Stonehenge: Just a Graveyard?
May 30th, 2008 at 11:55am Mark Noonan
The secret of Stonehenge has apparently been solved: The mysterious circle of large stones in southern England was primarily a burial ground for almost five centuries, and the site probably holds the remains of a family that long ruled the area, new research concludes.
Based on radiocarbon dating of cremated bones up to 5,000 years old, researchers with the Stonehenge Riverside Project said they are convinced the area was built and then grew as a “domain of the ancestors.”
“It’s now clear that burials were a major component of Stonehenge in all its main stages,” said Mike Parker Pearson, an archaeology professor at the University of Sheffield in England and head of the project. “Stonehenge was a place of burial from its beginning to its zenith in the mid-third millennium B.C.”
So, all that new age claptrap about it was just a lot of nonsense…not too surprising. Oddly enough, this occured to me not too long ago - that the arrangement of the stones appears similar to Celtic graves which, due to weathering, have become exposed to the open air. Seems our ancient ancestors, mystifed by death, spent a lot of effort on it…the Egyptians being the most famed in this area, but there is no reason to believe that anything else of a similar nature has any different use.
Entry Filed under: Popular Culture, Science
6 Comments
1. Timothy Horrigan | May 30th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Ummm…. how does the fact that people are buried there “disprove” the “New Age” stuff? That seems to be the subtext of Mark’s original post: “them dumb old libbies thought Stonehenge was this special spiritual place but it’s just an old graveyard, not a sacred place at all, hahahaha!”
Graveyards are sacred places in just about every spiritual tradition and even today we sometimes turn burial places into temples/monuments. If you think I am nuts, go to Simi Valley, California and check out President Reagan’s burial place, which is the centerpiece of his “Library.”
2. Timothy Horrigan | May 30th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Liberals also think that the Great Pyramids of Egypt have some sort of special significance. Hundreds of liberal writers have made book deals to write about various fanciful theories about the meanings of the pyramids. It turns out that the pyramids were built to house the tombs of various kings. The structures are just gravestones! There is nothing special about them at all!
3. OhioOrrin | May 30th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
I make my own judgement, thank you very much, AFTER I dance naked at midnite on all hallows eve under a full moon.
4. liberalDream | May 30th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
your theory Mark? This has been *THE* main archeological theory for hundreds of years. Wow - just wow
5. William Teach | May 30th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Yeah, but it’s more fun!!!!!!!!!!
6. Shamus Inish | May 31st, 2008 at 1:40 pm
They just figured that out now?
We’ve known it all along.