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TOPIC: Stonehenge
Blobrana


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Sunrise
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Times of sunrise, on 21 June, 2006:
For Aberdeen, (57°N, 2° W) Sun rise 03:13 UT (4:13 Local time) SunSet 21:06 UT.
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The Sun is in Gemini.

Aberdeenshire Standing Stones and Circles (Google Earth file)
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Blobrana


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RE: Happy solstice everyone!
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This year, 2006, the Summer Solstice is on June 21 at 12:26.
The Sun will be at its most northerly point on the ecliptic. It is the longest day for us in the northern hemisphere, and marks the Celtic festival of Middansumor ( Ęrra Liša)

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Blobrana


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English Heritage is pleased to be providing Managed Open Access to Stonehenge for the Summer Solstice. English Heritage has a duty of care to ensure public safety and are responsible for the protection of Stonehenge and its surrounding Monuments.

Parking and entry will be free, subject to the Conditions of Entry. It is not advisable to arrive at the Solstice Car Park or Stonehenge in advance of the opening time.
Solstice car park opens: 20:00 hours (8pm) Tuesday 20th June.
Access to Stonehenge: 22:00 hours (10pm) Tuesday 20th June. Stonehenge closes: 09:00 hours (9am) Wednesday 21st June. Last admission to solstice car park: 06:00 hours (6am) Wednesday 21st June. Solstice car park to be vacated: 13:00 hours (1pm) Wednesday 21st June. Sunrise will occur at 04.58 on Wednesday 21st June 2006.
There will be a special bus service from Salisbury railway station for around £7 round trip. Buses are every half hour from 20:30pm until 01:15am to Stonehenge and return every twenty minutes or sooner from 05:15am until 06:15am, then every half hour until 09:45am - Transport from the car park will be provided for disabled visitors.
Warm clothing and rain wear is essential, blankets are allowed in but NOT quilts and sleeping bags. No Naked flames or glass bottles are allowed inside the stones however incense sticks and small cone incense are ok.

The document "Conditions of Entry for the Stonehenge Summer Solstice 2006" is available online (PDF).

Source: English Heritage

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Blobrana


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Hagar Qim and Mnajdra temples
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Heritage Malta will be allowing a limited group of people to experience the summer solstice from its Hagar Qim and Mnajdra prehistoric temples on the morning of Wednesday, 21 June, 2006. Pre-booked participants will have to assemble at Hagar Qim at 05:45am. After witnessing this phenomenon they would then proceed with a guided tour of Hagar Qim and Mnajdra, followed by a visit to Ta' Hagrat and Skorba temples in Mgarr.
At the dawn of this day of the year with the longest daylight period, sunlight passes through a hole at Hagar Qim temples, known as the 'oracle hole', which opens onto a chamber on the northeast side of the temple. Here, the sun's rays project a disk of light on a stone slab at the entrance of the apse. As the minutes pass, the disk becomes a crescent, then elongates into an ellipse, elongates even further and finally sinks out of sight as though into the ground. At Mnajdra, the first rays of the sun light up the edge of a megalith found to the left of the central doorway connecting the first pair of chambers to the inner chambers.
Following the tours of Hagar Qim and Mnajdra, participants will be taken to Mgarr for breakfast after which they will visit Ta' Hagrat and Skorba temples. The two temples are usually open only on Tuesdays and so this is yet another opportunity for archaeology enthusiasts to visit these two UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Participants will be taken back to Hagar Qim temples at around 01:00pm. As only 50 adults will be allowed to participate in this event, those interested are requested to call Heritage Malta's Head Office immediately on 2295 4312. Tickets cost Lm6, including transport, entrance fees and breakfast.

Source: Di-Ve.com

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Blobrana


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Stonehenge
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Stonehenge Satellite

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Blobrana


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Bluestones
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The debate over how the stones arrived at Stonehenge, Wiltshire, UK continues.
A geology team has contradicted claims that bluestones were dug by Bronze Age man from a west Wales quarry and carried 240 miles to build Stonehenge. In a new twist, Open University geologists say the stones were in fact moved to Salisbury Plain by glaciers. Last year archaeologists said the stones came from the Preseli Hills. Recent research in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology suggests the stones were ripped from the ground and moved by glaciers during the Ice Age.
Geologists from the Open University first claimed in 1991 that the bluestones at one of Britain's best-known historic landmarks had not come from a quarry, but from different sources in the Preseli area. The recent work was conducted by a team headed by Professor Olwen Williams-Thorpe, who said she and her colleagues had used geochemical analysis to trace the origins of axe heads found at Stonehenge and this backed up the original work.

"We concluded that the small number of axes that are actually bluestone derive from several different outcrops within Preseli. Axes found at or near Stonehenge are very likely to be from the same outcrops as the monoliths, and could even be made of left-over bits of the monoliths" - Professor Olwen Williams-Thorpe.

Dr Brian John, a geomorphologist living in Pembrokeshire, said he always thought the idea that Bronze Age man had quarried the stones and then taken them so far 'stretched credibility'. But he said the debate would go on until someone was able to prove beyond doubt what happened one way or the other.

