The mystery of Stonehenge used to be a “ how ” thing . Visitors and scientists wondered how citizenry 4500 year ago draw extremely heavy rock over 200 nautical mile from their Welsh quarry to the fabled pagan holy place . But now it ’s been established that there were many ways that locals might have gotten the rocks into place using comparatively primitive tools . The question now is “ why . ” Why this place ? And also , when exactly was the spot established ? A Modern archeological gibe at Stonehenge — the first in half a century — is already providing hints .
Mostly , the dig will allow researcher to get more careen fragments that they hope to carbon copy date . harmonize to the Independent :
The two - week projection will examine to instal the accurate geological dating of the “ Double Bluestone Circle ” , the first pit social structure to have been erected at the land site thousands of old age ago . . . “ The bluestone hold the key to understanding the purpose and meaning of Stonehenge , ” said Dr Simon Thurley , the principal executive director of English Heritage . “ Their arrival marked a turningpoint in the history of Stonehenge , exchange the internet site from being a fairly stock formative henge with timber structures and occasional use for interment , to the complex stone bodily structure whose remains overlook the site today . ”
The bluestones are rude tower of bloodless - spotted dolerite , found only in the Carn Menyn region of the Preseli Hills , in north Pembrokeshire , and it was from there , about 4,500 class ago , that Stonehenge ’s neolithic builder brought 80 of the stone the 160 - mile journeying from south - west Wales to Salisbury Plain . The intellect why they did so , archaeologists debate , bind the winder to Stonehenge ’s existence .
A current and pop hypothesis today is that the Preseli Hills were mark with streams and pools that many believed to have healing prop . Hence its rock-and-roll would have been view as particularly sacred . It ’s also possible that Stonehenge was originally built near a spring that has since changed course .
Researchers now also believe that Stonehenge may have been a popular destination among Romans as well as local tribes . Again from the Independent :
A classical fable associated with the Greek Oracle of Delphi may also be relevant to Stonehenge ’s past . The fable express that the oracle at Delphi serve for only part of the year because , for three calendar month around the winter solstice , the website ’s oracular god ( the sun god Apollo ) went to the “ land of the hyperboreans ” ( literally “ the commonwealth of the people beyond the north wind ! ” ) , which is generally believe to be Britain . Significantly , Stonehenge is aligned with the winter as well as the summertime solstice .
It ’s improbable that carbon paper dating the bluestones will help solve this brain-teaser , but it will give scientists a adept sense of when the first rocks were place at Stonehenge . And , quite peradventure , closer study of the rocks will unwrap something special about them that until now had remain hidden . picture by Kirsty Wigglesworth / AP .
The Secret of Stonehenge[Independent ]
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