Ancient World Review

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.

The Almendres Cromlech Stone Circle In Portugal

"The Cromlech of the Almendres ... is a megalithic complex (commonly known as the Almendres Cromlech), located ...  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 and around the same region], such as Portela Mogos and the Vale Maria do Meio Cromlech [next video]." (Wikipedia)

Note: A cromlech is a megalithic structure of stone blocks. The Alemendres Cromlech and other structures mentioned above date back to the 6th millennium BC.

The Almendres Cromlech has been restored using the original stones:

"Many of the stones were unearthed where they stood/fell, and were rebuilt/erected by [archaeologist?] Mario Varela Gomes, based on criteria established from research and rediscovery of the original bases. The complex's latitudinal position is about the same as the maximum moon elongation (38.55 degrees for 1500 BC); comparably, another latitude where this occurs is associated with Stonehenge (51.18 degrees for 2000 BC)." (Wikipedia) Like Stonehenge, "[i]t is believed that the monument either had a religious/ceremonial purpose or functioned as a primitive astronomical observatory."

Old Photos Of Stonehenge Show Restoration Work

There's a conspiracy theory floating around out there that Stonehenge is actually fake, having been constructed in the 1950s. This theory is based on old photographs which supposedly show construction work being carried out at the site decades ago. As it turns out, some of these photographs are authentic (see 1:09 and on in the video, for example).

According to English Heritage, Stonehenge was partially restored back in 1914 when some of the capstone lintels (which had collapsed) were lifted back into place using cranes and concrete was used to patch some of the standing stones. The land around the site was also cleared to some extent and I think this work is still going on. At any rate, the Stonehenge that exists today is, in a certain sense, a reconstruction.

This kind of restoration / preservation work isn't uncommon in archaeology and it sometimes has unintended consequences. For instance, efforts have been made to keep Egypt's oldest known pyramid, the Pyramid of Djoser, from collapsing completely, but this may actually have made things worse, according to a 2014 story in Smithsonian Magazine.

The Stonehenge Burials

Stonehenge "maintains its less explored, darker aspects, not least of which are the enigmatic burials scattered in and around this famous Neolithic monument. What can these burials, both cremation and inhumation, tell us about the rituals and activities that went on at Stonehenge more than four millennia ago?" Source: "The Stonehenge Burials," Ancient History Encyclopedia.

"...During the 20th century CE nearly 60 cremation burials were uncovered at Stonehenge, with perhaps a couple of hundred more remaining in unexcavated areas of the monument. Interestingly, the latest of these cremations has been radiocarbon dated to c. 2300 BCE, which illustrates that cremation was still being practiced at Stonehenge long after the bluestones and sarsens had been erected."

Video from 2017.

Related: Stonehenge May Have Been Burial Site For Stone Age Elite.

"In Stonehenge's early years, ancient people used it as a cemetery. In fact, excavations from 1919 to 1926 revealed the cremated remains of up to 58 people, 'making Stonehenge one of the largest Late Neolithic burial sites known in Britain..." Source: Live Science (2018).

"These cremated remains were discovered in the Aubrey Holes, a series of 56 pits at Stonehenge that were named in honor of the 17th-century antiquarian John Aubrey, who first wrote about them. All of the human remains were moved into Aubrey Hole 7, which was then re-excavated in 2008."

Video from 2018.

Related: Lives before and after Stonehenge: An osteobiographical study of four prehistoric burials recently excavated from the Stonehenge World Heritage Site.

A "Druid Priest" Explains Stonehenge

Video from 2009.

Comment:  For a video titled "Druid priest explains Stonehenge," there isn't much information here at all. The idea that the Stonehenge builders slid the rocks they used across the ice-covered ground is plausible, I guess, but in general this Grand Druid doesn't "explain" anything about Stonehenge that isn't common knowledge. That's not too surprising, though. "Neopagans" talk a lot about ancient megaliths, but they don't seem to know much about them.

I've ranted about this before, but I have to point out that this character isn't actually a "Druid priest." How could he be? Nobody knows anything about the Druids' actual practices, so whatever he may think he's doing at Stonehenge it has nothing to do with actual history and authentic paganism.

"Almost everything we know about Druids is second-hand knowledge. Surviving texts that mention them were written by non-Druids, something that poses a problem to modern-day historians trying to understand who they were and how their role changed over time." Source: Live Science (2014)

It doesn't really matter, anyway. Even if we did know all about the Druids' religious beliefs, it wouldn't make any difference because Stonehenge was built long before the Druids or the Celts arrived in Britain. If the Druids used the site, their rituals probably had little to do with the reasons it was originally constructed.

Modern neo-Druids are anachronisms. They're fake Druids staging made-up ceremonies at an ancient site that probably had nothing to do with the real Druids at all. This "priest" is actually a thoroughly modern PC liberal following a makeshift religion thrown together from an assortment of New Age beliefs all mixed up with Greeny politics and heavily influenced by Hollywood fantasy movies. For instance, whoever built Stonehenge, it's highly doubtful that they did things like run around the stone circle naked in the middle of the night, one of the "activities" this guy mentions in the video.

This Druid-impersonator mentions that his group is protesting to gain access to the stone circle for their made-up ceremonies. He doesn't mention that English Heritage has been forced to put up fences and control access to the site in order to prevent the massive damage caused by the invasions of neopagans, gawkers, stoners, ravers and tourists which occur during every solstice and equinox, and other times of the year. This vandalism has been going on for so long that I would be in favor of the police using dogs and water cannons to drive these mobs away.

Next video (2017) covers the damage tourism causes to several historic sites. Stonehenge is covered at 5:15.

More on Stonehenge here.

Stonehenge Circles May Have Started Off As Commemoration Of Ancient Elite Family

"The massive and ancient stone circles around Stonehenge and Avebury in southern England may have all started with the commemoration of a single Neolithic house that probably belonged to an elite family, archaeologists now say." Source: Live Science.

"Using ground-penetrating radar, the researchers found that the monumental stone circles of Avebury, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Stonehenge, were centered on an early Neolithic habitation, with the concentric stone circles and large earthen embankment being built around it probably centuries later."