The Realm of the Ancestors...

Today's the Winter Solstice.  The Day of the Dead - or rather, the Ancestors. 

I'm stuck at home, gazing at the fog,  when I should be sitting in the shadow of the Langdale Ancestors raising a glass in their honour.  Ah well, can't be helped.  I'll just post my very own eulegy to the Ancestors instead.  And the choice for today's topic is an obvious one.

Here we are:-

 

It's Stonehenge, looking suitably gloomy and atmospheric.  I thought I'd dispense with the obvious general site views, because I'm sure you all know perfectly well what Stonehenge looks like.

For generations, archaeologists and lay folk have waxed lyrical about the mystery of Stonehenge.  That it functions as a calendar is clear, but the elaborate theories proposed for how this particular calendar functioned probably over-egg the pudding.  This monument is a highly complex structure which was continually modified and adapted by generations, resulting in the familiar form we see today.

 

 In the foreground, we see one of the famous Prescelly bluestones, brought to Salisbury Plain from the Prescelly Mountains in West Wales - an extraordinary logistical feat for a prehistoric population....

Each generation of archaeologists has developed its own pet theories about how Stonehenge functioned, but it's only now that it looks like we're getting close to understanding this monument.  To get to grips with Stonehenge, it's necessary not to focus on the monument itself, but to consider how it fits in with its wider landscape setting. 

Over the last few years, Sheffield University Archaeology Department has been spearheading the Stonehenge Riverside Project, which has done exactly that, and the results have been breathtaking.

The importance of the midsummer solstice in the way in which Stonehenge operates is well known.  But it's only by considering this monument in relation to others that the important role of the midwinter sunrise becomes apparent.  The monument is approached along a specific route, by formal avenues, along which, it must be assumed, the local communities processed at particular times of year - the midwinter and midsummer solstices.

I've taken the liberty of quoting a section from the 2005 Summary Interim report, just so you can get a flavour of the current thinking:-  


'Wood to stone downstream - to the realm of the ancestors
Southern Circle to Road Facing midwinter sunrise
Avenue to Stonehenge Facing midwinter sunset

Stone to wood upstream - fertility from the ancestors
Stonehenge to Avenue Facing midsummer sunrise
Road to Souther Circle Facing midsummer sunset

This juxtaposition now suggests that midwinter and midsummer were both important solsticial moments in the annual calendar. There is also a switch in directionality, from the timber monuments of Durrington Walls downstream to Stonehenge at the midwinter solstice and upstream from Stonehenge to Durrington Walls on midsummer's day. Whilst the midwinter route has been recognised and discussed within the project, the reversed midsummer route has only been recognised by Mike Pitts  (2000).  Whilst the former route can be interpreted as leading from the living into the realms of the ancestors, the opposite leads from the ancestors to the living.  The ultimate gift that ancestors provide is fertility and this may be the significance of the midsummer directionality.  It would siggest a preference for human birth in the spring, with sex and death symbolised at the two solstices of the annual round'   (Parker Pearson, et. al. 2005).


Have they cracked it?  The argument is certainly a compelling one.  If you want to read it for yourself, just click on the link below.  It's a site report, but it's not too dry and tedious:-

http://www.shef.ac.uk/content/1/c6/02/21/27/PDF-Interim-Report-2005-summary.pdf

The Time Team did a Stonehenge special a few years back, and though I'm not a big fan of the Time Team, this particular programme was brilliant.  And for those of you who want to find out more about the Stonehenge Riverside Project in general, try the following link:-

http://www.shef.ac.uk/archaeology/research/stonehenge

I'll leave the last word to the monument itself.  I've explored a lot of wonderful places throughout the British Isles and western Europe, but Stonehenge remains one of my firm favourites.  And you know what?  The closer we get to understanding how it functioned, the more I appreciate it.  It's as magnificent an embodiment of the spiritual beliefs of its time as the medieval cathedrals built c. 3000 years later.

Enjoy. 
 