"Much of the archaeology in recent years has been based upon the assumption that Bronze Age man had a reason for transporting bluestones all the way from west Wales to Stonehenge and the technical capacity to do it. That has been the ruling hypothesis, and there has been a great reluctance to allow facts to interfere with a good story. Glaciers may move very slowly, but they have an excellent record when it comes to the transport of large stones from one part of the country to another" Dr Brian John.

Source: BBC News

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Blobrana


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RE: Happy solstice everyone!
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OmMane

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Blobrana


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Stonehenge
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A project to recreate Stonehenge as it would have looked 4,000 years ago is being planned.

Fragments of only three circles remain today, but quarry firm Preseli Bluestone wants to build all seven from scratch. It is hoped the circles will be completed by 2009. The new site would be open to visitors.
However, an exact location is yet to be decided, but the Cotswold Water Park, which straddles Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, is one of several sites being considered.

Preseli Bluestones are the stones that were used in the building of Stonehenge 5,000 years ago and are only found in the Preseli Hills in Pembrokeshire, West Wales.

"We don't want to replicate Stonehenge as it stands today, but rather as how it would have looked when completed about 4,000 years ago" - Colin Shearing, from the company Preseli Bluestone.

The new Stonehenge would be built using both modern and ancient methods which the public would be invited to watch. The plans are in the very early stages, but the aim is to create a 21st Century 'landmark architectural heritage sculpture' which allows visitors to walk among, and touch, the stones.

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Blobrana


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THE only solution to the traffic problems at Stonehenge should be the 2.1km, £510m tunnel the council's cabinet agreed this week.

In a bid to move the debate forward, councillors firmly backed the bored tunnel and removed their support for the cheaper but potentially more environmentally damaging, cut-and-cover tunnel, which has long been identified as Plan B.
The row over the future of the World Heritage site sparked again in January, when the government launched another consultation period, after the cost of the tunnel more than doubled.
Councillors who were asked to look at the options yet again, more than two years after a lengthy and costly public inquiry, found it hard to hide their frustration.

"What we have is consultation overload. We are waiting to see some action from the government to resolve this once and for all, but I'm not holding my breath." - Dennis Brown, Environment and transport portfolio holder.

"I am bitterly disappointed by the government. This is a site of international importance and the only scheme that is appropriate is the tunnel. All the other options have been looked at and not one of them meets the bill." - Steve Fear, Labour councillor.

In an interview with the Journal last year, transport minister Dr Stephen Ladyman said the tunnel would not be built unless a way could be found to "dig it for half the price".

However, English Heritage, which looks after the ancient monument, remains adamant that the tunnel is the only way to restore the historic landscape and protect the stones.
Councillors noted that they were not being given the option of an overland dual carriageway, which was popular with many local people.
The meeting heard that motorists would resent losing their view of the stones, which has been called the "gateway to the west country".

Deputy leader of the council Fred Westmoreland came up with an alternative scheme that would involve replacing the roundabout at Countess Road Amesbury, closing the A344 and providing a bypass for Winterbourne Stoke leaving the rest of the A303 untouched.

"Yes, it would narrow to one lane, but it's the roundabout that causes the delays, and there are other single carriageway sections of the A303. What's the rush? Stonehenge has been there for 5,000 years. Maybe, in a few years' time, new technology will have been developed to find a way without destroying the archaeology forever, but in the meantime a partial solution is the only option." - Fred Westmoreland.

But his cabinet colleagues, who were only faced with limited options, voted to back the tunnel, agreeing that supporting one option would send a clear message to the government.

"None of the options, apart from the tunnel, meets the aims of the project." - Dennis Brown.


Expand (2048x1536, 385 KB)
Position: 51°10′43.9″N, 1°49′31.6″W.

Stonehenge is a Neolithic and Bronze Age megalithic monument located near Amesbury in the English county of Wiltshire, about 13 km northwest of Salisbury. It is composed of earthworks surrounding a circular setting of large standing stones and is one of the most famous prehistoric sites in the world. Archaeologists think the standing stones were erected between 2500 BC and 2000 BC although the surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. The site and its surroundings were added to the UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1986 in a co-listing with Avebury henge monument, and it is also a legally protected Scheduled Ancient Monument. Stonehenge itself is owned and managed by English Heritage.

Source

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Blobrana


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RE: Happy solstice everyone!
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A colourful crowd of 20 000 people gathered on Tuesday at Stonehenge, an ancient circle of stones in England, to witness the dawning of the longest day of the year.

Amid the beating of drums following an all-night festival, New Age travellers and curious spectators celebrated the summer solstice in what has become an annual tradition.



Cheers rung out across Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, central-southern England, as the sun rose over the "heel" stone at 04.58am.

A few high wisps of cloud, together with a low-lying mist, added to the splendour of a perfect dawn.

Local police said the all-night festivities at the ancient stone circle passed relatively peacefully with just six arrests, mainly for alcohol-related offences, although they warned this number would likely rise as the visitors headed home.

"Between 20 000 and 21 000 turned out for the Solstice festival"

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