OFF: Stonehenge Who Knows?

[J Strobridge]

The Automind writes:

> >It can't be proven, sadly, but there are suggestions that
> >the way henges and stone circles are laid out it is possible that
> >whole sections could have been closed off with curtains to restrict
> >access to form a kind of labyrinth where only certain authoritarian
> >figures would have been permitted access to specific areas while
> >everyone else was kept well away from the action.
>
> There's reason to believe that stone circles were an integrated part of
> community life, rather than fantastic temples to be looked at by the
> general population from a distance.
>
> When early airplanes flew over Stonhenge, pilots noticed that spots of
> its closely surrounding terrain contrasted sharply in terms of shade and
> color- due to differences in soil types which caused differences in the
> vegetation of these areas. The most obvious explanation for this is that
> the soil had been cultivated, meaning that farmers were working right
> next to the sacred Stonhenge every day, and their families dwelling
> places were either there as well, or not far off. Whether or not these
> people are the same ones who built the monument is probably in question.
> (recently out of school, too lazy to do research!)

This is the important point!   The area has been cultivated on and off
for thousands of years - both arable and pasture and it is not going
to be possible from aerial observations to say whether that such
cultivation is earlier, contemporary or later.    However many other
henges across the country have been looked at with the possibility of
"zoning off" areas within the henge perimeters and it is considered not
unlikely that something like this was done but, as I say, impossible to
prove.   However the interesting thing about henges is that the ditches
are on the *inside* of the bank whereas in a defensive structure like a
fort the ditches are on the outside (to make the bank steeper to
attack).   Since this is obviously not a defensive measure the
suggestion is that the henge bank was some kind of viewing arena where
the general hoi-polloi were allowed to stand.  The ditch in front of them
would delineate the central area to which access was usually permitted
by two opposing causeways on either side of the henge (sometimes only
one) while the central area of wooden posts or stones could be curtained
off by screens if necessary - or left open for all to view.   Whatever.
It's all Spekulation anyhow until someone invents the Time Machine.
Sigh.

Yrs archaeologically

jill

> > a Telly Tubby"
> I gotta see those things! I've heard that in the US now, but have never
> seen them. Probably because they're on at 5 or 6 in the morning.

Uh-oh!  They are clearly much too subversive for primetime viewing 8-)
Telly Tubby bye-bye
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J.D.Strobridge at ed.ac.uk                         eset08 at holyrood.ed.ac.uk
                                                ELIJSA at srv0.arts.ed.ac.uk
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