Stonehenge

Ishtar · Post by **Ishtar** » Wed May 28, 2008 8:03 am

Digit wrote: As to why roof the structure? Try visiting SH during the winter! Cold, wet, windy and bleak!

Or the English summer, for that matter! Maybe it was an early Wimbledon?

Post by **Minimalist** » Wed May 28, 2008 8:04 am

I was in London in October and the weather was simply spectacular. I think you people tell lies about the climate to keep tourists out!

Ishtar · Post by **Ishtar** » Wed May 28, 2008 8:05 am

That's what we call an Indian summer. Happens every other leap year...

Digit · Post by **Digit** » Wed May 28, 2008 9:13 am

Min! It's P---ing down at the moment and has been for 4 days! It's no rumour mate!

Post by **Minimalist** » Wed May 28, 2008 9:29 am

Uh-huh.

Digit · Post by **Digit** » Thu May 29, 2008 12:34 pm

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,, ... 54,00.html

The latest on the SH complex.
And so much for the statement a few months ago, which we on this forum questioned, that there was no evidence of habitation in the area.

Ishtar · Post by **Ishtar** » Thu May 29, 2008 1:03 pm

So it was orginally the mausoleum for one family?

Must have been some powerful family.

Post by **MichelleH** » Thu May 29, 2008 1:09 pm

Here's another take from today's news:

Stonehenge may have been royal cemetery

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080529/sc_ ... c1gWkE1vAI

And from direct from Pearson himself:

Stonehenge Riverside Project

http://www.shef.ac.uk/archaeology/research/stonehenge

Ishtar · Post by **Ishtar** » Thu May 29, 2008 1:22 pm

Now we just have to work out who was top dog in the British Isles around the year 3,000 BC.

Digit · Post by **Digit** » Thu May 29, 2008 2:02 pm

So it was orginally the mausoleum for one family?

Personal opinion! I doubt it!
Britain has a tradition of powerful people building religious edifices along with a dedication to themselves and with space reserved for their family burials, but there is no tradition for keeping the Hoi Polloi out! Why would people commit so much time to such an elaborate structure and then be excluded?
Granted this seems to have been the case in Egypt, but unless Christianity changed people's culture this was not so here.

Ishtar · Post by **Ishtar** » Thu May 29, 2008 2:15 pm

Absolutely agree... it doesn't fit with what we know about how Neolithic people treated their dead. The more they honoured them, the more they kept them close - usually just underneath the floors of the main living rooms. They liked to keep their ancestors around as part of their lives - not shut away, miles away from them on 'consecrated ground'.

Digit · Post by **Digit** » Thu May 29, 2008 2:20 pm

And you'd think Ish that 'experts' would be taking that into account when they start spouting their ideas wouldn't you?

Ishtar · Post by **Ishtar** » Thu May 29, 2008 2:27 pm

Digit wrote:And you'd think Ish that 'experts' would be taking that into account when they start spouting their ideas wouldn't you?

You would, Dig, except that that would be a triumph of hope over experience.

Rokcet Scientist · Post by **Rokcet Scientist** » Fri May 30, 2008 3:41 am

And the BBC's take:

"Stonehenge 'a long-term cemetery'"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7426195.stm

Ishtar · Post by **Ishtar** » Fri May 30, 2008 4:53 am

Ishtar wrote:Absolutely agree... it doesn't fit with what we know about how Neolithic people treated their dead. The more they honoured them, the more they kept them close - usually just underneath the floors of the main living rooms. They liked to keep their ancestors around as part of their lives - not shut away, miles away from them on 'consecrated ground'.

I have started a thread to give more detail about this in the Mythology section, entitled Ancient Ritual Burial Practices:

http://archaeologica.boardbot.com/viewtopic.php?t=1737