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Stonehenge - Episode 18040
156 Plays6 years ago
Stonehenge is a British cultural icon that is also one of the best known archaeological sites in the world. It is set within one of the most extensive Neolithic and Bronze age landscapes in Britain.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Archaeology Podcast Network
00:00:01
Speaker
You're listening to the Archaeology Podcast Network.
Significance of Stonehenge
00:00:04
Speaker
Located in southern central England on the Salisbury Plain, close to the town of Amesbury, Stonehenge is a British cultural icon that is also one of the best-known archaeological sites in the world.
Podcast and Merchandise Promotion
00:00:17
Speaker
This is episode 40 for February 9, 2018. I'm Chris Webster, and welcome to the Arc 365 podcast, 2018 edition. Arc 365 is a podcast today, every day, in 2018.
00:00:30
Speaker
The Archeology Podcast Network has partnered with T Public to bring you some awesome gear that looks good, promotes archeology, and puts a few pennies in our pockets so you can get free podcasts. Check out our designs at arkpodnet.com slash shop. That's arkpodnet.com slash shop.
Stonehenge's Historical Context
00:00:44
Speaker
This episode is written by Gerard Panditari.
00:00:46
Speaker
Stonehenge is set within one of the most extensive Neolithic and Bronze Age landscapes in Britain. With stones weighing an average of 25 tons, standing for at least 4,500 years, it is truly an awesome construction. The landscape around the monument shows evidence of substantial human activity dating back at least 8,000 years. Couple this with the estimated 1,500 years of construction activity and subsequent years of interference and decay,
00:01:08
Speaker
Both the dating and understanding of this site, quite a challenge. The first stage of activity associated with Stonehenge is the bank and ditch which surround the stones. Measuring 110 meters, it has been dated to 3100
Aubrey Holes and Burial Findings
00:01:19
Speaker
BCE. Among the finds from excavations of the ditch are cattle and deer bones, antler picks, and flint tools. The bones are of particular interest as they appear to be somewhat older than the antler picks, which were probably used to make the ditch.
00:01:31
Speaker
These bones appear to be well cared for, suggesting that they were of some importance to the people that deposited them and were not simply refuse. Within the ditch and bank structure is a circle of 56 holes known as Aubrey holes after the 17th century antiquarian John Aubrey, who was thought to have been the first to discover them. They were excavated in the 1920s and found to be filled with cremated bones.
00:01:51
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considered to be unimportant, these bones were re-interred in 1935 in hole number
Origin and Transport of Bluestones
00:01:55
Speaker
seven. When re-excavated in 2013, it was found that the 50,000 bone fragments were the remains of 63 individuals, most likely each was previously buried in an individual hole. Evidence from the excavation also showed some crushing of the chalk beneath the holes, and this has led to the theory that blue stones were used as grave markers. This would push back the time when it was believed that blue stones were first used here by 500 years ago.
00:02:18
Speaker
The first definite use of the iconic bluestones starts around 2600 BCE. Of the original group of 80, only 43 can be traced. The most widely accepted theory for the origin of the bluestones is that they came from a quarry in the Procelli Hills 240 kilometers away in Pembrokeshire, South Wales. A second and less accepted theory is that they are from glacial deposition by the Irish Sea Glacier during the last Ice Age. However, there is little or no evidence of glacial deposition in that part of England.
00:02:45
Speaker
The theory of the stones having been quarried in Wales was reinforced in 2011 with the discovery of the megalithic blue stone quarry at Craig Ross Yefelen near Kremiec in Pembrokeshire.
Saracen Stones and Amesbury Archer
00:02:54
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It was also at this time that the stone known as the altar stone came to Stonehenge. This stone is almost certainly from the Sinai Beds 80 kilometers east of Minid Purcelli in the Brecon Beacons. The heel stone may also have been erected at this time but cannot be dated accurately.
00:03:10
Speaker
Between 2600 BCE and 2400 BCE, 30 Saracen, a type of sandstone, stones were brought to the site, most likely from a quarry 40 kilometers to the north, though it is possible that they were scattered around the landscape. The stones were dressed and fashioned with mortise and tenon joints erected into a circle with a diameter of 33 meters and capped with 30 lintel stones held in place by tongue and grooved joints.
00:03:32
Speaker
The stones are carved to be slightly wider at the top so as to appear of uniform size when viewed from the ground. All of this carving and shaping is quite impressive considering only stone and maybe a few bronze tools would have been used. Within this circle, five trilotons, a structure of two upright stones joined by a single capstone, of Saracen stones in a horseshoe shape were erected. Each of the stones in this construction weighed up to 50 tons.
00:03:55
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The Great Trilithan stood in the southwest corner of the structure and would have been around 7.3 meters tall. Only one stone from the Great Trilithan still stands. One of the Saracens is carved with a dagger and 14 axe heads that appear similar to Bronze Age forms of these tools. It is just after this time that the Amesbury Archer was buried.
