Stonehenge Was A Hospital. Not a fortress, or a temple, or a calendar.

[Dover]

The new archaeological theory as to why huge monoliths were dragged from Wales to Salisbury Plain is utterly convincing

Simon Jenkins
Friday December 1, 2006
The Guardian

The Stonehenge mystery is solved. I always knew there was something odd about the "Amesbury archer". He died circa 2300BC and was rediscovered near the henge in Wiltshire in 2002, one of the most sensational prehistoric corpses ever found. His hair was laced with gold, the earliest found in England. His grave contained traces of fine clothes and implements of archery and copper-working. Analysis of his bones and teeth revealed that he came from central Europe, probably Switzerland, with possessions from Spain and France. Was this evidence of invasion? Was the Amesbury archer a Beaker lord of Stonehenge and were foreigners perhaps responsible for moving its giant bluestones from Wales?

One thing about the archer was strange. He was missing a kneecap, requiring him to walk with one leg rigid. Bone deterioration suggested that the deformity took place years before his death. He was an improbable warrior, more likely a rich trader. Besides, near him lay a younger male revealed (such being the wonders of science) as a close relative brought up in south-east England. So what was this wealthy but disabled man doing in the shadow of Stonehenge, far from his and his putative son's birthplace?
Cut to the hallowed meeting room of the Society of Antiquaries in London last October. It was packed with excited Stonehenge pundits (the serious ones), gathered to hear news from the front. The origin of Stonehenge is British archaeology's oldest unsolved mystery, its Fermat's last theorem. How the four-ton bluestones were brought to Salisbury Plain from the Preseli hills of south Wales has been answered by engineers, but nobody has found out why.

Why go to the colossal expense of such transportation, when Stonehenge's sandstone monoliths were dragged from down the road at Marlborough? What was so special about the bluestones? To this the Gog and Magog of Stonehenge studies, Professors Geoff Wainwright and Timothy Darvill, were to give their answer. Theirs was archaeology's noblest endeavour, to pull the sword of meaning from the stone of time...cont'd

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1961516,00.html

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Early Sketch of Stonehenge Found

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1957748,00.html

[Infinite Hope]

1. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. n/t

[Dover]

2. An ancient predecessor of healing temples such as found in Greece?

Like at Epidauros? The large Anasazi and native American pueblos, the Mayan, etc.?

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..True its architecture is dominated by astronomical calculations, implying a priesthood and time-related rituals. But this would have meant nothing to ordinary mortals. What drew them to Stonehenge from across Europe must have been specific, a reputation for relief from disease and disability.
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First, I seriously doubt that astronomical events "meant nothing" to the average person during that period. Quite the contrary. And I don't see that as being distinct from the healing aspects associated with that place or its stones. Such irreverance as the author displays is precisely why we have lost or ignored important knowledge from our more ancient past as though it was somehow naive and unsophisticated. Apparently this author thinks astronomy and the precision and enormity of the construction of pyramids, plumbing systems, extensive travel across land and ocean for trade, etc. was child's play. I'd like to see him design one of those structures. Maybe...just maybe...there IS much to be learned. But ignorance due to such arrogance is the modern man's curse.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. Good points

you said it better than I could. I share your sentiments.

[chknltl]

3. As good if not better an explanation as any. Thanks n/t

[tanyev]

5. Interesting. Kick to read later.

[elehhhhna]

6. This thread would not be complete w/o a photo of the pocket-stonehenge from Spinal Tap...

[BattyDem]

7. LOL ... I was just thinking of that!

:rofl:

That stupid song is going to be stuck in my head all day! :crazy:

Everybody sing along ....

Stonehenge, where the demons dwell
Where the banshees live
and they do live well
Stonehenge
Where a man is a man
and the children dance to
the pipes of pan ...





All kidding aside ... that's a very interesting theory. It makes sense, but it's funny that it's taken all this time for someone to come up with a practical explanation for Stonehenge. It's as if no one ever wanted to admit the possibility of a non-mystical reason for its existence. Whatever it is, I still think it's really cool! B-)

[Nihil]

8. No more convincing than any other hypothesis

That's like saying Lourdes has been a hospital for hundreds of years
whereas the truth is that it has been a place of religious pilgrimage
of special interest to the sick.

Still, it's nice to hear a new opinion now & then.