'Breakthrough' at Stonehenge dig

[gateley]

Archaeologists carrying out an excavation at Stonehenge say they have broken through to a layer that may finally explain why the site was built.

The team has reached sockets that once held bluestones - smaller stones, most now missing or uprooted, which formed the site's original structure.

The researchers believe that the bluestones could reveal that Stonehenge was once a place of healing.

The dig is the first to take place at Stonehenge for more than 40 years.

The team now needs to extract organic material from these holes to date when the stones first arrived. (snip)

Professors Darvill and Wainwright say that finding out more about the history of the bluestones could be key to solving the mystery of why the 4,500-year-old landmark was erected.

They believe that the bluestones, which were transported 250km (150 miles) from the Preseli Hills in Wales to the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, were brought to the site because the ancient people believed they had healing properties.

Professor Geoffrey Wainwright said the site could have been a "Neolithic Lourdes". (snip)

More AND Videos at the link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7337292.stm

[NanceGreggs]

1. This is really cool ...

... thanks for posting!

[jobycom]

2. Cool. Ruins my belief that it was prehistoric arena for rock concerts, but I guess the truth would

be good to know.

[gateley]

4. What could possibly be more a place of healing

than an arena for rock concerts? Music is the most healing thing in the world. I think your belief has been validated!!

[jobycom]

10. Hey, you're on to something.

Music, herbs, other narcotics! You got it!

[Uncle Joe]

37. Yep, that's why they called it

Stonedhenge before the "War Against Drugs".

[jgraz]

3. Hell, why don't they just ask McCain?

See, cuz he's old and stuff.

[gateley]

5. Bwha!

:rofl:

GOD that was funny -- thanks!!

[jobycom]

11. Crude, yet effective.

:rofl:

[lonestarnot]

6. I read something recently when digging around for something on

Merlin, not the sorcerer, but another Merlin, that Merlin put them there for art purposes. Something in print of some type. I can dig if you like, but it's now tired out and o darkthirty bedtime.

[pleah]

40. Thanks for this, I love it!

Always wanted to go on a dig and find important pieces of history.
K&R:thumbsup:

[pleah]

41. Sorry wrong spot!

:blush:

[BlooInBloo]

7. Ack - why the hell are they digging the place up?

[seriousstan]

8. For knowledge instead of speculation.

[gateley]

9. They're not moving the stones --

Just looking in the area around them.

[BlooInBloo]

13. Great. Call it HoleHenge now.

[Tesha]

23. You say that now, but wait until we hear that quiet "Oopsie!" ... *THUDDD* ;-)

Followed by...

"Any of you blokes got a crane handy?"

Tesha

[melody]

15. We'll always have Foamhenge

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/VANATfoamhenge.html

That stuff will NEVER decay.

[devilgrrl]

22. And don't forget CARHENGE

[SpiralHawk]

17. "The materialists are deactivating Stonehenge. Beware." - Merlin

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

12. Thanks - I love reading about this stuff

The Carnac Stones are also very interesting, across the English Channel near the village of Carnac, in Brittany, France. Over 3,000 stones were erected. I believe that one of these stones is the largest ever found. It's now broken into four pieces but was at one time over 20 metres long and weighed 350 tons. It wasn't hewn from local rock so ancient people had to have hauled that size of a rock over a distance. This always amazes me. These are just some of the Carnac Stones:

[gateley]

14. Me too!

And thanks for this pic and info. I'd never heard of this before.

Last night....I heard a show on Egyptian artifacts found in the Grand Canyon.

Egypt & The Grand Canyon
Author and archeologist David Hatcher Childress discussed his research into artifacts found in the Grand Canyon that suggest Egyptians may have visited North America thousands of years ago. He also talked about his investigation of the Olmecs and amazing technologies possessed by people of ancient times.

:shrug:

There is SO MUCH we don't know or understand about the history of our planet and her people.

[Tesha]

24. Avebury Henge is a fun place too.

Avebury Henge is a fun place too and is just a short bus ride from
Salisbury and Stonehenge.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avebury



There, you can sit down and have a pint at the Red Lion,
"the only public house inside a stone circle in the world".
(Big) pictures at:
o //static.panoramio.com/photos/original/437444.jpg
o //static.panoramio.com/photos/original/249491.jpg

And a short walk away is an ancient burial barrow (the
West Kennet Long Barrow) and Silbury Hill, a man-made
earthen pyramid.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Kennet_Long_Barrow



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silbury_Hill



Tesha

[roguevalley]

33. the train ride from London to Salisbury is short but no toilets on the

train. I'm just sayin'. :+

[Tesha]

46. Didn't your mother always tell you to "go" before you got on the train? ;-) (NT)

[1776Forever]

16. More on "blue" stones - Lapis Lazuli - Feldspar Crystal polished looks like night sky with stars....

Secrets of the Preseli Bluestones
by Dr. Colin R. Shearing

http://www.britannia.com/history/preseli_blue.html

The geological name for Preseli Bluestone is Dolerite which is an intrusive volcanic rock of plagioclase feldspar and is in fact harder than granite. Forms of dolerite are found all over the world and were used for making tools to work on granite statues in ancient Egypt. Polished Bluestone axe-heads from Preseli have also been found but whether these were ceremonial axe-heads or actually used as tools is unknown. In 2001 I discovered a memorial stone in the Preseli Hills which had been polished and then, during a geological survey, the Bluestones were cut open and then the proverbial penny dropped. Inside the stones we found feldspar crystal formations and mica. When polished, the stone looks like the night sky studded with stars and now, having seen its beauty when polished, it seemed obvious to me that this was reason enough to move them and erect a circle of them. The ancient Egyptians revered Lapis Lazuli (Blue Stone) for the same reason.

