Analysis of British Stonehenges History - Essay Example

Autumn Jenkins Number Chippindale, Chris. 1994. Stonehenge Complete. New York: Thames and Hudson. I) CONDENSED VERSION Clouds ofmystery have surrounded one stone structure, situated in the center of an English plain, for several hundred years. Stonehenge, located on Salisbury Plain near the River Avon in south-central England, is the ruin of what is believed to be a single building, constructed almost four thousand years ago. It is a relatively small structure - comprised of 162 blocks total, and measuring not more than 35 paces across - but it has held a prominent place in archaeological and astronomical research interests for hundreds of years. Many questions about its history have been answered, and yet so many more remain. This book describes the questions and explains the answers, and situates them all within the relevant time periods. During the Renaissance, an answer was obtained for the question: What is Stonehenge In the Victorian period, scholars answered the question: By what kind of men The question of when Stonehenge was built was answered during the reign of the second Queen Elizabeth. One question, however, still remains unanswered: Why was Stonehenge built There are many theories - there always have been, and it is likely that there always will be - at least until the real truth is known. Stonehenge Complete takes the existing facts, compiles them, and attempts to explain them in a way that will educate and entertain readers, as they seek to decipher the mysteries of Stonehenge. II) AUTHOR'S THESIS AND SUMMARY Ever since the beginning of recorded British history, visitors to Stonehenge have tried to explain its origins and purpose. Their interpretations are shaped by their own experiences, and cultural and temporal influences. The author researches and reports on an extensive collection of these interpretations, and divides out the historical truths from the legends. The book is laid out chronologically, for the most part. Quite appropriately, it begins at the beginning. The first written record of Stonehenge, by the archdeacon of Lincoln, Henry of Huntingdon, dates back to 1130. The bishop, Alexander of Blois, commissioned him to write a history of England. Stonehenge figures prominently in this history, as it is named one of the country's marvels. Further evidence of Stonehenge's literary and historical popularity can be seen in extant writing from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Between the 14th and 16th centuries, the legend of Stonehenge and its creation became intertwined with the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. It was a popular story that flourished despite evidence to the contrary, and was put into verse in Edmund Spenser's "The Faerie Queene." Some dramatic representations of this connection exist in Thomas Rowley's 1620 play, "The Birth of Merlin" and John Galliard's 1734 musical pantomime, "Merlin, or the Devil of Stonehenge." Thus, Stonehenge became forever ingrained in the political and literary consciousnesses of the English people. For several hundred years it was believed that Merlin the Magician was responsible for creating the stones and setting them in place. Subsequent theories for the origins of the stones included: remnants of volcanic rock that were shot up from underground; solid masses that were thrown into place by the fluid earth's rotation; and even meteoric deposits from space which just so happened to fall into a particular pattern. This belief was held in the beginning of the 19th century. Modern geology has identified the true nature of the sarsen rock, but even it cannot explain just how Stonehenge came to be constructed in the way it was. In the eyes of the Renaissance thinkers, no one native to the British Isles could have been responsible for creating such a magnificent structure. At one time or another, the Romans, a mythical race of giants, the Dutch, and the Phoenicians were all considered to be possible originators of the ancient construction site. In the mid-1600s, when John Aubrey began doing his field studies of Stonehenge and the surrounding stone circles, these theories were laid to rest once and for all. The similarities between Stonehenge and the other stone circles proved to the scientific community that they had to have been built by the same people - the ancient Britons or their priests, the Druids. Later, in the first quarter of the 18th century, Dr. William Stukeley found even more evidence of the Druidic origins of Stonehenge. Stukeley expounded greatly on these Druidic origins, and wrote several theses on ancient religious practices. He even went so far as to imagine himself in the role of an ancient Druid. Despite the fanciful turn of his ideas, Stukeley's archaeological contributions cannot be overlooked. Almost 100 years after Stukeley performed his excavations of the site, William Cunnington conducted an extensive archaeological survey of the stone structure and the burrows surrounding it. Cunnington's main contribution to the scientific research was in discovering that the site dated back to pre-Roman times. There was little doubt left that ancient Britons had been responsible for building Stonehenge. In addition to this finding, Cunnington discovered that the inner and outer rings of stone were built at different times out of different kinds of rock. The outer ring, the older of the two, was constructed out of sarsen rock, but the newer inner ring consisted of granite and hornstone - both of which were thought to be from Cornwall or Devonshire. Further attempts to date the rock drew heavily on the three-age division of the prehistoric past formulated by Danish antiquarian Christian Jurgen Thomsen. It was at first theorized that Stonehenge could not possibly belong to any period earlier than the late Bronze Age because of its intricacies; however, archaeological evidence excavated from the burrows of Stonehenge pointed to a much earlier period - the Stone Age. To investigate this issue more thoroughly, Egyptian archaeologist Flinders Petrie journeyed to Stonehenge in the final quarter of the 19th century. His research did not shed much light on the age question, but he discovered something even more fascinating. Petrie found that the arrangement of the stones corresponded with important astronomical occurrences, like the winter and summer solstices, and the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. Attempts to date Stonehenge by this method have failed, but it is still an interesting correlation, and it is one that draws many people to the monument each year. Beginning in