Why Was Stonehenge Built?

Mysteries 3 Minutes

Many, many years of investigation, analysis and speculation has been accomplished thru the ages. We now know how old Stonehenge is, where the stones came from, and how it was constructed, but none of this tells us who built it.

Older theories involving Saxons, Danes, Romans, Phoenicians, and even the Druids are obviously ruled out by the date of the monument. None of these groups was around in the Neolithic or Bronze Age of Britain.

Not surprisingly, much of the ink spilled over Stonehenge in centuries of debate has been concerning its purpose. Early antiquarians tended to see Stonehenge as a “monument,” without any specific use, although they did usually believe that it commemorated a particular event, such as Geoffrey of Monthouth’s theory that it was built in memory of the Bristons slaughtered by the Saxons.

From Aubrey and Stukeley’s time the idea of Stonehenge as a Druid temple dominated the literature, but as the Druids slipped from the scene so did the identification as a temple. The axis of Stonehenge is clearly on the midsummer sunrise/midwinter sunset line, with the sun-rise occurring over the avenue, leading to the conclusion that this was probably the more important astronomical feature.

Professor Gerald Hawkins’ theory of astronomical alignments at Stonehenge

It took an American Astronomer, Dr. Gerald Hawkins of Boston University, to break the silence. He surveyed the possible alignments presented by the monument, then fed the results into a computer to see if they had any astronomical significance. Setting the computer to cross-check the lines against a map of the heavens set at a date of 1500 B.C., he came up with a whole pattern of solar and lunar alignments (but none for the planets or stars) that he decided could not possibly be the result of chance.

Archaeologists today have returned to ideas of Stonehenge as a ceremonial center. The early wooden phase seems to have involved circles of timbers at the middle of the monument, with access tightly controlled by a wooden passageway and fencing. Even the entrances through the ditch had a forest of posts set into them, making it difficult just to walk in.

The later stone circles and horseshoe continue in the same vein, with access restricted by the stones themselves, and visibility of events at the center of the monument obscured for thsoe outside. The avenue seems quite clearly to be a processional way, when its course is followed. This runs in an arc around Stonehenge, going down into a dip.

America’s Stonehenge, Salem, NH

Only after continuing for some time out of sight of the monument does its course begin to climb again, at which point visitors saw the stone circle standing out proud against the skyline. Inside the circular sacred area defined by the bank and ditch they would have seen a crowd of worshippers, and occasional glimpses of those directing ceremonies from the center of the stones.

For those privileged few looking out from the heart of the monument, the high point of the year must have been the moment when the Sun rose over the avenue on midsummer morning. So perhaps it is not too wide of the mark to see Stonehenge as a Sun temple.

Depiction of Druid Ceremony 1815

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211 thoughts on “Why Was Stonehenge Built?”

  14. EXCERPT: “CNN’s Brian Stelter took the stage at the University of Chicago’s “Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy” conference Wednesday with a fresh new vibe.

    Stelter’s sudden evolution from classic “White Man in a Suit” to tangerine has raised a few questions after the dramatic change in his physical appearance at University of Chicago on Wednesday. Here’s a side-by-side comparison of Stelter’s skin tone development:”
    ——————-
    Perhaps Stelter isn’t feeling his best self right now. As all Millennial women know, there are three quick fixes to a bad day: skin, hair, and nails.

    When you’re feeling stressed, going through a bad break-up, or just stuck in a rut, getting a new hairdo is one of the easiest ways to scare away the sads. Unfortunately, a new hairstyle really isn’t an option for Stelter.
    ——————-
    Instead, Stelter appears to be living out his inner “Situation” by going full Jersey Shore with some fabulous fake tan. Social science research suggests that utilizing indoor and other forms of fake tan have a number of perceived psychological benefits, such as boosting self-esteem.”

    https://dailycaller.com/2022/04/08/cnn-brian-stelter-tan-university-chicago/

    Liked by 1 person

  15. EXCERPT: “The Alabama legislature passed a bill Thursday criminalizing sex change treatments for children including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and sex-change surgeries. The bill, if signed by Gov. Kay Ivey, would treat the castration of children and other sex-change treatments as Class C felonies which, according to Politico, carry a penalty of up to ten years in prison for medical practitioners.

