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Stonehenge

Sid said:
*See 'Yithians' post (above! #832)
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The stones do not come from Orkney, of course.
They come from Ireland as Jeffery on Monmouth explains in detail in his "Account of Stonehenge".
https://books.google.it/books?id=Ny..._ge_summary_r&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false


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A description of Stonehenge on Salisbury plain ...​

 
The August edition looks interesting:

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The website has this:

Stonehenge and the moon: Exploring a Neolithic monument’s lunar links​

Stonehenge is famous for its association with the sun, and particularly with the summer and winter solstices – but did the movement of the moon also influence its design? Carly Hilts spoke to Dr Amanda Chadburn and Dr Heather Sebire about an ongoing project exploring the impact of a once-in-a-generation lunar event.

‘Once in a blue moon’ is a phrase used to express something that happens very rarely. In fact, the phenomenon is not as uncommon as the idiom implies, appearing roughly every 33 months. Rather less frequent, and much less well known, though, is another moon-related event known as a Major Lunar Standstill, which takes place every 18.6 years. While such subjects might sound more astronomical than archaeological, there is an intriguing link with one of Britain’s most famous ancient monuments. Stonehenge is best-known for its solar alignments, attracting huge crowds to witness the interaction of sun and sarsens during the summer and winter solstices. It has also been suggested, however, that some elements of its design were deliberately sited to align with the moon, specifically during a Major Lunar Standstill – and, with one such event taking place in 2024 and 2025, a team of archaeologists are hoping to shed more (moon)light on the matter.

If you got up to watch the sunrise every morning, you might notice that the point on the eastern horizon where the sun appears gradually shifts over the course of the year. This movement reaches its northern limit at the summer solstice, before heading back in the other direction and reaching its southern limit six months later at the winter solstice, before the cycle begins again. The position of the moonrise changes too, but on a much shorter cycle, moving from northern to southern extreme in around 27 days. (It is also more difficult to chart, as its timing varies dramatically and is invisible to the naked eye when it takes place in daylight.) At the same time, these northern and southern limits are themselves moving, albeit much more gradually, and the point when they are furthest apart, achieved every 18.6 years, is known as a Major Lunar Standstill.

Continues At Length:
https://the-past.com/feature/stonehenge-and-the-moon-exploring-a-neolithic-monuments-lunar-links/
 
Some of you may have watched Channel Four's Stonehenge documentary tonight. Some of you may have been as incensed as I was at the usage of AI imagery throughout. (And, personally, referring to my beloved aurochs as "prehistoric monsters", the bloody cheek). But mostly the AI.

For no particular reason, here is the telephone number for Channel Four complaints: 03450760191
 
Apropos of them there gurt stones, I had another double viewing of them today, being driven by Mr J on one of our trips eastward. Once in the morning grey misty drizzle and once as deeper black silhouettes against the dark skies with no road lamp posts. I love the latter especially!

I am always glad that EH doesn't light them up once dusk creeps in.

In my comfy heated co-pilot's seat of the J-mobile I can fancy I am seeing them as literally hundreds of generations have already done. I might feel differently if I was freezing my bum off on a winter's night in Anglo-Saxon times whilst trekking across the plain, mind.
 
The Prehistory Guys on YouTube do a very good analysis of the current research. They take exception to Prof Mike Parker=Pearson's assumptions about the stones, but I thought they were a little harsh, as the report (as far as I can tell as yet unpublished, so their remarks are all having to be based on the press release) mostly says 'could have been' rather than 'definitely was'.

I think this is the right episode, apologies if not, I can't check as the dog is asleep and will get up demanding a walk if she hears it...
 
Was Stonehenge a phallic temple? New study suggests key stone represents a giant penis

New research suggests that, as well as being a probable centre for the veneration of the Sun, Stonehenge was also a fertility temple.

A detailed study of a partly buried fallen stone at the monument has revealed that it may have been sculpted to resemble a giant penis.

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Stone 67

The research carried out by Professor Terence Meaden, an archaeologist and retired physicist, suggests that when the stone had stood upright, it would have looked like a 2.6 metre erect male member, equipped at its upper end with an 80-centimetre long glans or bulbous tip.

