The southern English megalithic structure of Stonehenge could have taken its rightful place in the list of wonders of the world if the Greeks had known about its existence at the time of the formation of the list. However, even today it remains one of the most amazing finds of archaeologists - and a serious test for historians, ethnographers and writers. More than 4500 years have passed since its construction, but no one has yet come to a final conclusion as to why it was built. The thing is that the ancient inhabitants of Britain did not leave behind handwritten testimonies, clay tablets or any other sources that allow you to find out.
A mystery shrouded in mystery
The past of this megalith, hidden in the mists of time, has created many theoretical hypotheses in an attempt to explain how and why it was built.
- There is a folklore version according to which Stonehenge was not built, but simply created by the great wizard Merlin, a character in the epic of King Arthur, the kingdom of Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table. Through magic, he transferred the boulders from Ireland, where they were collected by giants. All this is very beautiful, but hardly pretends to be realistic at least in a small way.
- According to another version, the stones were erected by the Vikings from Denmark to commemorate the establishment of their dominance after the invasion of the Danes at the beginning of the XI century.
- A slightly less popular version is the one explaining the origin of the circle of stones by the fact that there was supposedly a Roman temple there.
- Finally, the new versions, not related to science and lying to a greater extent in the field of myths and legends, are no less colorful: they say, it was at this place that one of the first contacts of terrestrial and extraterrestrial civilizations took place. There are even originals claiming that it is nothing more than an ancient spaceport, or a symbol of the feminine, designed to cause good harvests and milk yields. And what? It looks like it.
The first archaeologists reached Stonehenge in the middle of the XVII century, when the stones were examined by an antiques specialist named John Aubrey. He was mistaken, suggesting that the ruins were erected much later, as a Celtic religious center under the leadership of a college of Druid priests.
Layer by layer, stone by stone
Later studies, including more than a century and a half of work in the fields, prove that the megalithic structure was created for more than a thousand years, starting from the 50th century BC era as a round earthen rampart and moat, fortified with pillars of burnt wood. Subsequently, it was decided to replace the pattern with 80 dolerite blocks delivered to these parts from the Welsh hinterland. This happened 25-26 centuries ago, after which the stones were moved several times (obviously, choosing the most successful location).
Then, about 400-500 years ago, the composition was supplemented with larger blocks of sarsen - sand stone mined in quarries three dozen kilometers from the structure. They were used to create a continuous outer ring with five trilithons - stone arches with a lintel, installed in the shape of a horseshoe inside a circle.
In total, according to researchers, the construction of Stonehenge took more than twenty million hours of work. However, all this still does not give us an answer: what is it?
A holy place or a Stone Age Greenwich?
Modern scientists seriously consider only two hypotheses about the functional purpose of the monument: it can be a sacred place or an observatory that allowed the ancients to observe cosmic phenomena for an unknown purpose.
Oddly enough, the adherents of both theories do not rely on scientific, but rather on cosmogonic versions, on the supposedly underlying idea of aligning the Sun and Moon with the object in order to carry out certain rituals tied to the cycle of the seasons and both solstices - summer and winter.
The alternative says that this is a calendar mechanism of the megalithic era, which was used to predict solar and lunar eclipses, which played a great role in the rites of archaic pagan cults of that time.
Not so long ago, another version appeared. Allegedly, Stonehenge is a kind of ancient Lourdes: a place where people came for medical help. At the heart of this idea are small blue stones. According to the researchers, there is no rational explanation for the movements of objects of such mass - except that they were used in witchcraft or witchcraft rites. In 2005, scientist Tim Darwell from Bournemouth University said that his group managed to find a canyon where blue stones were mined, and expressed an original hypothesis: supposedly the stones arrived at the site on their own, without human help. Well, almost: they were dragged in their body by a glacier, and people only added symmetry to the object. Excavations carried out at the site three years later showed that Darwell was right with a high degree of probability!
The Living and the Dead
From time to time, other researchers are also included in the competition in the search for historical reality. For example, among those trying to storm the secret of Stonehenge, researcher Michael Pearson Parker from the University of Sheffield is not the last: he conducts research with the support of the National Geographic Society of the United States and the Royal Geographical Society. His discoveries confirm that the ruins were a religious building designed to worship deceased ancestors. Its location is due to its proximity to the Evon River. In addition, there were also alleys for ceremonies and a second circle made of wood: unlike stone, it symbolized a living beginning.
Thus, we are dealing with a paired place of interest: one was made of stones, and the second of wood, just one was preserved, and the second was lost completely and irrevocably, since raw wood was used in the construction.
