It was a bitterly cold
night as I left London to visit a pre-historic site in the west of England.
There was no wind and the frost lay still and undisturbed on the ground, while
the constellation of Orion winked and dominated the blackness while speckling
the distant sky in that overwhelming supremacy which can only be felt at night.
It was as if the world in sleeping had suddenly been emptied of life. All was
quiet and motionless. If ever there was a connection with pre-history, this was
it.
And then as the road
dipped down from a gentle hill the grandeur of Stonehenge became silhouetted
against the far horizon. These circles of stones which had stood for 5000 years
loomed up as a timeless monument to those pagans who had lived in these parts;
their sheer size and presence simply crushing the transience of modern life. I
had to stop and wonder.
The first
Henge was an earthwork ditch with a bank arranged in a circle about 100 yards
in diameter. There were holes dug as part of the structure in which have been
found cremated human bones. But most modern archaeologists believe that the
early Henge was more for religious ceremony than for burial. This was about
3100 BC. Then it seems that there was no further development for about 1000
years.
Then in around
2100 BC about 80 Bluestones were transported from the distant mountains of
south-west Wales. It was an engineering and transport achievement of mammoth
proportions to get them over the wooded and difficult terrain of about 200
miles….some weighed up to 4 tonnes. These stones were then set into 2 partially
complete circles with the earth entrance being widened and a pair of entry
stones being erected. An avenue was also constructed which was aligned to the
sunrise on mid-summer’s day.
Then about 100 years
later (about 5 generations in those days!) the gigantic Sarsen stones were
brought about 25 miles and were arranged in an outer circle with a continuous
run of lintels. Some of these weigh 50 tonnes. Then, finally in about 1500 BC
the inner circles of bluestones were rearranged into what we see today.
So
what was it all about?
There are five theories. Firstly
it was a ceremonial place for the dead and was a part of numerous other
monuments in the area. It is said that several ley lines converge at the Henge,
with Glastonbury as the focus. I discuss ley lines on page 68 of my book,
Catacombs of the Damned.
Secondly it is
said that it was a sanctuary for healing. Burial mounds in the area contain
human remains with injury and sickness while chemical analysis has shown that
they came from far afield. But with so many burial grounds I can’t help
wondering how successful the healing properties were!
Then the most
popular view was that it was used for astronomical observation. It was used in
both the summer and winter to mark the solstice.
Finally,
the two most unlikely explanations are that it was either a centre for moon
worship or that it actually an alien landing site.
Stonehenge is one of the greatest mysterious of the world. I
wonder if we will ever unlock the secrets of the prehistoric monument, and
understand how it came to be.
Futher Reading
If you are interested in Stonehenge then you may very well enjoy the book Magnus of Stonewylde by Kit Berry. It centres around the mysticism of a stone circle in
Dorset (the comparison with Stonehenge is obvious) and is a modern
interpretation of how the ancient pagans might have behaved in the
religious/solstice celebrations. It centres around a modern “dropout” community
but has all sorts of dictatorial undertones where freedom is fine, as long as
it is authorised by the Leader. The writing is superb with wonderful
descriptions of country living, ceremonies and the antagonisms which can happen
in a rigorously defined class system. It’s an ancient story with a modern
twist- definitely worth reading.
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