the 1830s, Stonehenge became a popular spot on the vacation destination maps of both commoners and royals alike. It was still a favorite visiting place for scientists, including Charles Darwin, who featured the structure prominently in his 1881 book about earthworms. Americans, as well as Britons, caught "Stonehenge fever." One notable American tourist during this time period was the writer/philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, who seemed thoroughly impressed by the stone circle. Stonehenge also became a popular performance venue for musicians and actors; however, ever since the 1890s, the most attended event at the site is the sunrise of the summer solstice. Unfortunately, the noisy crowds and their vehicles often overshadow the grandeur of the silent stone structure. Not only was the serenity of the scene broken by the tourists, but tourists wanting to take a piece home with them also broke the rocks themselves. Litter from the many picnics eaten in close proximity to the stones was a problem, as well as the tendency people had to carve their names into the rocks. Much to the chagrin of archaeologists, very little was done to engender respect for Stonehenge until the Ancient Monuments Bill was passed in 1882. Even then, finding a caretaker who would enforce this law was a difficult task. Preservation of the marvel was not even a concern to the owner, Sir Edmund Antrobus, until Stonehenge started to crumble on December 31, 1900. After this, a fence was constructed for protection, and an admittance fee was instituted. Renovations began in 1901, under the supervision of Professor William Gowland. In the two months that Gowland and his team excavated the site, they found out more about the history of the place than anyone had throughout the previous century. He showed how the stone holes had been dug, trimmed, shaped, and he could even make a reasonable guess as to when each stone was put up. Additionally, he proved that both the stone rings were of the same date, and he made a good estimate of what that date (around 1800 BC) was based on the evidence he found. Gowland conjectured that the purpose for Stonehenge was sun worship, the people who built it were not foreigners, and they lived long before the Druids ever existed. Twenty years later, petrographer Dr. H.H. Thomas solved the mystery of the origin of the inner ring of stones. The three main varieties of Stonehenge bluestone - spotted dolerite, rhyolite, and volcanic ash - were found to originate in the Preseli Mountains in Wales. All three had been transported to the area through the actions of glaciers. The altar stone was identified as Welsh, also. Additional proof was found that the Stonehenge setting of bluestones was rebuilt from some earlier structure. To further protect Stonehenge and the land that surrounded it, 1500 acres of the area were bought in 1929 and entered into the National Trust. By 1935, modern conveniences such as a caf, public restrooms, and a parking lot were added to the site. The Second World War left Stonehenge unharmed, but it slowed down the research progress. The next major find was discovered in 1950 when a small sample of charcoal was sent to a newly created carbon dating lab in Chicago. The new test for assessing the dates of materials placed Stonehenge as being built around 1848 BC, plus or minus 275 years, thus fitting its creation within the Neolithic period in England. Advancements in calibrated radiocarbon in the late 1950s and early 1960s altered these dates slightly, adding on about 1000 years to the earlier date. It was now believed that instead of taking place over 400 years, the building of Stonehenge lasted about 1200 years. In 1953, carvings resembling flat axes and daggers were found on the stones, easily identifying the stones as prehistoric. The axes were drawn in a typically Irish style, but the daggers resembled carvings found in Greece. For this reason, it was thought that Stonehenge was created by a Greek master, but later carbon dating disproved this. Once again, researchers were left with no choice but to believe that Stonehenge was built by ancient Britons. Research conducted in the 1980s turned away from the monument itself and concentrated on the surrounding landscape. In its first years, the project focused on a surface survey. The evidence from this field-walking decisively showed that Stonehenge was more than just a ritual landscape. There was debris of flint-working and even some signs of settlement. Traces of pottery and a landscape that was proven to be tamed and farmed as time passed began to emerge. Fieldwork in the 1990s corroborated and furthered the understanding that there was, indeed, a settlement at the site of Stonehenge, and scientists have developed even more theories concerning the astronomical reasons Stonehenge may have been built. Yet even modern science fails to take all the mystery out of the history of the famous structure, and that is probably for the best. III) PERSONAL ASSESSMENT I personally found this book very enjoyable. It provided a wealth of knowledge on Stonehenge, and did so in a way that was equally accessible to scholars, historians, and everyday, ordinary people. I also appreciated the efforts the author went to in order to find all the pictures that he used and to create all the graphs that explained in more detail exactly what Stonehenge probably looked like when it was first created, and what it looks like now. The descriptions of the other stone circles that can be found in England seemed a little off-topic to me at first, but once I realized that they were there for comparison, they aided in enhancing my appreciation and understanding of Stonehenge. The author's main purpose in writing this book was to give the reader a full understanding of the complete history of Stonehenge. I believe he accomplished this fairly well, although I am no expert. However, in his conclusion and an appendix, the author mentions sources and individuals that he did not include in the body of the work because of the space allotment. Still, Stonehenge Complete is one of the most comprehensive historical and archaeological guides to the monument that exists today, and it even includes a mini-travel guide in one of its appendices. One would be hard-pressed to find another book that blends scholarship and readability as well as this one does. The monument Stonehenge is still an object of fascination and mystery after all these centuries, and I believe that Chippindale's treatment of it will also be held in high regard for many years to come. Read More

 

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