Dynaverse.net
Off Topic => Ten Forward => Topic started by: S'Raek on June 01, 2008, 09:09:58 am
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http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/05/29/stonehenge.ap/index.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- England's enigmatic Stonehenge served as a burial ground from its earliest beginnings and for several hundred years thereafter, new research indicates.
Dating of cremated remains shows burials took place as early as 3000 B.C., when the first ditches around the monument were being built, researchers said Thursday.
And those burials continued for at least 500 years, when the giant stones that mark the mysterious circle were being erected, they said.
"It's now clear that burials were a major component of Stonehenge in all its main stages," said Mike Parker Pearson, archaeology professor at the University of Sheffield in England and head of the Stonehenge Riverside Archaeological Project.
In the past, many archaeologists had thought that burials at Stonehenge continued for only about a century, the researchers said.
"Stonehenge was a place of burial from its beginning to its zenith in the mid-third millennium B.C. The cremation burial dating to Stonehenge's sarsen stones phase is likely just one of many from this later period of the monument's use and demonstrates that it was still very much a domain of the dead," Parker Pearson said in a statement.
The researchers also excavated homes nearby at Durrington Walls, which they said appeared to be seasonal homes related to Stonehenge.
"It's a quite extraordinary settlement; we've never seen anything like it before," Parker Pearson said. The village appeared to be a land of the living and Stonehenge a land of the ancestors, he said.
There were at least 300 and perhaps as many as 1,000 homes in the village, he said. The small homes were occupied in midwinter and midsummer.
The village also included a circle of wooden pillars, which they have named the Southern Circle. It is oriented toward the midwinter sunrise, the opposite of Stonehenge, which is oriented to the midsummer sunrise.
The research was supported by the National Geographic Society, which discusses Stonehenge in its June magazine and will feature the new burial data on National Geographic Channel on Sunday.
The researchers said the earliest cremation burial was a small group of bones and teeth found in pits called the Aubrey Holes and dated to 3030-2880 B.C., about the time with the first ditch-and-bank monument was being built.
Remains from the surrounding ditch included an adult dated to 2930-2870 B.C., and the most recent cremation, Parker Pearson said, comes from the ditch's northern side and was of a 25-year-old woman. It dated to 2570-2340 B.C., around the time the first arrangements of large sarsen stones appeared at Stonehenge.
According to Parker Pearson's team, this is the first time any of the cremation burials from Stonehenge have been radiocarbon-dated. The burials dated by the group were excavated in the 1950s and have been kept at the nearby Salisbury Museum.
In the 1920s, an additional 49 cremation burials were dug up at Stonehenge, but all were reburied because they were thought to be of no scientific value, the researchers said.
They estimate that up to 240 people were buried within Stonehenge, all as cremation deposits.
Team member Andrew Chamberlain suggested that the cremation burials represent the natural deaths of a single elite family and its descendants, perhaps a ruling dynasty.
A clue to this, he said, is the small number of burials in Stonehenge's earliest phase, a number that grows larger in subsequent centuries, as offspring would have multiplied.
Parker Pearson added: "I don't think it was the common people getting buried at Stonehenge; it was clearly a special place at that time. One has to assume anyone buried there had some good credentials."
The actual building and purpose of Stonehenge remain a mystery that has long drawn speculation from many sources.
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An interesting read, hope they don't let it cloud their future view on the place though. Imagine someone with no concept of a Chapel in the distant future coming across an ancient abandoned church in the middle of a graveyard. Do they look at the chapel as being part of a burial site or the burials as an outgrowth of the chapel.
The village appeared to be a land of the living and Stonehenge a land of the ancestors,
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In my Experience, Neolithic sites in the UK have a fairly consistant link to Mortuary practices.
Neolithic Archaeology isn't a specialty for me, as I've focused on 4th to 14th century UK, but I did do a lot of work on on Megalithic structures and Mortuary practices from the period of Stone henge, but I never really took much interest in it. I was always more drawn to things like Newgrange or the Avebury circle.
Though I must admit that I may just start doing some reading up when there are more articles in the journals.
For those who take an interest in Pre- Roman Britain, I would recommend Barry Cunliffe as a good starter. He gives some interesting theories, especially on the idea that Monumental structures was a concept that moved West to East, rather than the traditional East to West.
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Say, uh.. didn't the druids (the real ones, not the modern posers) sacrifice people and burn them in big baskets?
They estimate that up to 240 people were buried within Stonehenge, all as cremation deposits.
Team member Andrew Chamberlain suggested that the cremation burials represent the natural deaths of a single elite family and its descendants, perhaps a ruling dynasty.
A clue to this, he said, is the small number of burials in Stonehenge's earliest phase, a number that grows larger in subsequent centuries, as offspring would have multiplied.
Parker Pearson added: "I don't think it was the common people getting buried at Stonehenge; it was clearly a special place at that time. One has to assume anyone buried there had some good credentials."
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Say, uh.. didn't the druids (the real ones, not the modern posers) sacrifice people and burn them in big baskets?
They estimate that up to 240 people were buried within Stonehenge, all as cremation deposits.
Team member Andrew Chamberlain suggested that the cremation burials represent the natural deaths of a single elite family and its descendants, perhaps a ruling dynasty.
A clue to this, he said, is the small number of burials in Stonehenge's earliest phase, a number that grows larger in subsequent centuries, as offspring would have multiplied.
Parker Pearson added: "I don't think it was the common people getting buried at Stonehenge; it was clearly a special place at that time. One has to assume anyone buried there had some good credentials."
Stonehenge was started well before the time of the Druids, but they may have had rituals there. If there is a way to date the remains, they will.
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Say, uh.. didn't the druids (the real ones, not the modern posers) sacrifice people and burn them in big baskets?
They estimate that up to 240 people were buried within Stonehenge, all as cremation deposits.
Team member Andrew Chamberlain suggested that the cremation burials represent the natural deaths of a single elite family and its descendants, perhaps a ruling dynasty.
A clue to this, he said, is the small number of burials in Stonehenge's earliest phase, a number that grows larger in subsequent centuries, as offspring would have multiplied.
Parker Pearson added: "I don't think it was the common people getting buried at Stonehenge; it was clearly a special place at that time. One has to assume anyone buried there had some good credentials."
I'm certainly no expert, but I believe it was called burning a wicker man. The baskets or cages were, essentially, large wicker baskets.
Again, I'm certainly no expert but one book I read mentioned it. I also have to mention that this book was a novel set in those times but there was a lot of very accurate history woven into the story so take it with a grain of salt.
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Well, as usual with these shows they went off on a tanget and tried to explain the life, etc of the times. At least it seemed to me they got distracted. I am always doubtful if they know what they are talking about since they seem to get some pretty detailed ideas off of a shard of pottery.
Basically they said that Stonehenge and Woodhenge were built around the same time. Initially they thought that the wood one was made earlier and the stone later as their ability to build improved. However, they theorized in this show that they were both part of a ritual.
http://www.history.com/media.do?id=lostworlds_pagans_broadband&action=clip
There was a very large village built up around Stonehenge. And Stonehenge was built to align with setset on the solstice and Woodhenge was set for sunrise.