    The legislation would ban medical treatments done for the purpose of changing a child’s appearance or affirming their gender identity, including drugs that halt healthy puberty, cross-sex hormones, surgical sterilizations such as castration, vasectomies and hysterectomies, cosmetic genital reconstruction surgeries and the removal of healthy body parts.

    The bill makes exceptions for male circumcision and for treatment of medically verifiable sex disorders such as chromosome irregularities. The bill also makes it illegal for teachers and other school employees to encourage children to withhold information from their parents about their gender confusion.
    ——————-
    It is unclear whether Ivey will sign the bill, and her office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.”

    https://dailycaller.com/2022/04/08/alabama-child-sex-change-transgender-kay-ivey/

    Liked by 1 person

    1. EXCERPT: “Malone was driving through the area when she saw a man “repeatedly kicking a small white dog, yanking the animal in the air and choking it,” according to the Washington Post. She proceeded to pull over and run toward the helpless animal, while signaling for others in the area to assist her.

      “I yelled at him to stop from my car but he wouldn’t,” Malone posted to her Twitter account. Several men held down the alleged attacker, allowing Malone the opportunity to sit with the injured animal until police officers arrived on scene and transported it to a local animal hospital, according to the Post.

      “The dog was covered in filth and looked like it had been not taken care of for months,” Jena wrote on her Twitter account. She then proceeded to send a flurry of updates about the dog’s multiple injuries, the Post reported.

      Some of the men that jumped in to help proceeded to physically restrain the alleged attacker, and beat him well after the dog had been rescued, at one point using a pole to hit the man, according to the outlet. The alleged attacker was later revealed to be the son of the dog’s owner, and had taken the pup without consent.”

      https://dailycaller.com/2022/04/07/hunger-game-actress-jena-malone-helps-rescue-dog/

      Liked by 2 people

  17. Federal “Derogatory Geographic Names Task Force” (Yes, Really) Announces The US Will Rename 660 Mountains, Rivers, and landmarks to Remove “Racist” Language – More Surely to Come

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/marxist-reset-federal-derogatory-geographic-names-task-force-yes-really-announces-us-will-renaming-660-mountains-rivers-landmarks-remove-racist-language-surely-come/

    List

    Click to access S03404%20Candidate%20Names.pdf

    Liked by 2 people

    2. WTH?
      food shortages coming…but let’s waste $$ on this crap?

      gas at all time high costs…inflation knocking us on our ass…but THIS is important to this regime? what f*ckin morons…’cuze my language

      Liked by 2 people

  19. The usual diplomatic shenanigans…..

    EXCERPT: “The Russian Foreign Ministry has expelled 45 Polish embassy staff, on Friday, in the latest removal of diplomats since Moscow launched its military offensive in Ukraine, six weeks ago.

    Officials also issued a “strong protest” to Polish ambassador Krzysztof Krajewski over Poland’s expulsion of 45 Russian envoys last month, and condemned what was described as “Warsaw’s conscious desire to completely destroy bilateral relations.”

    “As a response to Poland’s unfriendly actions to expel Russian diplomats, based on the principle of reciprocity, 45 employees of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland and the consulates general of the Republic of Poland in Irkutsk, Kaliningrad, and St. Petersburg have been declared ‘persona non grata’,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

    “The responsibility for this lies entirely with the Polish side,” the ministry continued, adding that the expelled employees have been ordered to leave Russia before the end of the day on April 13. In a similar move, Russian authorities earlier on Friday declared kicked out two Bulgarian diplomats.”

    https://www.rt.com/russia/553554-polish-diplomats-expelled-moscow/

    Liked by 2 people

      1. Sigh its called… ‘brown girls’. I ‘won’ it.

        It starts off with ‘we…’ But she’s referring to ‘I ‘but uses ‘we’ because she’s trying to speak for everyone. I gave up after page one.

