WHAT IS THE MEANING OF STONEHENGE?
Report Overview
This report will give an in depth look at Stonehenge and use todays available evidence and theories to conclude the meaning of Stonehenge. It will discuss its location, who built it and how, its purpose, its discovery and the myths and legends formulated around it and its significance, from the time is was made to today.
Introduction
Stonehenge is one of the words greatest mysteries as we have limited definite knowledge of its origins, its meaning or how the mighty stones were lifted. The only thing we can ever be entirely sure about is the location of Stonehenge. This is because radiocarbon dating on the stones shows us that Stonehenge came from around 5000 years ago - a time period before writing and recording information. There are many different theories behind the creation of Stonehenge and its significance – still today; historians do not have evidence to show who built it. Stonehenge has always been one of the words biggest questions, therefore leading to large amounts of speculations from different scientists, historians and archaeologists. But first we must know what a henge is, according to Dictionary.com a henge is “a Neolithic monument of the British Isles, consisting of a circular area enclosed by a bank and ditch and often containing additional features including one or more circles of upright stone or wood pillars: probably used for ritual purposes or for marking astronomical events, as solstices and equinoxes.”
Where is it located?
Stonehenge is located in Wiltshire, England, which is around 3km west from Amesbury and around 13km north of Salisbury. Amesbury is famous for Stonehenge as it is the closest town to the site. The land around Amesbury has be settled...
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...d and taken into the afterlife.
TEMPLE
Many who study Stonehenge believe that it was used as a place of worship. What was being worshiped is unknown but many believe it was a link with the sun or moon Gods. Originally the Druids were given the credit of building Stonehenge for the purpose of a temple, but after research showed that the Druids inhabited the area thousands of years after Stonehenge was built, we know this was not it’s original purpose. But as the Druids came from a time where history began to be recorded we know that they did use the structure as a part of their worship.
UFOS
As people are constantly trying to create explanations for the unknown, the complexity of the site has brought people to believe that man could not have built it. Since man could not have made this structure, the next obvious conclusion would be that aliens built it.
Stonehenge: a Human Vulva or Temple, or something else…? The content of this project is based on the largest and most complete megalithic structure in Europe, The Stonehenge. It resides in center of the southern England; on the wide spread Salisbury Plains. It is said to be old approximately four thousand years, and it is even considered older than the Great Pyramids of Egypt.
Woodhenge is a circle of wooden posts that had been put into the ground, forming what is believed to be a calendar. Some people believe that this solar calendar was formed to possibly help the people of Cahokia with knowing when to plant and harvest their crops that they grew. (Hurst, 1994) There is evidence that these large wooden stakes had been replaced multiple times which could be evidence that there could have been some sort of conflict that took place in Cahokia that had lead to the destruction of Woodhenge at some point in the history of the
The presence of the past is everywhere. One does not have to look very far to realize that the past has quite an influence on the present. In fact, there are a few examples of modern works of art at the University of California, San Diego, that bring to mind architectural works of the past. One such example is the La jolla Project, which is a collection of stone blocks on top of a hill on the Revelle College lawn south of Galbraith Hall. The isolated groups of blocks refer to architectural elements such as columns, posts, lintels, windows, and doors; but the collection, as a whole, resembles a modern reconstruction of Stonehenge. The La Jolla Project and Stonehenge differ from each other in many ways, but they also share some striking silmilarities that are constant reminders that the past is very much a part of modern life.
5. Howe, Helen, and Robert T. Howe. From the Ancient and Medieval Worlds. N.p.: Longman, 1992. Print.
However, that meaning is not always known. It is believed that Stonehenge was most likely made to bring people of a community together as well as to mark a place where individuals could gather to perform rituals, although many theories about why it was built and the purpose it serves exist. For example, recent studies show that the monument may mark the graveyard of a ruling dynasty. There is evidence of over 200 cremated human remains that have been buried at the site within a period of 500 years. Some evidence suggests the site may have been a piece in a larger series of structures used for funerary rituals. The only thing that is knows for sure “is that Stonehenge held meaning for the Neolithic community that built it”
Stonehenge was a stone structure established a long time ago by civilizations before the Druid age. More than 4,000 years ago, the people of the Neolithic period supposedly decided to build a massive monument using earth, timber and eventually, stones.They placed it high on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England about 137 kilometres southwest of London. The purpose to build Stonehenge still remains a mystery. Stonehenge could have been a temple, an astronomical calendar, or a guide to the heavens. Stonehenge acts as a prehistoric timepiece, allowing us to speculate on what it would have been like during the Neolithic Period, and who could have built this megalithic wonder.
