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Stonehenge Friar's Heel Great Trilithon
Stonehenge Friar's Heel Great Trilithon
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Kindle version of vintage magazine article originally published in 1900. Contains great info and illustrations seldom seen in the last 112 years.
Read excerpt -
The stones are of three different varieties, the sarsens (the large stones found in the neighborhood), syenite, and a foreign greenstone. The presence of these foreign stones, which must have been brought from a considerable distance, either Anglesea or the continent, certainly lends color to the belief, held by some archaeologists, that Stonehenge must be attributed to one of the continental tribes, who in their periodical visits to the shores of Britain brought these sacred tribal stones and erected them here as being necessary adjuncts to their worship of the sun. Of course, the argument against this supposition is that a foreign tribe would never have troubled to convey the heavy masses so far inland; that suitable positions nearer the coast, more accessible than a Wiltshire down, could readily be found; and that it is ridiculous to suppose that any tribe would undertake the prodigious task of water carriage. Supposing the English were aggressive enough to invade France or Germany, can we by any stretch of fancy imagine their workmen conveying St. Paul's Cathedral, and setting it up on the plains at Carnac, or in the Black Forest? Would it not be something of a parallel case for any foreign visitors to have brought Stonehenge to England?
Within sight of Stonehenge, and surrounding it on every side at a respectful distance, are a number of tumuli. About three hundred have been counted. Many of these ancient burying mounds have been opened, and have been found to contain in some cases skeletons and in others merely the charred remains of a funeral pyre, showing that the mode of burial varied dur¬ing the time in which the tumuli, or barrows, were formed.
The articles accompanying the human remains also vary nothing but flint implements and stone utensils being found in some, while in others articles of bronze, and even of gold, have been discovered, along with pieces of stone which had evidently been chipped off in the fashioning of Stonehenge. If these tumuli are coeval with the building and use of, Stonehenge, they certainly are a strong argument in favor of Sir John Lubbock's assertion that we may place the age of Stonehenge in the later Neolithic or early bronze-age.
Read excerpt -
The stones are of three different varieties, the sarsens (the large stones found in the neighborhood), syenite, and a foreign greenstone. The presence of these foreign stones, which must have been brought from a considerable distance, either Anglesea or the continent, certainly lends color to the belief, held by some archaeologists, that Stonehenge must be attributed to one of the continental tribes, who in their periodical visits to the shores of Britain brought these sacred tribal stones and erected them here as being necessary adjuncts to their worship of the sun. Of course, the argument against this supposition is that a foreign tribe would never have troubled to convey the heavy masses so far inland; that suitable positions nearer the coast, more accessible than a Wiltshire down, could readily be found; and that it is ridiculous to suppose that any tribe would undertake the prodigious task of water carriage. Supposing the English were aggressive enough to invade France or Germany, can we by any stretch of fancy imagine their workmen conveying St. Paul's Cathedral, and setting it up on the plains at Carnac, or in the Black Forest? Would it not be something of a parallel case for any foreign visitors to have brought Stonehenge to England?
Within sight of Stonehenge, and surrounding it on every side at a respectful distance, are a number of tumuli. About three hundred have been counted. Many of these ancient burying mounds have been opened, and have been found to contain in some cases skeletons and in others merely the charred remains of a funeral pyre, showing that the mode of burial varied dur¬ing the time in which the tumuli, or barrows, were formed.
The articles accompanying the human remains also vary nothing but flint implements and stone utensils being found in some, while in others articles of bronze, and even of gold, have been discovered, along with pieces of stone which had evidently been chipped off in the fashioning of Stonehenge. If these tumuli are coeval with the building and use of, Stonehenge, they certainly are a strong argument in favor of Sir John Lubbock's assertion that we may place the age of Stonehenge in the later Neolithic or early bronze-age.
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