For the first time in more than a generation, they're digging at Stonehenge again. The diggers are not modern druids performing some ancient ritual, rather archaeologists working to unearth the socket holes from the first stone circle in the hope of fine tuning their theories about the original date. They are also hoping to find evidence that the site may have been known in the Bronze Age as a healing center for the seriously ill. Some have called it a sort of Bronze Age Lourdes.
The digging will be confined to a trench about 12 feet long and 3 feet deep. Scientists will be examining the strata for organic material, such as pollen grains, snail shells, and fragments of tools and bones, to apply new analysis techniques that were not available when last excavated.
Before there were stones at Stonehenge around 5000 years ago, scientists believe the site was pretty much a run-of-the-mill henge, i.e. a large circular mound and ditch. Then, around 2,500 BC, at least 80 "blue stones" (actually made of Dolomite) weighing between 2000 and 6000 pounds each were hauled from Wales and set up at the site. The Welsh have believed that blue stones held special healing powers up through modern times.
Some time later, local sarsen stones -- the massive grey stones that we come to associate with Stonehenge were set up in the circle which given the site its distinctive outline. But it is the original bluestone foundation that may yield the greatest secrets from the builders who devoted their energy to creating such an enduring and mysterious monument.
Click for daily video of the excavations.
I nominate this bloke to be the one-man buidnilg committee for our church. If it can work for Stone Henge, there may be some chance (?) he can get our buidnilg up by 2050.
Posted by: Dumnoi | April 28, 2012 at 12:50 AM