Europe

Stonehenge Older than the Pyramids!

We hired a driver to take us to Stonehenge about 1.5 hours from London (without traffic at 7am) in the middle of a very open unpopulated area. When we arrived for our 2+ hour visit our driver left us with one thought, “Don’t believe anything you hear, see or read here, it’s all lies. No one really knows why this is here or what it is … it's 5,000+ years old”. First we found out that the Stonehenge area has “postholes and barrows” that date to 8000 BC and then you arrive at the famous site of what was built between 2200 and 3000 BC.

Spirituality was at the heart of Stonehenge from the start and you can get that feeling as you quietly walk around and learn about this interesting time in history. The Neolithic and Bronze Age people put an enormous effort into building this extraordinary structure, despite the fact that it serves no known “practical function” … maybe it was a place to pray.

Many theories have been put forward over the years about the purpose of Stonehenge. Stonehenge was built to align with the sun on the solstices. On the summer solstice, the sun rises behind the Heel Stone in the north-east part of the horizon and its first rays shine into the heart of Stonehenge (we were there a few days before the solstice but their site allows a live live of the solstice and a lot of interesting background https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/place… ). On the winter solstice, the sun sets to the south-west of the stone circle.
The sarsen stones, put up in at the center of the site in about 2500 BC, were carefully placed to line up with the movements of the sun, which you can see reflected on the tallest uprights (which are connected by the famous horizontal lintel) although many of the stones that were set in place to highlight the summer arrival may be gone.

Recent excavations across the Avenue (the road that leads to the riverbanks) have found that this may have lead to the placement of Stonehenge where the sun/moon worship and passage of time would be highlighted. This allowed them to know when to grow crops and tend to animals, etc. With Winter considered a fearful time could also be measured.

Around 2500 BC bluestones were set up in the center of the monument in a circle. Later the sarens (vertical stones weighing 20-30 tons and 20 feet high) were put in an outer ring and then the horizontal ones with the same weights had to balance above them. The sounds that are created by their placement could amplify sound. They did this without modern equipment!

Preservation and restoration began in 1897 with protection of the area and building roads to Stonehenge. The actual site was privately owned until 1918. Beginning in 1927, the National Trust began to acquire the land around Stonehenge to preserve it and restore it to grassland. From 2000-2009 many areas in the surrounding were excavated and ruin and bones found there tells a lot about the people that lived there and the animal sacrifices they did at Stonehenge. Research continues and just this year there have been new discoveries regarding the origins of the Alter stone and where it came from at least 450 miles away!

Whether it was simply a clock and calendar for the people to live by or a Temple for worship and healing, people believe it was a period in the World of cultural unification as the stones came from so far and required so many thousands of people in order to collaborate on this project. It was a time of PEACE in the World.

I would be remiss if I didnt mention rock legend, Sting and his wife, Trudie Styler have owned the 16th century manor house, named Lake House in Wiltshire since 1990 right near Stonehenge and the River Avon, in over 800 acres of land and features a recording studio, wine cellar and organic farm. “The Ten Summoner's” and later albums with “Field of Gold” are inspired by the surrounding fields and meadows.Read more