Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world.

Special Treat – Martha Jette

January 31, 2007

Stonehenge believed part

of much larger complex

A recent article in National Geographic News indicates that the original monoliths of Stonehenge were only part of a much larger formation.

Recent excavations at Salisbury Plain in southern England have revealed at least two other large stone formations, a group of stones at the site of an ancient timber circle and even a sandstone, ritual burial mound.

The first monument - a 9.2-foot-long (2.8-meter-long) sarsen stone - was found lying in a field next to the River Avon, 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) east of Stonehenge, which is located near the modern-day city of Salisbury (United Kingdom map). The riverside sarsen - large sandstone blocks that occur naturally in southern England - had been stood upright, archaeologists say, like the blocks that form the main structure of Stonehenge.

Colin Richards of Manchester University and Joshua Pollard of Bristol University led the excavation team at the site. They found the hole that originally held the stone dug between 2500 and 2000 B.C., as well as human remains and artifacts from that time period. Pollard said the partially cremated remains of two people were found next to the stone – one a large male with an unburnt vertebrae suggesting he was at least six feet tall.

"Seemingly he was so big, they weren't able to cremate him properly," the archaeologist noted. "The unburnt bone is the product of that poor process of cremation."

Some of the artifacts recovered include stone knives and arrowheads, a piece of limestone carved into the shape of a megalith, two pottery bowls and a rare rock crystal. The crystal find is the earliest known example from Britain and possibly came from as far away as the Alps, Pollard said.

Archaeologists have suggested that other prehistoric burials in the area were connected to mainland Europe, Pollard added.

Such a connection ties in with theories that Stonehenge was an important pilgrimage destination or a place where people traveled in the hope of miracle cures. (Related: "Pagans Get Support in Battle Over Stonehenge" [October 31, 2002].)

The megalithic burial site could also support theories that link Stonehenge and other standing stones to ancestor worship and commemorating the dead, Pollard added.

Woodhenge

Pollard's team also found new evidence for stone settings at Woodhenge, a site 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) northeast of Stonehenge where a timber circle was constructed in about 2200 B.C. He said excavations in the 1920s hinted a stone monument may once have been present at the site.

"We were able to confirm last summer that there had been standing stones -some very considerable stones -at Woodhenge."

While only fragments of the formation were found, the holes the stones were set in suggest the blocks stood up to 3 meters (9.8 feet) tall, Pollard said. The team also found evidence for two phases of stone settings that probably came after the timber circle had rotted, he added.

"Four smaller stones were replaced by two much bigger sarsen settings, so it goes from a timber monument to being a megalithic monument, albeit not on the same scale as Stonehenge."

The research team says there is now enough evidence from old maps and ancient sources to suggest there were yet other similar monuments near Stonehenge. Such monuments would have had an important connection to Stonehenge, as the primary monument. The stones and artifacts buried alongside the satellite monuments may have also played a symbolic role in spreading the authority of Stonehenge into the wider landscape.

Martha Jette

marthajette@yahoo.com

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