Ancient World Review

A Brief History Of Astronomy: Predicting The Seasons

Video from 2013. Part two can be found here.

Note: The theory that Stonehenge was an ancient calendar is interesting and might even be true, but the reason why the megalith was built is still just a matter of speculation.

"In early historic times, astronomy only consisted of the observation and predictions of the motions of objects visible to the naked eye. In some locations, early cultures assembled massive artifacts that possibly [emphasis added] had some astronomical purpose. In addition to their ceremonial uses, these observatories could be employed to determine the seasons, an important factor in knowing when to plant crops and in understanding the length of the year." (Wikipedia)

The history of astronomy is such a massive, technical and complex subject that I'm not even going to try to summarize it here. It's also one of the oldest, if not the oldest, natural sciences in history. According to the Oxford Classical Dictionary, "the use of the heliacal rising and setting of prominent stars or star groups to mark points in the year is found in the earliest literature of the Greeks (Homer and Hesiod) and no doubt goes back to prehistoric times."

Video from 2016.

Living in an age before light pollution obscured the night sky, early humans must have been acutely conscious of the stars and may have represented the constellations in their cave paintings. It's possible that they were already using the stars to keep time:

"Some of the world's oldest cave paintings have revealed how ancient people had relatively advanced knowledge of astronomy." (Science Daily, 2018)

"The artworks, at sites across Europe, are not simply depictions of wild animals, as was previously thought. Instead, the animal symbols represent star constellations in the night sky, and are used to represent dates and mark events such as comet strikes, analysis suggests.

"They reveal that, perhaps as far back as 40,000 years ago, humans kept track of time using knowledge of how the position of the stars slowly changes over thousands of years."

They may have also used the stars for navigation.

Almendres Cromlech, Portugal: The Oldest Stone Circle in Europe?

"The Cromlech of the Almendres ... is a megalithic complex (commonly known as the Almendres Cromlech), located ... in the municipality of Évora, in the Portuguese Alentejo. The largest existing group of structured menhirs [standing stones] in the Iberian Peninsula (and one of the largest in Europe), this archaeological site consists of several megalithic structures: cromlechs and menhir stones, that belong to the so-called 'megalithic universe of Évora', with clear parallels to other cromlechs in Evora District, such as Portela Mogos and the Vale Maria do Meio Cromlech. [see below]" (Wikipedia)

Note: This site dates back to the 6th millennium BC.

Beautiful views of the cromlech. No English version available, unfortunately.

According to Visit Evora, "The Almendres Megalithic settlement (or cromlech) is the biggest megalithic monument in the Iberian Peninsula and one of the oldest in the world. Everybody has heard about the grand Stonehenge, in Britain… The Almendres monument is 2000 years older! It was built about 7000 years ago, when mankind in Western Europe was making the transition from hunter-gatherers to herders and farmers."

Next video shows the Vale Maria do Meio Cromlech, another megalithic stone circle located in the same area of Portugal. Thought to date back to the 5th millennium BC or earlier, "The Vale Maria do Meio cromlech is located in an area with a significant number of megalithic monuments. It is about one kilometer south of the Antas da Valeira, two neolithic dolmen or megalithic tombs, and 1.5km to the northeast of the Portela de Modos cromlech. The Almendres Cromlech, a major megalithic site, is about ten kilometers to the southwest." (Wikipedia)

The similarities with the Almendres Cromlech are obvious.

I hadn't realized that Portugal had so many megalithic sites. They seem to be concentrated in this one region, more or less, and show evidence of skilled stoneworking.

These megaliths are also surrounded by ancient legends:

According to Ancient Origins, "Prehistoric Europeans told legends about powerful, mysterious female makers of European stone tombs called dolmens and cromlechs. On the one hand, they were said to bestow riches and fertility on individuals, and fantastic gifts like brewing beer and farming; all they wanted in return was a little milk.

"On the other hand, they were described as angry snakes guarded by bulls, cursing people and hoarding the very gold of the sun. They were imagined as beautiful cloven-hoofed snake- or bull-women, who guarded the dolmens and could speak with the dead, spin the rays of the sun, and even create the world."

The similarity of the megaliths found all over Europe suggests that they were built by a single prehistoric culture with a religion centered around these mysterious stone circles. If the Almendres Cromlech really is older than Stonehenge, this could reflect the migratory history of these ancient people as they spread west into Europe and then north into the British Isles.

