On 2008, thirty-three-foot-wide (ten-meter-wide) "Blue Stonehenge" was discovered just over a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the original Stonehenge near Salisbury, United Kingdom. The new archaeological find on the west bank of the river Avon has been called "Blue Stonehenge", after the colour of the 25 Welsh stones of which it was once made up. These blue stones are also found in Stonehenge and consist of a wide range of rock types originally from Pembrokeshire West Wales, some 150 miles (240 km) away. However unlike Stonehenge, which aligns with the sun at the summer and winter solstices, Blue Stonehenge shows no sign of a particular orientation, or even an entrance, the excavation team reported. Nor is there any evidence that people lived at the site.
"It was a complete surprise for the circle to be there," says Julian Thomas, a project codirector and University of Manchester archaeologist. Blue Stonehenge was put up 5,000 years ago and appears to have been a miniature version of it. The circle of an estimated 25 blue stones was surrounded by a henge—an earthwork with a ditch and bank. Professor Mike Parker Pearson, an archaeologist from the University of Sheffield, suspects that any bluestones in the circle may been removed around 2500 BC and incorporated into Stonehenge, which underwent major rebuilding work at about this time. The holes, arranged in a circle, are inside a huge ditch (or henge), similar to Stonehenge and other British prehistoric monuments. The henge has been tentatively dated to 2400 B.C. But flint arrowheads found at the stone circle site are of a type that suggests the rocks were erected as early as 3000 B.C.
Pearson said: "The big, big question is when were our stones erected and when were they removed?” He added: "We speculated in the past that there might have been something at the end of the avenue near the river. But we were completely unprepared to discover that there was an entire stone circle. I think we have found incontrovertible proof that the river was very important to the people who used Stonehenge. I believe that the river formed a conduit between the living and the dead and this is the point where you leave the realm of the living at the river and enter the one of the dead at Stonehenge."
From the material that was excavated from the filled holes, that this was not a site of domestic life. There are no food remains or ceramics, but there is a lot of charcoal. This has led some archaeologists to the theory that Blue stonehenge could have been a cremation site, with the ashes being buried at Stonehenge. The team also found evidence that the builders of the stone circle used deer antlers as pickaxes.
Dr Josh Pollard, project co-director from the University of Bristol, described the discovery as "incredible". "The newly discovered circle and henge should be considered an integral part of Stonehenge rather than a separate monument and it offers tremendous insight into the history of its famous neighbour. Its landscape location demonstrates once again the importance of the river Avon in Neolithic funerary rites and ceremonies." There have been many theories about the use of Stonehenge, including that it was believed to have healing properties and was a giant astronomical observatory. The new discovery supports the theory that Stonehenge was the center of a Neolithic ritual mortuary complex and Blue Stonehenge may represents a vital part of the jigsaw as researchers slowly piece together the meaning of Stonehenge.
Sources :
http://www.archaeology.org/1001/trenches/bluestonehenge.html;
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1217752/Henge-stones-Unearthed-site-monuments-little-sister.html;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluestonehenge;
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/oct/06/second-stonehenge-discovered?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487;
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091005-mini-stonehenge-bluestonehenge-bluehenge.html;
http://www.news.uwa.edu.au/201005032438/features/out-blue-another-stonehenge
Pic Source :
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/10/02/article-1217752-06AD7FAC000005DC-790_634x672.jpg
"It was a complete surprise for the circle to be there," says Julian Thomas, a project codirector and University of Manchester archaeologist. Blue Stonehenge was put up 5,000 years ago and appears to have been a miniature version of it. The circle of an estimated 25 blue stones was surrounded by a henge—an earthwork with a ditch and bank. Professor Mike Parker Pearson, an archaeologist from the University of Sheffield, suspects that any bluestones in the circle may been removed around 2500 BC and incorporated into Stonehenge, which underwent major rebuilding work at about this time. The holes, arranged in a circle, are inside a huge ditch (or henge), similar to Stonehenge and other British prehistoric monuments. The henge has been tentatively dated to 2400 B.C. But flint arrowheads found at the stone circle site are of a type that suggests the rocks were erected as early as 3000 B.C.
Pearson said: "The big, big question is when were our stones erected and when were they removed?” He added: "We speculated in the past that there might have been something at the end of the avenue near the river. But we were completely unprepared to discover that there was an entire stone circle. I think we have found incontrovertible proof that the river was very important to the people who used Stonehenge. I believe that the river formed a conduit between the living and the dead and this is the point where you leave the realm of the living at the river and enter the one of the dead at Stonehenge."
From the material that was excavated from the filled holes, that this was not a site of domestic life. There are no food remains or ceramics, but there is a lot of charcoal. This has led some archaeologists to the theory that Blue stonehenge could have been a cremation site, with the ashes being buried at Stonehenge. The team also found evidence that the builders of the stone circle used deer antlers as pickaxes.
Dr Josh Pollard, project co-director from the University of Bristol, described the discovery as "incredible". "The newly discovered circle and henge should be considered an integral part of Stonehenge rather than a separate monument and it offers tremendous insight into the history of its famous neighbour. Its landscape location demonstrates once again the importance of the river Avon in Neolithic funerary rites and ceremonies." There have been many theories about the use of Stonehenge, including that it was believed to have healing properties and was a giant astronomical observatory. The new discovery supports the theory that Stonehenge was the center of a Neolithic ritual mortuary complex and Blue Stonehenge may represents a vital part of the jigsaw as researchers slowly piece together the meaning of Stonehenge.
Sources :
http://www.archaeology.org/1001/trenches/bluestonehenge.html;
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1217752/Henge-stones-Unearthed-site-monuments-little-sister.html;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluestonehenge;
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/oct/06/second-stonehenge-discovered?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487;
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091005-mini-stonehenge-bluestonehenge-bluehenge.html;
http://www.news.uwa.edu.au/201005032438/features/out-blue-another-stonehenge
Pic Source :
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/10/02/article-1217752-06AD7FAC000005DC-790_634x672.jpg
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