 

The Realm of the Ancestors...

Today's the Winter Solstice.  The Day of the Dead - or rather, the Ancestors. 

I'm stuck at home, gazing at the fog,  when I should be sitting in the shadow of the Langdale Ancestors raising a glass in their honour.  Ah well, can't be helped.  I'll just post my very own eulegy to the Ancestors instead.  And the choice for today's topic is an obvious one.

Here we are:-

 

It's Stonehenge, looking suitably gloomy and atmospheric.  I thought I'd dispense with the obvious general site views, because I'm sure you all know perfectly well what Stonehenge looks like.

For generations, archaeologists and lay folk have waxed lyrical about the mystery of Stonehenge.  That it functions as a calendar is clear, but the elaborate theories proposed for how this particular calendar functioned probably over-egg the pudding.  This monument is a highly complex structure which was continually modified and adapted by generations, resulting in the familiar form we see today.

 

 In the foreground, we see one of the famous Prescelly bluestones, brought to Salisbury Plain from the Prescelly Mountains in West Wales - an extraordinary logistical feat for a prehistoric population....

Each generation of archaeologists has developed its own pet theories about how Stonehenge functioned, but it's only now that it looks like we're getting close to understanding this monument.  To get to grips with Stonehenge, it's necessary not to focus on the monument itself, but to consider how it fits in with its wider landscape setting. 

Over the last few years, Sheffield University Archaeology Department has been spearheading the Stonehenge Riverside Project, which has done exactly that, and the results have been breathtaking.

The importance of the midsummer solstice in the way in which Stonehenge operates is well known.  But it's only by considering this monument in relation to others that the important role of the midwinter sunrise becomes apparent.  The monument is approached along a specific route, by formal avenues, along which, it must be assumed, the local communities processed at particular times of year - the midwinter and midsummer solstices.

I've taken the liberty of quoting a section from the 2005 Summary Interim report, just so you can get a flavour of the current thinking:-  


'Wood to stone downstream - to the realm of the ancestors
Southern Circle to Road Facing midwinter sunrise
Avenue to Stonehenge Facing midwinter sunset

Stone to wood upstream - fertility from the ancestors
Stonehenge to Avenue Facing midsummer sunrise
Road to Souther Circle Facing midsummer sunset

This juxtaposition now suggests that midwinter and midsummer were both important solsticial moments in the annual calendar. There is also a switch in directionality, from the timber monuments of Durrington Walls downstream to Stonehenge at the midwinter solstice and upstream from Stonehenge to Durrington Walls on midsummer's day. Whilst the midwinter route has been recognised and discussed within the project, the reversed midsummer route has only been recognised by Mike Pitts  (2000).  Whilst the former route can be interpreted as leading from the living into the realms of the ancestors, the opposite leads from the ancestors to the living.  The ultimate gift that ancestors provide is fertility and this may be the significance of the midsummer directionality.  It would siggest a preference for human birth in the spring, with sex and death symbolised at the two solstices of the annual round'   (Parker Pearson, et. al. 2005).


Have they cracked it?  The argument is certainly a compelling one.  If you want to read it for yourself, just click on the link below.  It's a site report, but it's not too dry and tedious:-

http://www.shef.ac.uk/content/1/c6/02/21/27/PDF-Interim-Report-2005-summary.pdf

The Time Team did a Stonehenge special a few years back, and though I'm not a big fan of the Time Team, this particular programme was brilliant.  And for those of you who want to find out more about the Stonehenge Riverside Project in general, try the following link:-

http://www.shef.ac.uk/archaeology/research/stonehenge

I'll leave the last word to the monument itself.  I've explored a lot of wonderful places throughout the British Isles and western Europe, but Stonehenge remains one of my firm favourites.  And you know what?  The closer we get to understanding how it functioned, the more I appreciate it.  It's as magnificent an embodiment of the spiritual beliefs of its time as the medieval cathedrals built c. 3000 years later.

Enjoy.