Have you wondered if historians ever had a connection with astronomy?In Amesbury,Wiltshire England On Salisbury plain in southern England Stand Stones as big twenty-four or more feet high.And weigh as much as thirty-seven tons, Others are smaller weighing only five tons.These stones today look different from the old wind and weather have destroyed a massive amount of the ancient Stonehenge over the ages.Stonehenge the most famous of all megalithic sites.Stonehenge is unique from other monuments of the ancient world, There has been many theories involving the relationship between Stonehenge and astronomy.There’s been theories that Stonehenge was built by ancient Neolithic men,Some people think that it was built as an astronomical clock to predict …show more content…
And for 300 hundred years that was the accepted theory.It was not until the 1950’s that the development of radiocarbon dating,it would now be possible to know when Stonehenge was built,archaeologist were amazed at what they found,the historians were totally wrong according to carbon analyze Stonehenge was built much earlier than anyone had expected , it pre-dated the Druids by some four-thousand years.It wasn't until later on many Archaeologist made theory's of the relationship between astronomy and Stonehenge.One major clue that made archaeologist predict this theory was the skeletons found on Stonehenge were Discovered position with skull pointed to the north which archaeologist believe that indicated a relationships between these Stonehenge tribes and the moon.Edward Duke was the first person too associate astronomy with Stonehenge,But it wasn’t until the second half of 20th century an astronomer Gerald Hawkins published his results on the study of
Ancient Pueblo Indians had a great understanding of astronomy. All of the pueblos in the canyon were aligned to match the movements of the sun and moon. Also, they marked their complexes with daggers and spirals to keep up with the moon cycles and sun movements. The film explains that the moon moves north for nearly ten years and then south for about ten years. To fully understand this cycle of the moon, Pueblo people had to study it for years in order to build their Pueblos in relations to it. The sun however, was different because it set and rose in the same position. The concept of building structures in an astronomical pattern this complex cannot be found anywhere 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. Standing there over such a long time, it has been the subject of research and mystery in general, for a really long time. Dozens of notable scientists, emperors and others expressed their admiration and interest through different means of explorations and excavations. There have been various theories on how it was built, and what the purpose of it was, and some of them are really intriguing and interesting such. Some thought it was built as a solar-lunar calendar, some said that it had medical purposes for the giants that had built it, it was considered a ceremonial place, temple of veneration, a portal and lastly but not less important, there were some associations of Stonehenge to the aliens. The two specific theories on the Stonehenge’s importance will be discussed and summarized in this essay. First theory comes from an astronomical stand point interpreted by Mr. Chris Witcombe, and the second theory might sound unusual when said the Stonehenge represents the human vulva, and this theory is interpreted by Anthony Perks(PhD) and Darlene Bailey(BA).
Because of the scarcity of the archaeological record at the stone rings, any attempts to
Stonehenge is located on Salisbury Plain in Southern England. Although it is not the largest henge (circle of stones) of the Neolithic Period, it is a remarkable site because it is one of the most complicated megalithic sites. Stonehenge was repeatedly reworked from 3100 to 1500 B.C.E. (Encyclopedia Brittanica 287). Each new major building phase added new elements to the site. The present-day arrangement at Stonehenge is the result of the last building phase which ended nearly 3,500 years ago.
Powell, Eric A. "Solstice at the Stones." Archaeology 56.5 (2003): 36-41. JSTOR. Web. 22 Oct. 2013. .
Stonehenge is located in Southern England on what is known as the Salisbury Plain. The structure looks different than it once did, however. Today, Stonehenge suffers the effects of time and pernicious acts by people. Originally, in the years after completion, the structure was made up of “several concentric circles of megaliths, very large stones.” (5) Stonehenge consists a circular layout of approximately one hundred megaliths. On the tops of them another flat stone was placed to make a continuous ring of horizontal stones. These structures are known as trilithons.
Stonehenge is a ruin of a stone building. Stonehenge is the oldest pre-historic structure in western Europe. The name "Stonehenge" is Saxon in origin and means hanging stones. Stonehenge is visible from around one to two miles (Chippindale 12). It has a plain structure and at first glance Stonehenge appears to be a large pile of rocks. But when looked at more closely, it is a structure of great mystery. (Abels 5).
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 first permanent stone fortifications was built in Jericho. They constructed the building using roughly shaped stones laid without mortar (Kleiner, 24). Once Jericho’s inhabitants left their site, a different group of people came to settle there. They used different techniques, “…established a farming community of rectangular mud-brick houses on stone foundations with plastered and painted floors and walls” (Kleiner, 25). The megalithic tomb in Ireland was built in the form of a passage grave. “At Newgrandge, the huge megaliths forming the vaulted passage and the dome are held in place by their own weight without mortar, each stone countering the thrust o neighboring stones. Decorating some of the megaliths are incised spirals and other motifs” (Kleiner, 27). The main chamber used early examples of corralled vaulting and in addition the Newgrandge tomb illuminates sunlight through the passage and the burial chamber during the winter solstice. Nearing the end of the fourth millennium BCE, Neolithic civilization had spread in every diffraction even to small remote areas. “…Hagar Quim is one of many constructed on Malta between 3200 and 2500 BCE” (Kleiner, 27).The builders of Malta constructed the temple by pilling cut stone blocks very carefully in stacked horizontal rows. “To construct the doorways at Hagar Qim, the builders employed the post-and-lintel system in which two upright stones
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)
Recent research from the Stonehenge Riverside Project suggests that when Stonehenge was first assembled (c2500 BC), its main purpose was to serve as a burial ground. However, it seems clear that for those who came in possession of it later on, it would have been used as a statement of power – "These are my lands, this is my construction and is an example of my wealth in resources". (Riverside, P.4).
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
There are several theories as to what Stonehenge was. These ideas range from a calendar to an astronomical observatory to sacred grounds. These inferences are based upon the shape and positions of the stones that make up the monument. Stonehenge is made up of megaliths, or giant rocks. There are two kinds of these rocks at the structure, bluestones, which are about 8,000 pounds each, and sarsen stones, which can weigh up to 100,000 pounds each (Rattini, 2008). These rocks make up a henge, a group of circular ritual structures unique to the Late Neolithic era in Britain (Pitts, 2008). The first ring is a sarsen stone circle, the next ring a smaller circle of blue stones, then an even sm...
The mysteries of Stonehenge on the Salisbury Plains of England have perplexed human-kind since the beginning of recorded history. Some of the stones weighing as much as 40 tons were said to be transferred from Wales, which was a distance of about 137 miles. With the use of radiocarbon analysis at the site of Stonehenge it has been determined that the monument was built between 3000 and 1500 BC. The original purpose of Stonehenge has been lost in the pages of time, and therefore has been a major topic of discussion for archaeologists. Since the mid 12th century archaeologist, geologists, historians, and even some authors have put forth their own opinion of when and why Stonehenge was built. Throughout this essay I shall analyse and interpret different theories on Stonehenge in an attempt to understand what we know so far. It is in the mid 1100’s that we come across our first theory on Stonehenge, given by Geoffrey of Monmouth.