I've always thought that there was a widespread Eurasian culture of megalith-builders back in the Stone Age. There's some evidence for this. For instance, stone circles have been found as far away as Hong Kong, Japan and the Gobi Desert in China. This is all speculation, but the idea of a unified megalith culture fits in with the theory that Europeans originated somewhere in Asia around the Black Sea and then spread west into Europe and east into parts of Asia.

Unearthing A 2000-Yr-Old Saxon Burial Site At Salisbury Plain

Video from May, 2020.

Note: "Salisbury Plain is famous for its history and archaeology. In the Neolithic period, Stone Age people began to settle on the plain, most likely centred around the causewayed enclosure of Robin Hood's Ball. Large long barrows such as White Barrow and other earthworks were built across the plain. By 2500 BC areas around Durrington Walls and Stonehenge had become a focus for building, and the southern part of the plain continued to be settled into the Bronze Age." (Wikipedia)

Video from 2013.

Salisbury Plain has been used as a cemetery for a very long time. According to a 2008 NY Times story, "New radiocarbon dates from human cremation burials among and around the brooding stones on Salisbury Plain in England indicate that the site was used as a cemetery from 3000 B.C. until after the monuments [Stonehenge, etc] were erected around 2500 B.C. ..."

Origin Of Stonehenge Sarsen Stones Discovered

"More than 60 years ago, a worker at Stonehenge kept a drilled-out cylinder from one of the monument's massive upright stones during a restoration project, and last year, on the eve of his 90th birthday, returned the stone. A new analysis of it has now helped solve the mystery of where the giant stones were quarried." Source: Live Science.

"Chemical analysis has shown that the drilled-out stone — along with almost all of Stonehenge's most massive stones — came from West Woods in Wiltshire, just 15 miles (25 kilometers) from the Neolithic monument, said University of Brighton geoscientist David Nash, who led the study."

"While many of the smaller 'bluestones' that surround Stonehenge were cut in the Preseli Hills in the west of Wales, more than 140 miles (230 km) away, little was known before about the large sandstone boulders at Stonehenge, which are known as 'sarsens.'"

Note: The Stonehenge heel stone, a single block of sarsen stone, weighs about 35 tons. If it came from West Wood the megalith builders had to raise and transport this gigantic mass for 15 miles, an impressive feat to say the least.

Comment: This doesn't have anything to do with the story here, but the next video shows a bunch of grubby stoners and "neopagans" trashing out Stonehenge and blathering New Age mumbo-jumbo around the heel stone back in 2016.  One of these days, with any luck, the heel stone will collapse at just the right moment and squash a bunch of these morons while they're pressing their THC-stained hands against the megalith to receive its "blessing."

Photographing Comet Neowise Over Stonehenge

The Stonehenge Stone-Transport "Conspiracy"

Comment: Never mind all the sensationalism about "conspiracies." This is a good overview of the glacial-transport theory describing where the stones used in the construction of Stonehenge may have come from.

Geology Disproves Stonehenge Conspiracy Theory

Stonehenge was extensively reconstructed back in the Fifties. There's no doubt about that. According to English Heritage, "This major engineering project and associated excavations began in 1958 and continued into 1959. [Archaeologists Richard Atkinson, Stuart Piggott and J F S Stone] together oversaw the archaeological work. The trilithon was re-erected from the position where it had lain for 161 years. An upright and a lintel forming part of the outer circle were also put back into position. One of the large sarsens of the inner horseshoe was set in concrete and a large hollow at its base infilled. The sarsen bases were set in concrete to prevent future movement. Finally, six fallen bluestones were lifted and straightened."

The Stonehenge restoration was a major construction project. A large gallery of photographs of the work in progress can be found here.

These photos are used to support a conspiracy theory that Stonehenge is a fake built in the 20th Century. I have no idea how widespread this conspiracy theory is, but I can see how someone who didn't know anything about the megalith could come to that conclusion after seeing pictures of the stones being raised with cranes and so on. I wasn't aware of the reconstruction myself until a little while ago and when I first saw the photos it was kind of startling. Luckily we have old photographs and artwork that prove that Stonehenge actually existed before the megalith was partially rebuilt. And people have been studying the site since the 17th century, at least.

The 1950s reconstruction wasn't even the first to take place. According to Wikipedia, "William Gowland oversaw the first major restoration of the monument in 1901 which involved the straightening and concrete setting of sarsen stone number 56 which was in danger of falling. In straightening the stone he moved it about half a metre from its original position."

