Stone Mysteries
2006-11-14 03:41 AM | Posted by Sumangali Morhall | Permanent Link | England
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The Horse Facing The Heavens
Figures cut from chalk turf are common in southern England, but few are as ancient as this 360ft horse, dating back to the 1st century BC. Possibly its most curious aspect is that it faces skyward rather than across the valley.
The North Wessex Downs saw the beginning of civilisation in England. Between 5000 and 2500 years ago it was the most densely populated part of the country; a late Stone Age and Bronze Age metropolis centred around the stone circles of Avebury and Stonehenge, linked with the east and west of the country by the ancient Ridge Way cresting the Downs.
Dwarfed By A Stone In Avebury
The massive unhewn stones of Avebury Ring were put in place around 2000 BC. Nearby Windmill Hill is the site of a camp dating from around 2900 BC, and a Bronze Age burial site from around 1700-1400 BC. This whole area is peppered with rounded hillocks - chalk barrows housing the remains of tribal chiefs and other ancients, along with their cows, dogs, ornate pots and other such status symbols.
Of the 300 or so stone circles in Britain, Stonehenge is the most famous, and the most dramatic. The earliest evidence of the site being used for astronomy goes back 10,500 years. Building began around 5000 years ago, the stones carried 20 miles from the Marlborough Downs. 1000 years later the gigantic 'bluestones' were brought from the Prescelly Mountain in Wales, 140 miles away as the crow flies. The largest is 45 tonnes, and 6.7 metres high. It may have weighed twice this to start with; unlike the stones of Avebury Ring, these were hewn to shape with smaller stones.
Drama And Mystery
Their significance - astronomically speaking - is profound; their alignment marking not only the phases of the moon as other sites do, but also of the sun, and both with staggering precision. The construction methods are notably sophisticated; Neolithic man was apparently far from being the brute thug living only for his next meal.
Beyond all that we may never know the significance and exact purpose of these huge edifices. That's enough for me to know though, or more than enough. It's enough to stand with them a while in this countryside peace and just be, knowing they are important, if not exactly why so, breathing the views and mists and scented breezes that my ancestors breathed, tracking the same sun and dreaming under the same moon. That they have stood upright in the weathers of thousands of years speaks certainty and hope - solid rafts in the changing tides of the world, heedless of turmoil and technology, and even time. That speaks more to me than facts or reasons.
