World History
Related: About this forumStonehenge may be a rebuilt stone circle from Wales
Five thousand years after Stonehenge was built, archaeologists have finally pinpointed exactly where the bluestones that form part of the imposing UK monument came from and how they were unearthed. The researchers revealed in 2019 the stones came from an ancient quarry on the north side of the Preseli Hills in western Wales, which meant the 43 huge bluestones had been moved a staggering distance of 150 miles.
Now, archaeologists have said they think some of the bluestones first formed another stone circle close to the same area as the quarries and were dismantled and rebuilt as part of Stonehenge on the Salisbury Plain. The identical 110-meter diameters of the stone circle, known as Waun Mawn, and the enclosing ditch of Stonehenge, suggest that at least part of the circle was brought from its location in Wales to Salisbury Plain, according to new research published in the journal Antiquity.
What's more, both stone circles are aligned on the midsummer solstice sunrise, and one of the bluestones at Stonehenge has an unusual cross-section that matches one of the holes left at Waun Mawn, the paper said. Chippings in that hole are of the same rock type as the Stonehenge stone, it added.
Some 43 bluestones survive today at Stonehenge, though many of these remain buried beneath the grass. They were thought to have been the first to be erected at Stonehenge 5,000 years ago, centuries before the larger sarsen stones were brought over just 15 miles from the monument.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/11/europe/stonehenge-wales-stone-circle-scn/index.html
Chainfire
(17,757 posts)We tend to think of the people of the time to be less than sophisticated than today. It is just not true, they just didn't have the extra few thousand years of experience to draw on. If the species is still around a few thousand years from now, it would be interesting to know how they would view us. Between us and 5,000 years in the future, there is likely to be another dark age that could wipe out most of our history.
Assuming that the future folks will be able to put together the pieces of the puzzle they will say, "Those dumb bastards poisoned themselves. They must have been a sub-species of idiots."
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)...that our ancestors did. It's difficult to even imagine how they could spend so much time studying and building giant things, given the conditions they lived in.
Nitram
(24,611 posts)objects using only wood, rope, and rock.
Chainfire
(17,757 posts)ProudMNDemocrat
(19,058 posts)I felt an aura when I there. A feeling undescribable, but very real. When one looks at them, there are the questions like.. How did people get them to this place? How did they get up like that?
A very mystical place. So glad I took so many good photos.
tavernier
(13,258 posts)I sometimes still dream about walking around that circle. It stays with you.
TomVilmer
(1,854 posts)wnylib
(24,405 posts)those stones from Wales to Salisbury. What a feat!
Nitram
(24,611 posts)Full Disclosure: my grandfather was Welsh.
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)Well,
that's all the proof we need.
bucolic_frolic
(46,995 posts)that I surely can't find again, that delved into the surrounding topography, the causeway, the river and the stones at that juncture, and showed how you would debark from the river, and follow the causeway uphill, and only at the last moment over the crest of the hill see the entire Stonehenge structure. They thought it a place for religious pilgrimages, perhaps part entertainment with monetary motives.
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)I saw a documentary, maybe PBS, that said there was an annual festival at Stonehenge.
They found evidence from old trash piles.
And from what was found they believed people came from all over the British Isles, walking for days,
and driving herds of domesticated animals to be slaughtered there.
Some of the animals were only raised at the time in what is now most northern Scotland, or Ireland.
Tribes (?) may have been at war with each other during the year but held a truce for the festival.
bucolic_frolic
(46,995 posts)ailsagirl
(23,802 posts)Thanks for posting 👍👍
BootinUp
(49,023 posts)We dont know about these ancients.
Archetypist
(218 posts)Loki Liesmith
(4,602 posts)Link to tweet
?s=21
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)Musk tweeted follow-up messages after his initial tweet.
"The Great Pyramid was the tallest structure made by humans for 3800 years. Three thousand, eight hundred years," he tweeted, sharing a Wikipedia link about the Great Pyramid of Giza.
He also shared a BBC article, which he said "provides a sensible summary for how it was done."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/08/02/spacex-ceo-elon-musk-tweets-aliens-pyramids-egypt-responds/5568089002/