Professor Meaden, who taught physics at universities in France and Canada and studied archaeology at Oxford, has examined the stone in detail - and has concluded that its shape was deliberately altered in order to give it a phallic appearance.

https://apple.news/AtiaKeRHiRt2Kc1jQ0F14lA

maximus otter
 
maximus otter said:
Was Stonehenge a phallic temple? New study suggests key stone represents a giant penis

New research suggests that, as well as being a probable centre for the veneration of the Sun, Stonehenge was also a fertility temple.

A detailed study of a partly buried fallen stone at the monument has revealed that it may have been sculpted to resemble a giant penis.

IMG_5104.JPG


Stone 67

The research carried out by Professor Terence Meaden, an archaeologist and retired physicist, suggests that when the stone had stood upright, it would have looked like a 2.6 metre erect male member, equipped at its upper end with an 80-centimetre long glans or bulbous tip.

Professor Meaden, who taught physics at universities in France and Canada and studied archaeology at Oxford, has examined the stone in detail - and has concluded that its shape was deliberately altered in order to give it a phallic appearance.

https://apple.news/AtiaKeRHiRt2Kc1jQ0F14lA

maximus otter
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Would that be Terence Meaden the crop circle guy?!
 
Today's summer solstice attracted a crowd estimated at around 25,000 ish, certainly it was a way to cool off after the local temperatures have been reaching 30c!

Instead of paying an entrance fee, one pays to park instead, others walk or cycle in from nearby villages and towns. This year the A303 was closed on the immediate Stonehenge stretch to allow for it.

Short clip of the scenes today:

 
AnonyJ said:
Today's summer solstice attracted a crowd estimated at around 25,000 ish, certainly it was a way to cool off after the local temperatures have been reaching 30c!

Instead of paying an entrance fee, one pays to park instead, others walk or cycle in from nearby villages and towns. This year the A303 was closed on the immediate Stonehenge stretch to allow for it.

Short clip of the scenes today:

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I'm wondering if the overhead horizontal stones were originally meant to be used as a kind of privileged viewing platform, so that they had a clearer view of the event away from the people around and below the henge stones?
 
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Sid said:
I'm wondering if the overhead horizontal stones were originally meant to he used as a kind of privileged viewing platform, so that they had a clearer view of the event away from the people around and below the henge stones?
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I think they probably supported a roof, not that this necessarily prevents them from providing a viewing platform as well.
 
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charliebrown said:
From what I read since 1901 to 1964 the stones where taken off the ground and put up.

How did the workers know where to put the stones back. ?
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A total of five stones, (three uprights and two lintels) all of which had fallen since the late eighteenth century, were re-erected.
About half the others were lifted out of their holes and put back in concrete.
The locations of all were known.

There's a ridiculous conspiracy theory about Stonehenge having been "rebuilt" in the twentieth century. It's not true.
Other ancient monuments (Avebury for instance) had far more done.
 
The health officials were worried about heat sickness at Stonehenge this year as the temperature was an unusual 33 C or about 92 F.

The Met is thinking the UK will have future heatwaves this summer.
 
charliebrown said:
From what I read since 1901 to 1964 the stones where taken off the ground and put up.

How did the workers know where to put the stones back. ?
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(Floyd) The huge holes in the ground might have been a clue.


LOL, but to be fair Floyd, I think Charlie was instead talking about the how they knew where to place the stones back exactly correctly on top of the formation :).
 
Swifty said:
(Floyd) The huge holes in the ground might have been a clue.


LOL, but to be fair Floyd, I think Charlie was instead talking about the how they knew where to place the stones back exactly correctly on top of the formation :).
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By the position of the two huge uprights that you've just put back into the two huge holes in the ground?
 
Floyd said:
By the position of the two huge uprights that you've just put back into the two huge holes in the ground?
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I still reckon Stonehenge is just ancient scaffolding and the lads all got laid off before the job was finished. (an old joke, not mine, could be true though)

Time to blow the dust off this winner again ..

 
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