Went to see Stonehenge on Sunday (13 July 2008). It's a pretty remarkable place which is a good thing since it would make this a really boring blog post if it wasn't. To get there from London, I found it rather easy to go by train to the town of Salisbury. Salisbury is a small very old town that has a very nice cathedral. By the way, Salisbury is pronounced as Salsbry, why they continue to waste those extra vowels in the spelling is a mystery to me. I might do a small post a little later about the town and the nearby Old Sarum Castle.
Salisbury Cathedral
It was a beautiful day in southern England. Above is the view shortly before you cross the road via the tunnel. For some reason I wasn't expecting the surrounding area to be so much like farmland. It turns out that some of the surrounding area (owned by the National Trust) is being converted back to a natural chalk prairie. Anyway as you can tell I was not alone. There were 1000's of people all with cameras (go figure).
So I didn't feel any greater connection with the earth than normal. No overriding sense of peace and harmony, but of course they don't allow the general public amongst the stones unless it's during the solstices and equinoxes (or with special permission).
There are a lot of theories about how and why the stones were arranged in this way. I of course have come up with the only right answer as I seem to be much more clever than the average human (ok stop laughing already). I'll tell you my theory later.
The Stones are thought to have been erected sometime around 2200 BC, the earthbank and ditch surrounding the stones came much earlier than that at about 3100 BC. I of course get a lot of my (so called) facts from the Wikipedia so check out the link to read more in depth stuff. The stones were thought to have been transported by humans from the Preseli Hills of modern day Pembrokeshire in Wales (160 mi away). A newer theory is that they were transported from glacial deposits much nearer to the site.
I of course don't believe that prehistoric people went to all this trouble. I also discount the idea that they were erected by aliens or brought to England from Ireland by giants. I think that the suggestion that Merlin might have placed the stones here would have some merit if I didn't already know the answer.
After spending time with the stones the answer was obvious. The stones simply walked there, it is taking a lot of time but all the stones should be there shortly (that is a short amount of time for a stone, a really long time for humans).
You can almost see the worried look on the face of this stone, as it rushes to get in place having realized it was late. Luckily it made it across the road safely and prior to the fence being put up.
I know everybody thinks stones don't walk they roll. I of course agree that it's much faster for them to roll but that only works for the downhill bit. Can't roll uphill now can you. Ok so now you are saying why would they walk to this area. Obviously the answer is to have a meeting of sorts. We can't really comprehend what would be so important to a stone that would cause it to undertake this journey and to do so in such a hurry.
Anyway as you can tell time is much different for the stones. You can see that from looking at these guys.
Apparently they formed shortly after the Stonehenge stones were thought to have been erected.
Let's take a closer look at these stones (you have to click on the pics to see the details). The one in the center of the shot above is having a look around to see who might still be coming. It seemse to have some sort of smirk in its features. The stone immediately to it's left has apparently learned to write (in English) and is sending us a message. We probably won't see it in our lifetime as after all this time it's only come up with E. Just have to be patient and hopefully our descendants will be able to get the message.
You can see some of the younger stones in this pic. So this meeting might be just some sort of family reunion.
This is obviously a group of entertainers, quite possibly former circus performers. It takes some skill for a rock to able to make that jump and lie about without falling. Family reunions are always a lot more fun when these guys show up.
The stones probably don't even care all that much that they seem to have been adopted by a bunch of birds that like to sit on their heads. Although every once in a while the birds fly off which is probably due to an imperceptible (to us) shrug from the stone. Below you can see a few close ups of the birds.
The birds above are most likely Jackdaw's (Corvus monedula) (let me know if you think they might be something else). And the bird below is a Rook (Corvus frugilegus).
Anyway there you have the answer to the how and why of Stonehenge.
If you still don't believe me check out this website National Geographic as I'm sure they will back up my thoughts (eventually, give them time). No really you should go check out the National Geographic site (they have actually made some more scientific studies than I have and have even come up with a few other ideas about Stonehenge. It has stories, videos, photos, and even a game.
I thought this was a pretty cool picture taken in 1877. You can certainly see that some restoration work has taken place. (Most of the work took place between 1901 and 1964) Either that or the stones finished standing up over the last hundred or so years.
Stonehenge from January of 2008. Picture taken from similar viewpoint as photo from 1877.
Stonehenge is about a 35 minute bus ride away. I hopped on the Stonehenge Bus Tour. It's a nice way to get to and from the henge as a recording tells you all about the area as you drive a long. It was also nice because you can buy your admission tickets to Stonehenge from them, rather than wasting away in the line at the park. I had only a couple of small problems with the bus itself so Bus Tour people if you are reading pay attention to the following. Replace the brakes pads already, squealing brakes, not that good. But even worse, it's probably time to change the tires. I wish the guys in front of me hadn't pointed out how bald they were. Hopefully the tour company will have fixed these small little problems by the time you all go visit.
It was a beautiful day in southern England. Above is the view shortly before you cross the road via the tunnel. For some reason I wasn't expecting the surrounding area to be so much like farmland. It turns out that some of the surrounding area (owned by the National Trust) is being converted back to a natural chalk prairie. Anyway as you can tell I was not alone. There were 1000's of people all with cameras (go figure).
After spending time with the stones the answer was obvious. The stones simply walked there, it is taking a lot of time but all the stones should be there shortly (that is a short amount of time for a stone, a really long time for humans).
You can almost see the worried look on the face of this stone, as it rushes to get in place having realized it was late. Luckily it made it across the road safely and prior to the fence being put up.
I know everybody thinks stones don't walk they roll. I of course agree that it's much faster for them to roll but that only works for the downhill bit. Can't roll uphill now can you. Ok so now you are saying why would they walk to this area. Obviously the answer is to have a meeting of sorts. We can't really comprehend what would be so important to a stone that would cause it to undertake this journey and to do so in such a hurry.
Anyway as you can tell time is much different for the stones. You can see that from looking at these guys.
Apparently they formed shortly after the Stonehenge stones were thought to have been erected.
Let's take a closer look at these stones (you have to click on the pics to see the details). The one in the center of the shot above is having a look around to see who might still be coming. It seemse to have some sort of smirk in its features. The stone immediately to it's left has apparently learned to write (in English) and is sending us a message. We probably won't see it in our lifetime as after all this time it's only come up with E. Just have to be patient and hopefully our descendants will be able to get the message.
This poor chap has a bad case of yellow lichens. It must be similar to our acne and there is probably a cream that will clear it right up (I heard that over 90 species of lichens can be found amongst the stones, haven't located the reference for that (yet) so don't quote me).
The birds above are most likely Jackdaw's (Corvus monedula) (let me know if you think they might be something else). And the bird below is a Rook (Corvus frugilegus).
Anyway there you have the answer to the how and why of Stonehenge.
If you still don't believe me check out this website National Geographic as I'm sure they will back up my thoughts (eventually, give them time). No really you should go check out the National Geographic site (they have actually made some more scientific studies than I have and have even come up with a few other ideas about Stonehenge. It has stories, videos, photos, and even a game.
I thought this was a pretty cool picture taken in 1877. You can certainly see that some restoration work has taken place. (Most of the work took place between 1901 and 1964) Either that or the stones finished standing up over the last hundred or so years.
Stonehenge from January of 2008. Picture taken from similar viewpoint as photo from 1877.