The Preseli Hills themselves are crisscrossed with ley lines, ancient trackways, standing stones, burial chambers and stone circles and the hills sparkle with shining white crystal quartz. Even during early Christian times, the place was considered almost as holy as Jerusalem and Rome. This is also the land of Druids who still continue this 5,000-year old tradition of building stone circles in Wales each year for their National Eisteddfods.

..............

Very interesting and intriguing read - thanks for bringing this to my attention!


:hi:

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

18. Gentle correction.Lapis is not the same stone found in the UK and Stonehenge. As per your article

The ancient Egyptians revered Lapis Lazuli (Blue Stone) for the same reason. It is a blue stone.

From wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_stone

The name "blue stone" is also applicable to lazurite, the core comstituent of lapis lazuli, a sulfide of sodium aluminium silicate in the sodalite group. The term bluestone is also used for the dolerite stones at Stonehenge.

On edit...I sell minerals and crystals and after reading about the bluestone at Stonehenge am looking to find some to purchase. So I have already done a bit of research. :)

[1776Forever]

29. Thank you - always eager to learn.

:hi:

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

31. My pleasure! I love when people are interested in "rocks"!!!

:hi:

BTW.. Lapis is totally yummy, especially when it has pyrite inclusions. I do now though, have to get my hands on some bluestone!!!

[1776Forever]

32. Try this link......It is jewelry but they may be able to point you to where to buy stones

http://www.stonehengestones.com/

:toast:

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

36. Thanks a bunch for your time and effort to find this for me!

I'm going to make a wholesale inquiry with them!

:hug: :toast:

[MadinMo]

35. Once had a ring made of bluestone (not lapis)

which my dad gave me after a trip to England. Sadly a former roommate stole it.

This news about Stonehenge is very cool. Archeology is terrific!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

38. Sorry that happened about your ring. 1776forever provided this link for me

that has bluestone jewelry. They have rings there. :)

http://www.stonehengestones.com/

When I was very young I thought that it would be neat to be an archaeologist but life happened and I had to gainfully earn a living. :)

[MadinMo]

47. Thank you!

I may have to save some bucks and get one as a sorta replacement. I gnash my teeth whenever I think of that roommate.....

Isn't it funny, OSO, how life gets in the way of those dreams? Its almost shameful, isn't it?

Again, thanks for the link!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

49. Your welcome MadinMo! I can't look at my life that way. I've had wonderful

times that I might never have experienced and wonderful people in my life, that I probably would never have met if I did pursue those dreams. There have been a few bleak belches but would I change things, if I could change anything that has happened so far? Maybe a couple, but they were important learning experiences. :)

:hi:

[kineneb]

25. Lapis= ultramarine blue, in painting

The original ultramarine blue used for western oil painting was made from ground up and processed lapis. It was (and is) quite expensive, and the only blue that did not change color with age. Those beautiful sky blues in 15th century religious paintings were from ultramarine. Unlike modern substitutes, real ultramarine has the tiny, shiny flecks found in the rock. This accounts for the luminous quality of the paint.

oil painting geek /off

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

27. Some of the most beautiful Lapis comes from Afghanistan. The specks

you are mentioning are pyrite and appear golden.

[1776Forever]

28. Thanks - It made me think of Grandma Moses using glitter in her painting for snow -

She wasn't a "rich" person so she used what she had. It is very quaint seeing her painting with the glitter shining just like real snow falling while the sun is peaking through.



Image Courtesy: New York State Historical Association

I will be looking for the lapis blue in the 15th century painting now!

:toast:

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

19. This is very cool! I went to Stonehenge about 4 years ago and it was an incredible place.

What was odd was, that no one sees in its photos that it's right off a major parkway. Also, adjacent to the site was a pasture with grazing sheep. So neat. :)

[gateley]

42. Similar to the pyramids in Egypt.

Most of the pics we see show a vast expanse of desert in the background. Turn around and look the other way, and Cairo is practically on TOP of them.

EDIT for pic (wow - is that smog??)

[Silver Gaia]

20. Thanks for posting this. I've been trying to keep tabs on this dig.

Here's another article from a week or so ago about this new dig at Stonehenge (with a couple more videos):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7322134.stm

[gateley]

43. Cool! Thanks!! nt

[ensho]

21. kick

nt

[Sheets of Easter]

26. Let's just hope that it avoids being crushed by a dwarf.

[stubtoe]

30. lol

Now I won't be able to get that image out of my head all day :rofl:

[hatrack]

34. "No one knows who they were or what . . . they were doing . . . "

:toast:

[gateley]

44. Bwha!

:rofl:

[deutsey]

51. That's what I thought too when I saw this report on TV, LOL

[L. Coyote]

39. Well, "breakthrough" is a relative term. What breakthrough?

Interjection of belief in science?

Did someone find anything at all?

[gateley]

45. The archaelogists seemed to be pleased with

chards and such that they discovered. To them, it's a breakthrough. I think when you find something you didn't expect, maybe...?

[lonestarnot]

48. This discovery was interesting.

http://www.worldarchaeologicalcongress.org/site/enews/enews_13.pdf Scala Mundi discovery and it's located in the center of the PDF

[Silver Gaia]

50. Thanks for this link, lonestarnot. Yes, very interesting! n/t