Archaeologists are Unravelling the Mysteries of Stonehenge
A team of archaeologists has found two previously undiscovered sub-surface pits that have shed new light on the Stonehenge mystery. The two large pits are positioned within what is referred to as the Neolithic Cursus pathway, placing them in alignment with the rising and setting of the midsummer sun when viewed from Sonehenge's Heel Stone. The pits may have contained stones, posts or fires that would have marked the rise and fall of the sun over the horizon, lending to theories that the stone monument may have been used as a place of sun worship.
This is the first time we have seen anything quite like this at Stonehenge and it provides a more sophisticated insight into how rituals may have taken place within the Cursus and the wider landscape. These exciting finds indicate that even though Stonehenge was ultimately the most important monument in the landscape, it may at times not have been the only, or most important, ritual focus and the area of Stonehenge may have become significant as a sacred site at a much earlier date.
Researchers claim that the land on which Stonehenge stands may have been used as an ancient ritual site as many as 5,000 years before the erection of its iconic, standing stones.
Source: Past Horizons
3 comments:
Have scientist clued in on what the ultimate purpose of the henge was? In class we learned that it was one of man's first moves to separate him/her self from nature. Is this still accurate or has its history been updated?
Mary Janini art 3
Stonehenge is one of the mystical places in the world. There is always something new found at Stonehenge that explains a little bit of the past. I think its crazy how this civilization created Stonehenge and how they used it. It just shows how smart the human brain really is!
Samantha Contreras Art 3
From just taking a look at the Stonehenge you would probably never be able to guess what it is actually entailed to do, it almost just looks like a couple of stones that were made for an art piece but its significance is way more then that. I remember learning that the Stonehenge was used as a calendar, crazy how that works.
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