Functions and Theories of Stonehenge
00:04:14
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The Archer, so called because of the number of arrowheads discovered with him,
00:04:17
Speaker
must have been a man of great importance, considering the richness of his grave goods. Between 2400 BCE and 2280 BCE, the bluestones were re-erected and placed within the Saracen circle. Between 2,280 BCE and 1930 BCE, the bluestones were arranged in a circle between the two rings of the Saracens and the oval at the center of the inner ring. Between 1930 BCE and 1600 BCE, part of the previous bluestone alteration was removed so that it looked similar to the shape of the Saracen trilithons.
00:04:46
Speaker
From 1600 BCE on, there was occasional activity at the site, but nothing substantial. At some time in the early medieval period, a decapitated Anglo-Saxon man was buried here. Aside from this, the site has been claimed by many groups over the centuries.
Construction Methods Speculation
00:04:59
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The exact purpose of Stonehenge is still not entirely understood. It may have been some kind of astronomical observatory based on the arrangement of the trilithans and the heelstone, which are aligned to the sunset at the winter solstice and the sunrise of the summer solstice.
00:05:12
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Another theory for its use was proposed by Jeffrey Wainwright and Timothy Darville is that it was a place of healing. The theory stems from the number of skeletons found at the site. That several of them show deformities and trauma and upon analysis they appear to be from many different locations including continental Europe.
00:05:29
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Mike Parker Pearson argues that it is part of a larger ritual landscape and that Stonehenge is the place for the dead and that nearby Durrington Wells was a place of life. The first known proponent of this theory was the 12th century writer Jeffrey of Monmouth. He praised the healing quality of the stones and claimed Stonehenge was a funerary monument.
00:05:47
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A method of construction is also still unknown, but is believed that sheer legs, a type of A-frame for lifting, was used. One individual in America has shown how the stones could have been erected with a minimum amount of technology. In 1995, an experiment was carried out to see how the stones may have moved using a trackway that had been coated in animal fat with a sled.
00:06:04
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A team of 100 people were successful in moving a stone similar in size and weight to those found at Stonehenge 29 kilometers. However, it can be stated categorically that those that built it would not have needed any form of alien or futuristic technological aid.
Acoustic Properties and Folklore
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In recent times, unique and interesting theories about Stonehenge have come to light.
00:06:21
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One of these is that the blue stones were chosen for their acoustic properties. Researchers from the Royal College of Art in London have shown that the stones made a distinct clanging sound when struck. An area near where the stones most likely come from is called Manclechog, Ringing Rock, and up to the 18th century, blue stones were used there as church bells.
00:06:38
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As it has been part of the landscape for so long, Stonehenge quite often appears in folklore and stories, sometimes as attempts to explain its origins. The heel stone, for example, has a specific origin story attached to it. Quote, The Devil brought the stones from a woman in Ireland, wrapped them up, and brought them to Salisbury Plain. One of the stones fell into the Avon, the rest were carried to the plain. The Devil then cried out, No one will ever find out how these stones came here.
Restorations and Cultural Claims
00:07:00
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A friar replied, That's what you think, whereupon the Devil threw one of the stones at him and struck him on the heel.
00:07:05
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the stones stuck in the ground and is still there." The monument also appears in Arthurian legend in the Historia Regium Britannae by Geoffrey of Monmouth. He tells how Merlin brought the stones from where they stood in Ireland to the Salisbury Plain using gear and skill. Neo-Pagans have tried to lay claim to the site since at least the early 1900s as a holy site of the Druids, but this is based upon no verifiable historic information. In the last century or so, several restorations of the stones have taken place, the first in 1901 and the last major one in 1963.
World Heritage Status and Resources
00:07:35
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This was to prevent stones from falling over or re-erecting several that had already fallen. However, this has led to the uses of concrete to hold them in place. The monument and landscape was declared a World Heritage Site in 1986. You can learn more about Stonehenge and recent controversy regarding its conservation in the show notes.
Conclusion and Credits
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Thank you.
00:07:59
Speaker
Thanks for listening to ARC 365. If you want to hear more ARC 365, check out www.arcpodnet.com slash ARC365 for the 2017 and 2018 episodes. Check out arcpodnet.com slash ARC365-G30 for the last 30 episodes. Please subscribe and rate on your service of choice. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play, among others. Support the APN at arcpodnet.com slash members. Thanks for listening, and thanks for being awesome.
00:08:29
Speaker
This show is produced and recorded by the Archaeology Podcast Network, Chris Webster and Tristan Boyle, in Reno, Nevada at the Reno Collective. This has been a presentation of the Archaeology Podcast Network. Visit us on the web for show notes and other podcasts at www.archpodnet.com. Contact us at chrisatarchaeologypodcastnetwork.com.