track the passage of time and the changing seasons.
Lunar Alignments and the Station Stones
In addition to solar alignments, Stonehenge also exhibits connections to lunar cycles. The arrangement of the stones and the Aubrey Holes may have been used to predict lunar eclipses and other astronomical events. According to astronomer Sharon Lynn Montgomery
This dual focus on both the sun and the moon underscores the site's significance in ancient cosmology and timekeeping. Recent research (April 2024) suggests that the monument was also used to observe the 18.6-year cycle of the moon’s movement through the sky that is much more complicated than the Sun’s. Named the major lunar standstill, it is the northernmost and southernmost positions of the Moon when they are at their furthest apart along the horizon, and it is believed that these distinct lunar movements may have been observed during the early phase of Stonehenge, potentially influencing the later monument's design and purpose. As I write, we are 4 days from the full moon of August 2024 when this phenomenon can be observed. The standstill lasts about 12 months.
The Station Stones
One of the most significant features of Stonehenge in astronomical terms are the four Station Stones embedded in the embankment circle, two of which survive. They originally formed a rectangle around the central monument. The short sides of the Station Stone rectangle are aligned to the primary solstice axis (summer sunrise to winter sunset). The long sides are aligned to the southernmost moonrise and northernmost moonset during the year of the Major Lunar Standstill.
Professor Clive Ruggles, Emeritus Professor of Archaeoastronomy in the School of Archaeology and Ancient History at the University of Leicester, said recently:
"Stonehenge's architectural connection to the Sun is well known, but its link with the Moon is less well understood. The four Station Stones align with the Moon's extreme positions, and researchers have debated for years whether this was deliberate, and—if so—how this was achieved and what might have been its purpose."
In 1966, C. A. 'Steve' Newham described another alignment for the equinoxes by drawing a line between one of the Station Stones with a posthole next to the Heel Stone. He also identified a lunar alignment; the long sides of the rectangle created by the four station stones matched the Moon rise and moonset at the major standstill. Uniquely, this latitude is the only place where these alignments form a rectangle rather than a rhombus.
Recent Discoveries and Ongoing Research
In recent years, advances in technology and archaeological methods have continued to shed light on Stonehenge's history. Ground-penetrating radar, 3D modelling, and isotopic analysis of human remains have provided new insights into the people who built and used the monument. For example, isotopic analysis has revealed that some of the individuals buried at Stonehenge originated from regions far beyond southern England, suggesting that the site was a place of pilgrimage and cultural exchange. This is further illustrated by research on animal remains used in winter solstice feasting at nearby Durrington Walls, showing they were brought to the area from all over the British Isles. As I write, breaking news tells of another stone – the so called nine-ton Altar Stone embedded horizontally in the earth before the central horseshoe of trilithions -is alleged to have been brought some 700 miles from the area of the Orkney Islands (an incredibly rich and important neolithic centre) in Scotland. There are some doubts about the methodology of the provenance of the samples used in this study and some have pointed to the possible origin of the stone being nearer due to glacial action. However, we know that at nearby Durrington Walls, pigs’ teeth have been found whose isotopes show they were raised in Scotland and brought there to be slaughtered at the Winter Solstice at a time of great feasting. Literally the neolithic “Christmas”, or more accurately, a winter celebration like ours and our Roman forebears’ Saturnalia, held at the same time. It is, of course, the Solstice that is the important date being celebrated.
Conclusion
Stonehenge remains a testament to the ingenuity and vision of our prehistoric ancestors. Its construction, purpose, and celestial alignments offer a window into the complex and sophisticated societies of Neolithic and Bronze Age Britain. While many questions about Stonehenge remain unanswered, ongoing research continues to unravel its mysteries, ensuring that this ancient stone circle will captivate and inspire future generations.
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