It's obvious that Stonehenge wasn't built in the 1950s. It's also obvious that the site has been extensively restored and doesn't correspond exactly to its original design. The megalith has been patched up with concrete in places and some of the stones aren't aligned precisely. These errors in alignment might be small, but they introduce a margin of error into theories about the purpose of the site that rely on precise measurements. For instance, archaeoastronomers have argued that Stonehenge was a kind of ancient observatory and some of them have used computers to measure the alignments between the different features of the monolith. The accuracy of these studies has to be questioned if the stones aren't in their original positions.

Purists say that Stonehenge should have been left in its true remaining state, but I can't see the logic in this. The pre-1954 site was in bad shape, to say the least. Half of the megalith was basically just a pile of rubble. The reconstruction may not have been appropriate by modern standards, but it sounds like the site was rebuilt by experts as accurately as possible so I'm not sure what harm the work caused. What's the point in "preserving" the damage caused by weather and the passage of time? The modern Stonehenge probably looks a lot more like the original now and the repair work helped to preserve the site.

Note: The idea that an ancient megalith could be a modern hoax isn't as outlandish as it might seem. Back in 2019, for instance, the discovery of a previously unknown stone circle in Scotland was announced. Described as a "rare Stonehenge like monument...unknown to archaeologists but well known to local people," the circle turned out to be a replica created by a farmer in the 1990s.

One Of The Largest Prehistoric Sites In Britain Discovered Next To Stonehenge

"What could be one of the largest prehistoric sites in the UK has been discovered near Stonehenge by a consortium of archaeologists led by the University of Bradford." Source: Archaeology News Network.

"A massive 2km-wide ring of prehistoric ‘shafts’ up to 10m across and 5m deep has been discovered around the ‘super henge’ at Durrington Walls [next video] and the famous site at Woodhenge. The structures have been carbon dated to about 2500BC."

"Archaeologists believe the circle of shaft marks a boundary around the massive henge at Durrington. It is thought the features, along with an internal post line, could have guided people towards the religious sites and warned others not to cross the boundary."

Summer Solstice At Stonehenge 2020

"Wherever you are in the world, you can celebrate the 2020 June solstice by watching the sun rise at Stonehenge." Source: EarthSky.

"Every year, thousands of visitors gather at the neolithic Stonehenge monument in Wiltshire, England, to celebrate the first sunrise of the Northern Hemisphere summer. However, this year’s event has been canceled; Stonehenge is currently closed due to Covid-19. While this news is disappointing, there’s good news: For the first time, English Heritage – which has provided access to the event since 2000 – will instead stream the solstice event online.

"The event starts at sunset on Saturday (20:26 UTC on June 20) and goes through sunrise on Sunday (03:53 UTC on June 21). Translate UTC to your time. Here is the official Facebook event page, where you’ll be able to watch the livestream. You can also access the event via Stonehenge on Twitter."

Comment: I posted this a little late but you can find the videos of this less-than-spectacular event (the weather was typically English) on the English Heritage YouTube channel. The skies were clearer back in 2019.

I have mixed feelings about the site being closed because of the dreaded Kung Flu. On the one hand, the crowds who show up at Stonehenge for the solstices always trash the place out, so it's good they're not there. On the other hand, it makes no sense whatsoever to close Stonehenge to visitors while at the same time allowing mass protests in the streets.

Video from June 20, 2020. This is OK but visiting Stonehenge isn't.

UK To Eliminate Stonehenge & All Traces Of Oppressive Roman Regime In Britain

Sir Desmond Swayne and the always entertaining Jacob Rees-Mogg recently discussed the desirability of tearing down Stonehenge and getting rid of all traces of the imperialistic Roman occupation of Britain. This was in response to the vandalization of British historical monuments such as a statue of Churchill in Westminster and a World War II memorial to the London Bomber Command.

Swayne and Rees-Mogg were mocking the protests, of course, but the logic here is inescapable. After all, if we're going to get rid of culturally insensitive monuments, why stop with recent history? The Romans were brutal occupiers -- never mind the fact that Britain descended into a primitive Dark Age after the empire collapsed -- and Stonehenge, as Rees-Mogg points out, is associated with human sacrifice. Why not tear Stonehenge down? In fact, why not get rid of everything associated with the monarchy and the colonial British empire? Let's demolish Buckingham palace, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and all the other historical buildings in the UK.

Nigel Farage, former head of UKIP and current leader of the Brexit Party, called the protestors who want to destroy these memorials the new Taliban, so his radio show was immediately canceled.

These attacks on statues and memorials remind me of the Christian culture war against paganism that took place after Christianity became the official religion in Rome. Make no mistake. What we are seeing is an attempt to erase history and destroy Western civilization.

This isn't going to end well.