        Liked by 2 people

        1. when i first got my kindle, i tried all different cozy mystery writers…OMG
          i guess anybody can publish them…the main character in one changed names!!!!! 3 pages in I was lost. so then (smacking my forehead) I read the reviews…yup…erbody caught the name change.
          so why didn’t someone FIX it?

          Liked by 2 people

          1. Oh my goodness.

            I know people can self publish but how hard is it to read it once?

            cozy mystery… yeah I think I found two that were ok.

            Liked by 2 people

            1. LOL
              there are several series that i love…
              but if i try a new author and there’s more than 1 typo or a glaring story problem, i delete the book and don’t go back

              Liked by 2 people

        1. hubby and I too!
          when we’re arguing, it’s one of the little things i do to spite him–I change the rolls around in both bathrooms…LOL

          Liked by 1 person

    1. We had a tiny bit of light snow off-and-on thru the day yesterday, with a light mist in between. Sunny today and up to 50 – wind has toned down at least a little bit, thankfully.

      Liked by 1 person

  36. EXCERPT: “The latest wave of the lionization of Azov began sometime before the Russian military operation – notorious was the much-publicized image of an AK-47-wielding Ukrainian granny training to repel invaders in the regiment’s camp. The last week of March, however, saw the puff pieces come in a tight group, like the bullet holes after an AK burst.

    The first of the bunch was a ten-minute video, from Britain’s state-broadcaster BBC, on March 27, in which presenter Ros Atkins sought to debunk Russian “untruths” about Nazis in Ukraine. How can Ukraine be “held hostage” by Nazis when its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish, Atkins argues, pointing to his 73% of the vote, at the last election, and triumphantly declaring that, “No far-right groups have any formal political power in Ukraine.” Remember that word, “formal” – it does a lot of heavy lifting here.

    Atkins’s piece set the tone for the articles that followed. Two days later, on March 29, the Financial Times ran a story describing Azov as “key to the nationwide resistance effort.” While it acknowledges that Azov was created in 2014 “by volunteers with nationalist and often far-right political leanings,” the FT shrugs off its Nazi connections.

    Thus, the Nazi symbols used by the unit itself are described as “now claimed as pagan symbols by some battalion members.” This is taken at face value, but is literally untrue. The “Black Sun” (also known as the Sonnenrad) dates back to a mosaic commissioned in the 1930s by the Nazi SS head Heinrich Himmler, while the overlaid Wolfsangel rune – historical German, not Ukrainian heraldry – was used by several Wehrmacht and SS regiments, as well as the Dutch Nazis, during WWII. More to the point, the symbols themselves were picked out by Azov founder Andriy Biletsky – a notorious white supremacist – as he himself told another outlet back in 2014.”

    https://www.rt.com/russia/553148-azov-ukraine-media-whitewash/

    Liked by 1 person

  40. Illinois lawmakers are considering forcing gas stations to post a 4-inch by 8-inch, boldly lettered sign on gas pumps highlighting Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s temporary suspension of the upcoming automatic gas tax hike.

    Failing to comply would come with $500-a-day fines.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/illinois-house-bill-will-order-gas-stations-post-pritzker-propaganda-sign-window-complete-lie-face-500-fine-per-day/

    Nope, says Josh Sharp of the Illinois Fuel and Retail Association.

    “This industry won’t be forced into offering free election year advertising for the Governor. Ordering businesses to take part in speech that is compelled by the government under the threat of fines and criminal penalties is unwise and unconstitutional,” said Sharp, who threatened a lawsuit unless the language is removed.

