Stonehenge Before The Stones

Mike Pitts floats an interesting theory that the post holes, ditches and stones at the north east entrance to Stonehenge may have been a Mortuary Enclosure - details at his blog - that pre-dates the stone phases of Stonehenge.

But those post holes are only some of the many we know about, and there is much of Stonehenge we don't know what post holes are or were there.

(Click for larger)

Joining the dots and making some sense of them is not easy, though an "avenue" or ceremonial entrance way can be imagined from the south entrance. And alignments can easily be constructed...

The story of Stonehenge before the stones is a fascinating one that is waiting to be written.

The Chronology of Silbury, Hatfield and the Marlborough Mound

Antiquity: The Giants of Wessex: the chronology of the three largest mounds in Wiltshire, UK Jim Leary & Peter Marshall
Silbury Hill, the Marlborough Mound and the Hatfield Barrow

Recent scientific dating programmes on the three largest mounds in Wiltshire in southern Britain allows the chronology of these prehistoric monuments to be better understood.... This work has shown for the first time that all three of these monumental mounds date to the second half of the third millennium cal BC, and all three mounds could be contemporary.

The Chronology of Stonehenge

Stonehenge in five easy stages (or perhaps six) « Mike Pitts – Digging Deeper: has lots about the new chronology of Stonehenge, including this handy cut out and keep guide.

There is a lot of interesting ideas as the established time-line of Stonehenge is refined by new ideas and research and it is well worth a visit.

I will look into the source material as well and blog at greater length when time allows. 

UPDATE  - http://www.sarsen.org/2012/12/antiquity-articles-on-chronology-of.html has more.

WINTER SOLSTICE AT STONEHENGE - 2012

WINTER SOLSTICE AT STONEHENGE

- Friday 21 December 2012 -

English Heritage will once again allow people access to Stonehenge for the celebration of the Winter Solstice, the first day of the winter season. Sunrise is at 8.09am on Friday 21 December and visitors will be able to access the monument as soon as it is light enough to do so safely. Entrance is free and will be available from roughly 7.30am until 9am, when the site will close - before re-opening as per usual to paying visitors at 9.30am.

The exact time of the Solstice this year, when the Earth’s axial tilt is farthest away from the sun, is at 11.11am on 21 December, however it is generally accepted that the celebration of this special event takes place at dawn and therefore access is permitted at Stonehenge earlier that morning.

Over the last few years, the popularity of Winter Solstice has grown considerably, with many families and young people joining the druid and pagan community in the celebrations. Two years ago, 2,000 people attended Winter Solstice and in 2011 that figure more than doubled to a record 5,000 people.

Peter Carson, Head of Stonehenge, said: “We are delighted to offer people a warm welcome to Stonehenge this Winter Solstice but as facilities are limited, we are not able to accommodate any more people than last year. We don't have the luxury of using nearby fields in winter for parking and encourage people to make use of the special bus service running from Salisbury. We are working very closely with the local authorities and agencies plus the druid and pagan community to ensure that access to Stonehenge will once again be a success.”

Additional notes
Access may not be possible if the ground conditions are considered poor or if it is felt that access might result in severe damage to the monument.
Public have in previous years used byway 12 for parking on the morning of 21st December. Additional car parking for approximately 800 cars will be available on the A344 (which will be closed to through traffic).

A special Wiltshire and Dorset bus service will run from Salisbury Bus Station from 6.30am on 21 December and will drop people directly to the Stonehenge Visitor Car Park.


Connected:
New theory of a Winter Solstice Sunrise Alignment -Stonehenge and the Winter Solstice leaflet (ISBN 9780957093010)
(Background on the Winter Solstice Sunrise Alignment theory is here)

93 - The Total Number of Visible Stones at Stonehenge

There are 93 rocks or lumps of stone visible at Stonehenge now - not counting the buried and missing ones. All the stones are numbered on standard plans, see below.

Note, if a numbered stone is broken and two separate bits or fragments of it are visible then it counts as two stones etc.

I have checked this on the ground, but errors may remain, please comment if you spot any.