The Parthenon is an amazing Greek temple that was built 2,500 years ago. Even the architects of today have numerous questions about how it was constructed and how it has held up through its eventful past. The Parthenon's detailed appearance is not its only meaningful quality. The Parthenon was constructed as a temple to the goddess, Athena, and as an icon of the Greek people themselves. The Parthenon represents the Greek ideals of humanism, idealism, and rationalism.
The Greeks, Usborne Publishing, London Woodford, Susan (1981) The Parthenon Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Beard, Mary (2002) The Parthenon Profile Books, London Bibliography – Websites = ==
English American author and journalist, Christopher Eric Hitchens, asserts his opinion on the unification, or lack thereof, of the Parthenon in his adaptation of his essay, “The Lovely Stones,” published in the July of 2009. Hitchens informs his readers, the modern youth, about the importance of this topic, and wants said readers to sympathize with his point and to do something to fix a travesty. Hitchens conveys a disappointed then hopeful tone to highlight his desire for a unification of the scattered pieces of the Parthenon. Hitchens also uses anecdotes from the Parthenon’s history to fortify the importance of this union.
Behind every great structure in the world, there are the people who made them, and who took the time and effort to design them. Those who made Stonehenge succeeded in creating an incredibly complex and mysterious structure that lived on long after its creators were dead. The many aspects of Stonehenge and the processes by which it was built reveal much about the intelligence and sophistication of the civilizations that designed and built the monument, despite the fact that it is difficult to find out who exactly these people were. They have left very little evidence behind with which we could get a better idea of their everyday lives, their culture, their surroundings, and their affairs with other peoples. The technology and wisdom that are inevitably required in constructing such a monument show that these prehistoric peoples had had more expertise than expected.
Stonehenge is located on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England. It is a megalithic monument built during the Neolithic Period, approximately between 2750 and 1500 B.C..(Stokstad, p.54-55) The builders of this magnificent monument remain unknown although it was once incorrectly thought to have been built by the Druids.(Balfour)
When someone approaches Newgrange, the first thing that he will notice is the mound shape of the passage tomb and the captivating white quartz wall. The quartz wall is nearly 3 meters high, making it sharply contrast with the grassed over mound that the wall was built to contain. It should be noted that this wall is in fact a modern construction based off of Cork archaeologist, M.J. O’Kelly’s extensive research of the passage tomb. This is the subject of immense debate, which will be further addressed at a later point. 97 kerbstones, which are typically accepted as being a part of the original structure, also surround and support the mound. Although some of the kerbstones remain unexposed, the presence of all of them is quite remarkable. “None are missing and the only human intervention since their original placement has been to erect those that h...
The Parthenon was built during the Golden age in Athens, Greece. The Parthenon is made of mainly columns; there is a 9:4 ratio. It was almost destroyed in war; the ruins that remained were dedicated to Athena. The purpose of the Parthenon was to house the statue of Athena, made of ivory and gold, and also Athena’s treasure. The ratios and the equations used to make the Parthenon were used as a sign of the harmony in the natural world around us. The mathematical harmony in the world shows how we can work with the world rather than destroy to make it what we want. The Parthenon also has no straight lines. The columns of the Parthenon are angled going up getting smaller the higher they get. This was done so that you could get the best lighting
There are some, however, who have speculated as to what the giant stone structure could have been constructed for. Theories such as observatory, burial grounds, temple, and others are much debated among those who care to look into these matters. Among those who do not care to question its existence, Stonehenge is just a large pile of huge stones that happen to make a circle. No matter which side a person might take, there is no definite way to prove what Stonehenge was used for. There is no way to know because there are no written records of the construction of Stonehenge, there are not even depictive carvings on the stones themselves that suggest a purpose to the massive
In my opinion, based on my understanding from the Stonehenge article and the video in class, the meaning behind the Stonehenge monument was used to perform sacred rituals. People somehow wanted to know where the deity is so they created an idea of a place to connect with the deity and honor the lives that were lost by doing a burial in the monument. These sacred rituals were used to connect with each other out of respect and remembrance of the lives that were lost during those times. Stonehenge was constructed around 3100-2300 BCE and I suppose that people during those times were more connected to a deity. People must have perform these sacred rituals because it was to believe that the deity could honor the lives that were lost. Overall, Stonehenge