BS: stone henge dig

Subject: BS: stone henge dig
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 10:04 AM

Following the interest shown in the Silbury Hill excavation,
I thought that people might like to follow this story.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7337292.stm

Subject: RE: BS: stone henge dig
From: Charley Noble
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 10:07 AM

Stone "Henge" dig?

And I thought I was familiar with most of the important sites.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: stone henge dig
From: GUEST,PMB
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 12:01 PM

The whole setup behind the Stonehenge dig (which will be presented as a BBC Timewatch series I believe) rather worries me. Thwey seem to be going into it with an agenda- trying to "prove" that it was a healing site (they compare it to Lourdes), and that the limited dig they are allowed to carry out is certain to produce evidence of this.

You can theorise all you like, but when digging, and when assessing the evidence produced, it's simply criminal not to examine every tiny assumption you may be making. Digging is destructive- nobody can ever dig that spot again for evidence, so you have to be utterly meticulous.

I sincerely hope the archaeologists involved are merely putting on the attitude as hype for the TV series. But, unlike Time Team's naive raw enthusiasm, it smells a bit.

Subject: RE: BS: stone henge dig
From: Donuel
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 12:15 PM

anything is possible
such as

The mushrooms that grew there are now long gone after a climate change some 2000 years ago.

Subject: RE: BS: stone henge dig
From: Mrrzy
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 01:05 PM

This has been sounding fascinating.

Subject: RE: BS: stone henge dig
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 01:10 PM

If it is to be called science it should be approached with an open mind, the evidence found speaking for itself.

Subject: RE: BS: stone henge dig
From: Charley Noble
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 01:44 PM

My apologies. I've been evidently misspelling this landmark for years.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: stone henge dig
From: GUEST,lox
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 02:31 PM

There is nothing worse than science conducted with the intention of proving an ideology.

However, the truth usually gets out with science and in order to prove their views they have to undergo the rigour of scientific testing procedures.

I wouldn't worry too much. I find it unlikely that permission would be given to anyone to conduct such an investigation without some gaurantee of due care.

Subject: RE: BS: stone henge dig
From: Beer
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 03:24 PM

Love this stuff. Thanks for sharing.
Beer (adrien)

Subject: RE: BS: stone henge dig
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 04:27 PM

I would be surprised if the site WASN'T connected to healing at some time and in some way. Healing and the supernatural go together - or at least they did until the era of modern science.

Remember Chaucer's pilgrims, who went to Canterbury

'that holy, blissful martyr for to seek,
that them hath holpen when that they were sick.'

Meanwhile, I'm just back from a town called Medicine Lodge. I can think of other such place names - Medicine Hat and Medicine Bow. All are testimony to man's never-ending search for healing.

Subject: RE: BS: stone henge dig
From: Greg B
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 08:01 PM

Apparently they found a cylinder, containing a scroll, protected by
an acid solution...

The combination was a numerical hash of the words 'Spinal Tap.'

We Yanks uniformly pronounce the name of the place STONE-henge.
As we pronounce the name of the most godawful airport in the
world HEATH-row.

We find that Brits seem to be divided as to whether it is STONE-henge
or stone-HENGE, HEATH-row or heath-ROW.

Of course the place will never be the same since Clark Gris-WALD
reversed into it.

Subject: RE: BS: stone henge dig
From: Bee
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 11:27 PM

If you have Google Earth installed, you can go look at a bazillion photos of Stonehenge, plus several articles. You can also look at the surrounding fields and see marks where various buildings have stood. I'm a GE addict.

Subject: RE: BS: stone henge dig
From: Beer
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 11:32 PM

Greg!
"Apparently they found a cylinder, containing a scroll, protected by
an acid solution..."
And where did you read this.
I'm curious.
Beer (adrien)

Subject: RE: BS: stone henge dig
From: Beer
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 11:32 PM

Hi Bee!!

Subject: RE: BS: stone henge dig
From: Bee
Date: 10 Apr 08 - 12:17 AM

Hi, Beer! Hope our paths cross sometime this summer. ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: stone henge dig
From: GUEST,PMB
Date: 10 Apr 08 - 04:04 AM

What they are investigating is the circle of bluestones: rough cut stones originating from Preseli in South Wales, about 150 miles away. These form part of what is believed to be the first stone- built phase of the henge, which originated about 500 years earlier. Up to, and including, this time, it was similar to many henges found all over Britain, the extraneous origin of the bluestones being the only unusual feature.

The post- and- lintel stones for which Stonehenge is (as far as I know) unique in Britain were added a few hundred years later, and the bluestones were believed to have been repositioned.

It's obvious that over a thousand or more years of use, beliefs about the henge went through several transformations, as they have continued to do since. I'm not dreadfully clear about what kind of evidence would prove an 'oroginal' intention of a particular function.