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Why was Stonehenge built? 'Groundbreaking' discovery of 15 new monuments suggests the answer...
MailOnline ^ | 13:41 EST, 22 August 2014 | Sarah Griffiths

Posted on 08/26/2014 10:21:53 AM PDT by BenLurkin

Archaeologist Vince Gaffney, of the University of Birmingham, is involved in the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project – a four-year collaboration with the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology in Austria.

The team has conducted the first detailed underground survey of the area surrounding Stonehenge, covering around four square miles (6km), journalist Ed Caesar reported for Smithsonian.

They discovered evidence of 15 unknown and poorly-understood late Neolithic monuments, including other henges, barrows, pits and ditches, which could all harbour valuable information about the prehistoric site.

...

Historians are not sure what purpose the Curcus served and Professor Gaffney as a ‘bloody great barrier to the north of Stonehenge.’

Some experts think it was linked to the passage of the sun and this was supported by new clues.

The team discovered gaps in the ditch including a large break in the northern side to allow people to enter and exit the Curcus.

Professor Gaffney thinks the gaps served as ‘channels though the landscape’ to enable people to move north and south.

He also found a huge pit at the eastern end of the Curcus, which is today 3ft (1metre) underground...

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: archaeoastronomy; godsgravesglyphs; megaliths; stonehenge
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

Do you have the documents? (I’d say those relatives are pretty distant.)


41 posted on 08/28/2014 3:30:00 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: databoss

This one is a few miles from here:

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/13125


42 posted on 08/28/2014 3:31:07 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: afraidfortherepublic

They painted their faces blue for the occasion, dad said...


43 posted on 08/28/2014 4:03:01 PM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Rip it out by the roots.)
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To: Alex Murphy

It was a sign.

44 posted on 08/28/2014 5:42:34 PM PDT by Redcitizen (Hmph. Adventure. Heh. Excitement. Heh. A Jedi craves not these things.)
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To: MrB

45 posted on 08/28/2014 5:50:48 PM PDT by Redcitizen (Hmph. Adventure. Heh. Excitement. Heh. A Jedi craves not these things.)
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To: BenLurkin

Historians are not sure what purpose the Curcus served and Professor Gaffney as a ‘bloody great barrier to the north of Stonehenge.’

***
What in the heck does this sentence mean? Ah, contemporary journalism....


46 posted on 08/28/2014 6:09:00 PM PDT by Bigg Red (31 May 2014: Obamugabe officially declares the USA a vanquished subject of the Global Caliphate.)
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To: BenLurkin

I still say, as I have for years, that Stonehenge was a tavern.


47 posted on 08/28/2014 9:57:23 PM PDT by Ramius (Personally, I give us one chance in three. More tea anyone?)
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To: BenLurkin
It's a calendar.
48 posted on 08/28/2014 10:00:39 PM PDT by Fledermaus (Conservatives are all that's left to defend the Constitution. Dems hate it, and Repubs don't care.)
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To: SunkenCiv
Had to scroll to you, so I'd know I was getting straight answer. ;-)

I have never seen, or at least noticed, an anthropomorphic sarsen stone before; right most is a seated human figure. This is the photo from the article itself. Any ideas or history on this?


49 posted on 08/29/2014 1:28:00 AM PDT by ApplegateRanch (Love me, love my guns!©)
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To: ApplegateRanch

There’s a ship with sails carved on one of the stones, along with other shapes (a knife or sword I think, etc), and it’s likely that the stones were plastered and painted, but all that vanished in millennia of rain.

It’s important to keep in mind that the monument was found by a new group each time Britain was colonized by someone new (and that has happened a lot), and reused. Also, during classic pre-Roman times there was seagoing trade all over the place, and tourists, and ya can count on those bastards to leave graffiti everywhere.

The whereabouts of the missing stones will be difficult to figure out. During the early 20th century, at another British megalithic site, conservation work was being done. One of the largest stones had tipped at some point and the conservators winched it back upright. As a consequence they found the well-preserved remains of a 16th century rich guy (he still had a coin purse which made the dating a snap), apparently he was having the stone hauled away for some project.


50 posted on 09/06/2014 6:05:48 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv

Thanks; didn’t know about the ship carving, either.

Speaking of sculpted stones, going to Crazy Horse tonight for the annual September night blast celebrating Korczak’s birthday.


51 posted on 09/06/2014 1:01:54 PM PDT by ApplegateRanch (Love me, love my guns!©)
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To: basil

Spooky? I felt quite at home there. It seemed peaceful to me.


52 posted on 09/06/2014 1:04:42 PM PDT by Veto! (Opinions freely dispensed as advice)
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