WILD ATTRACTION WILD ATTRACTION - Earthstar

Then, one hundred and fifty years later, the ancientBritons set up fifty-ton sarsen stones quarried atMarlborough, twenty-five miles away.The blue stones were dug up and repositioned, andthe sarsens used to create the Stonehenge familiar today.The new find changes this account of this history.It suggests that the creators of Stonehenge originallybuilt two circles—one with fifty-six stones atStonehenge, and another with twenty-seven atBluehenge. The stones of the smaller circle were eventuallyincorporated into the bigger one.Bluehenge was discovered by Professor MikeParker Pearson, of Sheffield University, who argues themonuments were linked to rituals of life and death.Julian Richards, archaeologist and presenter ofBBC2 TV series Meet The Ancestors, believes, however,that such certainty is beyond our reach.Lovers of prehistoric sites will have to wait untilnext February before the full details of Bluehenge arepublished.The creators of Stonehenge—who saw the Stone Agepass into the Bronze Age—were farmers who lived insmall villages in huts made of wooden stakes and twigs,covered with a thick layer of clay and chalk.Farming had been established for at least a thousandyears and the builders of Stonehenge were skilled atgrowing wheat and barley and keeping pigs and sheep.Some experts believe they made cider and beer andground wheat into flour to make bread and cakes.But they were still forced to depend on wild fruit,peas, lentils, nuts and honey. Clothes were primitiveleather coats and jackets, woollen leggings and simpleshoes made of skins bound with twine.‘Any one person who says they have the answer is beinga bit over-confident,’ he said.‘If you think that Stonehenge was created, used andmodified over one thousand four hundred years then itprobably was used for many different things.’Professor Geoffrey Wainwright, who found thesource of the Stonehenge stones in Wales with ProfessorDarvill, said: ‘This [new] henge is very importantbecause it forms part of the picture of ceremonial monumentsin the area and puts Stonehenge into context.‘It’s no longer Stonehenge standing alone, but it hasto be seen in context with the landscape.’No one knows what gods they worshipped, but thealignment of Stonehenge to the solstice shows that theSun—and maybe the Moon—was important.44 EARTH STAR OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2009www.earthstarmag.com