Stonehenge Articles

Just south of Durrington Walls superhenge, about 5 minute walk, is the reproduction of Woodhenge. It is likely that these holes in Durrington Walls superhenge are the holes left from the original Woodhenge site, now that the wood has decomposed. It would be interesting to know if there is any debris in the bottom of these holes that might correlate this theory.

English oak, is a darn hard wood. I would theorize that this was possibly used in the original Woodhenge. After a few thousand years, even it would breakdown. Residual material could possibly remain. Just my thoughts on this, Haiku …
 
New: Historic find deepens Stonehenge mystery.
I'm not sure what it is, theyre saying a 'shaft' circling around the site. Could it be something to circulate energy around the site ? A bit like the grooves on Malta. Maybe someone has a better understanding that can explain I'm just guessing.


 
New: Historic find deepens Stonehenge mystery.
I'm not sure what it is, theyre saying a 'shaft' circling around the site. Could it be something to circulate energy around the site ? A bit like the grooves on Malta. Maybe someone has a better understanding that can explain I'm just guessing.


I'm glad it is getting a bit of video News exposure.
I posted the article a few days ago here:

The measurements of the shafts are VERY interesting, as they are quite large:
[...] the site consists of at least 20 huge shafts, more than 10 meters (32 feet) in diameter and 5 meters (16 feet) deep, forming a circle more than 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) in diameter. "
 
There's also this SOTT article: Huge 4,500-year-old stone circle discovered near Stonehenge -- Sott.net
Archaeologists have discovered a major new prehistoric monument just a short distance away from Stonehenge. Some 20 or more massive prehistoric shafts - more than 10 metres wide and five metres deep - form a vast circle more than two kilometres in diameter around the Durrington Walls henge. Coring of the shafts suggest the features are neolithic and excavated more than 4,500 years ago, around the time Durrington Walls was built. It is thought the shafts served as a boundary to a sacred area or precinct associated with the henge.
[...]
Dr Richard Bates, of the university's School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, said: 'Yet again, the use of a multidisciplinary effort with remote sensing and careful sampling is giving us an insight to the past that shows an even more complex society than we could ever imagine. 'Clearly sophisticated practices demonstrate that the people were so in tune with natural events to an extent that we can barely conceive in the modern world we live in today.' Tim Kinnaird, of the same school, said: 'The sedimentary infills contain a rich and fascinating archive of previously unknown environmental information. 'With optically stimulated luminescence profiling and dating, we can write detailed narratives of the Stonehenge landscape for the last 4,000 years.'
 
Scientists recreate prehistoric acoustics of Stonehenge

Sounds produced inside circle would have been less audible to anybody outside, research finds
David Keys

Scientists have succeeded in recreating the soundscape of the inner sanctum of Stonehenge.

It’s the first time that the acoustics of the world’s most famous prehistoric temple have been accurately experienced for up to 2,000 years.

The main phase of the monument was built in around 2,500BC. Its major period of use lasted until at least 1,600BC. However, it’s likely that some form of ritual or other activity continued there, perhaps intermittently, for at least another one and a half millennia. Then, at some stage, half of the great temple was destroyed (today only around 50 per cent of the larger stones survive).

As a result of that partial demolition, the original acoustics were destroyed.

But now, scientists have succeeded in accurately recreating the monument’s original soundscape.

The new research – carried out by acoustics engineers from the University of Salford in Greater Manchester – has revealed that the 20-40 tonne stones acted as a giant amplifier, which increased the decibel count of various sounds potentially produced in the monument’s inner sanctum by between 10 and 20 per cent (up to 10 decibels), compared to a more open environment.

However, the research also demonstrated that any sounds produced inside the temple would have been much less audible to anybody outside the circle, despite the monument almost certainly not having a roof.

The findings therefore suggest that any sounds generated by activities carried out inside the circle were not intended to be shared with the wider community. This reinforces theories suggesting that the potential religious activities conducted inside Stonehenge were reserved for an elite of practitioners, rather than for a wider communal congregation.