    The gas pump signs are part of an amendment to House Bill 1497, which contains state lawmakers’ budget proposals and Pritzker’s temporary tax cuts. Pritzker is pushing a six-month delay in the automatic state gas tax increase – a measure passed in 2019 when Pritzker and lawmakers doubled the state gas tax from 19 cents to 38 cents a gallon and included automatic annual increases so lawmakers would no longer be forced to take public votes on the unpopular tax hikes.

    Liked by 2 people

  44. MSM everyone

    GAG

    Cheers for Jackson who declares: ‘We’ve made it, all of us’
    Jackson’s confirmation, a historic first, completed a campaign promise Biden made when he was a candidate.

    Liked by 2 people

  47. Meghan Markle seeks to trademark the word ‘archetypes’ for her new Spotify podcast
    Markle and Prince Harry gearing up Duchess of Sussex’s new podcast launching this year

    Rollseyes so hard

    Liked by 2 people

  48. Liked by 2 people

    1. Liked by 1 person

  50. Take that, B&J’s!!!!

    Entire article @ FB: “Ben & Jerry’s and parent company Unilever “effectively concede” that they cut ties with an Israeli contractor because he refused to participate in an illegal boycott of Israel, the contractor’s lawyers argued in federal court on Thursday.

    In a brief filed last week, Ben & Jerry’s called a claim from Israeli ice cream distributor Avi Zinger that he was pressured to break the law a “side show”—but didn’t deny that it cut ties with him due to his refusal to participate in the boycott.

    Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever “effectively concede that the only reason for not renewing [Zinger’s] license is [his] refusal to engage in illegal conduct. They do not dispute [Zinger’s] understanding of the Israeli and American laws and policies that Defendants’ demand would have forced [him] to violate,” Zinger’s lawyers argued in a rebuttal brief on Thursday.

    Zinger’s lawyers said this bolstered their client’s allegation that the company was retaliating against him for refusing to commit an illegal action—an argument they say is “central” to their lawsuit.

    The ice cream maker and Unilever are being sued by Zinger, who was Ben & Jerry’s sole distributor in Israel for 35 years before the company told him last summer it would not renew his contract. Zinger said Ben & Jerry’s cut him off after he declined to boycott sales in Israeli neighborhoods in the West Bank due to his concerns that doing so would violate U.S. and Israeli anti-boycott and anti-discrimination laws.

    The lawsuit is the latest in a string of legal and public relations challenges for Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever, following the ice cream company’s decision last year to boycott Israeli neighborhoods in the West Bank and its objections to U.S. military support for Ukraine. Multiple U.S. states have withdrawn pension fund investments from Unilever due to the boycott.

    Attorneys for Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever have argued that the company had “an absolute right not to renew” its contract with Zinger, calling the lawsuit a “contract dispute and nothing more.” One of Zinger’s attorneys, Brandeis Center president Alyza Lewin, said the issue of whether Ben & Jerry’s asked Zinger to break the law is part of the “central legal doctrine of the case.”

    “Unilever’s unlawful demand that Avi Zinger and [his company American Quality Products] discriminate against customers based on their residence isn’t a ‘side show’—it’s the main show,” said Lewin in a statement on Thursday.

    “By insisting Zinger violate Israel and U.S. anti-discrimination and anti-boycott laws and public policy, Unilever violated the Consent Decree and License Agreement it signed and unlawfully attempted to coerce [American Quality Products] to violate laws both parties agreed to obey.”

    Zinger told the Washington Free Beacon last month that he was in “shock” when the company told him last summer that it would not renew his contract. He said the company had buckled to a decade-long pressure campaign from anti-Israel activists to boycott the Jewish state.

    “I was with Ben & Jerry’s for over 35 years. … We always got compliments,” he said. “Because [the company] had this situation, they had so much pressure, they just dumped me. People who were friends of mine for so many years.”

    The court could call a hearing on the lawsuit as early as April 12, according to the Brandeis Center.”

    Liked by 1 person

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