Stone No.	Volume (m³)	Estimated above ground weight (tonnes)	Additional visible fragments
1	5.45	13.08
2	8.03	19.27
3	5.55	13.32
4	6.66	15.98
5	5.64	13.53
6	5.54	13.29
7	5.97	14.32
8*	0.65	1.56
9a/b	0.25	0.29	1
10	7.07	16.96
11†	2.03	4.87
12‡	6.32	15.16
14‡	2.91	6.98
15*	1.31	3.14
16	9.8	23.52
19*	1.65	3.96
21	4.61	11.06
22	5.47	13.128
23	4.92	11.8
25*	2.95	7.08
26*	0.4	0.96
27	5.21	12.48
28	9.08	21.792
29	6.95	16.68
30	7.75	18.6
51	9.86	23.66
52	11.54	27.69
53	7.56	18.14
54	12.22	29.32
55a/b	6.6	15.84	1
56	9.61	23.06
57	11.64	27.93
58	10.02	24.04
59a/b/c*	9.1	21.84	2
60	9.01	21.62
91	1.16	2.78
93	0.56	1.34
95‡	1.75	4.2
96	12.47	29.92
101	1.88	4.51
102	2.7	6.48
105	1.59	3.81
107	2.1	5.04
120*	0.49	1.17
122	2.7	6.48
127*	0.6	1.44
130	2.6	6.24
152	4.89	11.73
154	7.29	17.49
156	3.7	8.88
158	6.9	16.56
160*	2.09	5.01	2
31	0.68	2.04
32‡	0.38	1.14
33	0.17	0.51
34	0.11	0.33
35a‡	0.0007	0.002
35b‡	0.003	0.01
36‡	0.09	0.27
37	0.27	0.81
38
39‡	0.16	0.48
40
41‡	0.24	0.72
42‡	0.1	0.3
43
44
45‡	0.14	0.42
46†	0.14	0.34
47	0.42	1.26
48‡†	0.066	0.16
49	0.37	1.11
61	0.32	0.96	1
62	0.41	1.23
63	0.4	1.2
64
65 66
67‡	0.53	1.59
68	0.71	2.13
69	0.72	2.16
70	0.41	1.23
72*	0.51	1.53
80 Altar Stone			1
150
Totals:
85		680.962	8
			Total Visible Stones 93

Click to enlarge - from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/Stone_Plan.jpg/967px-Stone_Plan.jpg

Stone 40g is not counted because all that is visible is a lead cap.

How many stones did Stonehenge originally have is a different question.

There are five Sarsen Trilithons which gives fifteen large Sarsen stones.
The outer ring of Sarsens is planned to contain thirty uprights and thirty lintels so that is 75 worked sarsens in total.
There are four sarsens outside the centre, the two Station Stones, the Slaughter Stone and the Heel Stone.
There are stoneholes for other stones matching these, another two station stones, a matching Slaughter Stone and a paired hole to the Heel Stone. (There are other holes such as the F,G and H holes which maybe were stoneholes.) These empty holes may have held other stones or maybe stones that were then moved, for instance the Heel Stone may have originally occupied Stonehole 97. So that is between five and ten other sarsens.

There is the Altar Stone, origin unknown.

And lots of bluestones and bluestone holes. There are 29 bluestones that are still visible, but the original number is probably around 80. They have been shuffled around the holes so it is hard to be sure but that is a reasonable estimate.

So Stonehenge may have had up to 165 stones originally. It also had a vast number of stone fragments and hammerstones used for packing.

Where are the missing stones from Stonehenge?
We don't know.
There is broken up bluestone, known as debitage, all over the site. Is this from stones being broken up for tools and talismen or is it the remains of shaping the stones?
We know bits have been knocked off the edges of stones, greatly reducing them in some cases but complete stones carted off for use elsewhere have not been found despite searches. So it is another Stonehenge mystery.

(Note this is an updated post combining previous published posts into one.)

April 2020 - Note from http://www.stonesofstonehenge.org.uk/p/missing-stones.html

Some bluestones and bluestone fragments that are labelled on the plan, for example Stones 32c (Type: Altered Volcanic Ash), 32d (Type: Spotted Dolerite), 32e (Type: Rhyolite), 33e (Type: Altered Volcanic Ash), 33f (Type: Altered Volcanic Ash), 40c (Type: Calcareous Ash), 41d (Type: Altered Volcanic Ash), 42c (Type: Sandstone with Mica), 70a (Type: Spotted Dolerite), 70b (Type: Unknown) and 71 (Type: Unknown),.... are not visible above ground level and exist only as completely buried stumps.

Stonehenge Periglacial Stripes

A great photo of the Avenue Periglacial Stripes at Stonehenge that I hadn't seen before. Showing off the skill of Aerial Cam!

Stonehenge: Excavation of the Avenue during the Stonehenge Riverside Project 2008. (Click for larger)

Aerial Cam - Specialist archaeological photography, Gallery:

Burnt Patches

Alexander Mann - Burning Couch Grass 1902


For some reason I was thinking about patches of burnt soil on Salisbury Plain and remembering the autumnal smoke from piles of burning couch grass. I can only just remember the tedious chore of harrowing and harrowing the thin soil to gather up every rhizome of couch and then burning them in piles. And then forking the edges of the slow burning piles of root and soil in to ensure it all died.

The arrival of Round-Up herbicide put an end to what was seen as an eternal chore.

I wonder if at the edge of any of the large fields on the Plain the circular burnt patches show up still?

Thomas Hardy during the First World War used the unchanging job as a symbol of unchanging life.

In Time of `The Breaking of Nations`

I 

Only a man harrowing clods
In a slow silent walk
With a horse that stumbles and nods
Half asleep as they stalk.

II 

Only thin smoke without flame
From the heaps of couch-grass;
Yet this will go onward the same
Though the Dynasties pass.

III 

Yonder a maid and her wight
Come whispering by:
War`s annals will cloud into night
Ere their story die.

Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928)