Archaeologists don’t know whether the practices carried out inside Stonehenge involved any form of music or chanting or any other form of speech. But drums and wind instruments were used in western Europe, while Stonehenge was in use.

The findings from the new acoustic research suggests that deeper-sounding instruments like drums and lurs (giant ancient bronze horns) would have been particularly effective in producing strong reverberations and therefore greater amplification within the monument.

The Salford research has so far concentrated on how the acoustics of Stonehenge would have affected the human voice.

To recreate the ancient temple’s soundscape, scientists, led by Professor Trevor Cox, made a 1:12 scale model of what Stonehenge would originally have looked like before half its stones were removed.

That model – based on archaeological evidence – was then tested acoustically in Salford University’s sound laboratory, using the same acoustic testing techniques normally employed by sound engineers on scale-model prototypes of modern concert halls and opera houses.

Because the model Stonehenge was one-twelfth the size of the original, the sounds used in the test had to be twelve times normal frequency (ie extending into the ultrasonic range).

Salford University’s acoustic scale model of Stonehenge is 2.5m in diameter – and was 3D printed from a CAD (computer-aided design) software model supplied by Historic England which has archaeological responsibility for the monument. Using the CAD model, the scientists were even able to recreate the precise surface topography of each of the stones, thus ensuring a much more accurate replication of the original temple’s acoustic environment.

“Constructing and testing the model was very time consuming, a labour of love, but it has given the most accurate insight into the prehistoric acoustics to date. With so many stones missing or displaced, the modern acoustics of Stonehenge are very different to that in prehistory,” said Professor Cox.

The new acoustics research has been announced less than a month after archaeologists for the first time identified the source of the prehistoric temple’s giant stones.
 
more on acustic properties of stonehenge in this Stonehenge’s Stones Can Sing

The bluestones ‘sing’ when they are hit, resonating with an apparently unique twang that does not appear to reach the same pitch or musical note as other stones which merely ‘thud’.
Some previous theories surrounding Stonehenge’s sonic qualities – the way the stone circle would have captured and reverberated sound – had been rather dismissed by the experts concentrating on astronomy and landscape, but the new study appears to reinforce the importance of sound, and the sonic qualities of the stones themselves.
“We found it was a noteworthy soundscape, with a significant percentage of the actual rocks making metallic sounds like bells, gongs, tin drums, etc, when tapped with small, handheld ‘hammerstones’,” said Paul Devereux, the study’s co-leader, a research associate at the college and an expert in archaeo-acoustics.
and an interesting idea on it having a roof Why would Stonehenge NOT have a roof ?
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Acoustics...
A BBC sound engineer saw the model on display in Bristol. He did not know what it was for, but exclaimed "This is the best building for sound and acoustics I've ever seen. The shape of the roof would be perfect to reflect sound. Stand in the middle of Stonehenge and speak, and the sound will be amplified by the conical shape of the roof."​

maybe worth asking the Cs if it did have a roof?
 
FWIW, Dr. Martin Sweatman has a new article out on Stonehenge - Stonehenge: Solar calendar or not?


 
Sky News have reported on a new Stonehenge study in the Journal of Archaeological Science:
The authors report that the Altar Stone (Stone 80) should not be considered the same as the other blue stones, thought to have been transported to the site from Pembrokeshire, Wales.

They believe the stone is more likely to have been brought from northern Britain - Cheshire, the Lake District or even Scotland.

The Altar Stone, a sandstone, has an unusually high level of barium compared to other similar sandstones, which may be helpful in finding its source, and Professor Pearce thinks the research will lead to a change in mindset when considering Stonehenge.
 
An idea popped into my head today, and I'm just floating it here.

In my searches through the Saka dictionary, I eventually looked up 'stone' and got the word ida- from ira meaning 'jade'. Ida made me think of Mount Ida from Homer and from there I thought of Stonehenge. Jade is green or an -ish-green variation and is known as 'loin-stone'. The Altar Stone is apparently a purplish-green and it made me wonder if this stone could be 'the' loin-stone, if there could be such a thing, or if 'loin-stone' is somehow tied to it. I'm not saying the Altar Stone is jade. I'm just thinking about the name.
 
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