* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Stonehenge

Blobrana · L

Stonehenge was built to unify Britain

Building Stonehenge was a way to unify the people of Stone Age Britain, researchers have concluded.
Teams working on the Stonehenge Riverside Project believe the circle was built after a long period of conflict between east and west Britain.
Researchers also believe the stones, from southern England and west Wales, symbolise different communities.
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Ed~ Stonehenge was built at a time of transition from a nomadic hunter gatherer society to a pastoral agricultural way of life. And indeed it may have served as a unifying tool for a ruling elite.

Blobrana · L

Summer solstice through the years

Stonehenge is thought to have been at the centre of important rituals for early Britons more than 4,000 years ago, but it was in the 20th Century that it was revived as a place of religious significance.
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Blobrana · L

Stonehenge design was 'inspired by sounds'

Music could have been an inspiration for the design of Stonehenge, according to an American researcher.
Steven Waller's intriguing idea is that ancient Britons could have based the layout of the great monument, in part, on the way they perceived sound.
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Ed ~ unfortunately his research is flawed, and he overlooks the obvious. (For all intents and purposes, we already know why the monument was built at that location, and for what reason)

Blobrana · L

A new project developed by Bournemouth University academics is giving surfers access to a virtual prehistoric landscape: Stonehenge.
The World Heritage site near Salisbury is now more accessible than ever, archaeologists claim, thanks to Google's Under-the-Earth: Seeing Beneath Stonehenge project. Their last few years of findings, combined with the search giant's technology, allows surfers to visit the Neolithic village of Durrington Walls, to scout around prehistoric houses, to see reconstructions of Bluestonehenge at the end of the Stonehenge Avenue and to explore the great timber monument called the Southern Circle. The sites look as they would have appeared more than 4,000 years ago - and all from the comfort of your desk.
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Blobrana · L

Seeing-beneath-Stonehenge

Seeing Beneath Stonehenge uses Google Earth to transport you around the virtual landscape of this magnificent monument. You can interact with the exciting discoveries of the Stonehenge Riverside Project and learn more about the archaeology of this internationally important site.
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Google Earth file (13.7mb, kmz)

Blobrana · L

Stonehenge: Closure of A344 near monument to go ahead

Plans to close a main road running past Stonehenge are to go ahead.
English Heritage wants to stop traffic from travelling close to the stones and "restore the dignity" of the World Heritage Site by closing the A344.
The road from the A303 at Stonehenge Bottom to west of the visitor centre has already been approved for closure.
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Blobrana · L

Scientists discover source of rock used in Stonehenge's first circle

Scientists have succeeded in locating the exact source of some of the rock believed to have been used 5000 years ago to create Stonehenge's first stone circle.
By comparing fragments of stone found at and around Stonehenge with rocks in south-west Wales, they have been able to identify the original rock outcrop that some of the Stonehenge material came from.
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Blobrana · L

Stonehenge rocks Pembrokeshire link confirmed

Experts say they have confirmed for the first time the precise origin of some of the rocks at Stonehenge.
It has long been suspected that rhyolites from the northern Preseli Hills helped build the monument.
But research by National Museum Wales and Leicester University has identified their source to within 70m of Craig Rhos-y-felin, near Pont Saeson.
The museum's Dr Richard Bevins said the find would help experts work out how the stones were moved to Wiltshire.
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Blobrana · L

Archaeologists make new Stonehenge 'sun worship' find

Two previously undiscovered pits have been found at Stonehenge which point to it once being used as a place of sun worship before the stones were erected.
The pits are positioned on celestial alignment at the site and may have contained stones, posts or fires to mark the rising and setting of the sun.
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