SeaHenge

Source:
www.lynnnews.co.uk...

4,000-year-old Seahenge to rise again � but not until 2008
CONSERVATION work on the Seahenge wooden circle is continuing apace � but it will be at least a year before the Bronze Age monument will be on display in Lynn.
The 4,000-year-old structure was uncovered by waves on the beach at Holme in 1998, sparking frenzied interest from the archaeological community.
In 1999 the pieces were excavated and preserved before they were handed to the Mary Rose Trust in Portsmouth for conservation, with the ultimate aim of putting them on display in Lynn.
The pieces chosen to go on display in Lynn Museum are currently being removed from a waxy substance called peg, which holds the wood fibres together.
Over the next two or three months they will be freeze-dried to remove any remaining water, before they are cleaned by experts and transported to Lynn Museum.
Robin Hanley, area museums manager for West Norfolk, said staff will spend the following six months painstakingly creating mounts and supports for the individual pieces.
He said: "It is a slow and complicated process, and one which there is no value in rushing."
Work on creating the Seahenge display will not begin until work on The Story of West Norfolk display is complete.
Half the museum will be closed after Christmas, and work carried out on the historical journey from the Iron Age to present day.
It is expected to be complete by September.
When the display is up and running the other half of the museum will close, allowing work to begin on the Seahenge display.
Mr Hanley said: "We hope to be able to allow people to see work on the Seahenge display going on for themselves."
The display will also include audio tours of the gallery and animations illustrating the process of landscape change, which have been funded by a �65,000 of Government money.
He said: "We hope it will be open to the public by the start of January 2008, but we have to be flexible with the timing."
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If anyone in ATS heard about this before can you prvide any links related to this [links posted before this article] as this is the 1st time I hear about this....thanks.

Looks to me to be some sort of fish trap.

Your article says nothing whatsoever about any alignments with astronomical objects, etc.

On the other hand, fish "corrals" similar in shape and composition to this "seahenge" structure have been in use for millenia.

Harte

Harte
it has a northeast alignment
as a student of ancient history I'm sure I don't have to tell you what that means but basically you can take it as read that its not a fish trap

The fully grown tree planted roots up in the center is also another clue that this is more than just a fish trap.

To me it is a symbol of the Underworld




I've even painted it


[edit on 18/12/06 by masqua]

To me it is a symbol of the Underworld

whats your reasoning on that ?

To tell the truth, I've been interested in such symbols for a long time. Wherever I first became aware of it is lost to me, but it precedes me ever having a computer, so I would hazard a guess my understanding originates from books.

My gut instinct says Blake's The White Goddess.

A bit of Googling, and I managed to rake in a few sites which mention it;

Another form, the inverted Tree, represents spiritual growth, as well as the human nervous system. This tree, with its roots in heaven, and its branches growing downward, is most commonly found in Kabbalistic imagery. A similar tree is mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita, "The banyan tree with its roots above, and its branches below, is imperishable." In Jewish Kabbalah, the inverted tree represents the nervous system as well- the 'root' in the cranial nerves, with the branches spreading throughout the body; it also represents the cosmic tree- rooted in heaven, the branches all of manifest creation.
altreligion.about.com...

The Inverted Tree of the Vedas:
The Tree of Life inverted in the religions of both the East and the West. The Vedas suggests that this "inversion derived from a definite concept of the role played by sunshine and sunlight in the growth of living things. They drew life from above and tried to instil life below. Hence the inversion in which the roots were depicted as playing the part of branches and the branches of roots. Life came from Heaven and was instilled into Earth" (Chevalier 1028).
The Inverted Tree of Jewish esotericism:
A similarly inverted tree appears in the Zohar, where a Tree of Life is spoken of as "stretching from the upper to the lower regions and all of it lit by the sun." The same tradition appears in Icelandic and Finnish folklore (Chevalier 1029).
Conclusions:
The idea of the inverted tree produces a notion of reciprocity, which "leads to that of the marriage of the continuous and the discontinuous and of oneness and dualism, of the symbolic shading of the Tree of Life into the Tree of Knowledge, that 'tree of the knowledge of good and evil', which is nonetheless an entity separate from the other. In the Garden of Eden it was to be the instrument of Adam's fall, just as the Tree of Life was to be the means of his redemption in Christ's crucifixion" (Chevalier 1029).
The Inverted Tree in Blake:
Rodney Baine comments about the importance of the inverted tree in Blake:

"A particular arboreal symbol which Blake sometimes used for fallen man is the upside-down tree, not the Upanishadic or cosmic Asvatha tree with its roots in Brahma, but man with his head buried in materialism. Thus in Design 24 for Dante an arborized suicide is enrooted, head-foremost, in the earth. On Plate 19 of Milton when Los opposes the return of Milton, 'in fibrous strength / His limbs shot forth like roots of trees' (17.34-35), and his head branches out into roots. In Europe the 'nameless shadowy female' admits that she is upside down: 'My roots are brandish'd in the heavens. my fruits in earth beneath / Surge, foam, and labour into life . . . "(1.8-9)" (134). Though Blake's inverted tree has no blatantly obvious connection with its symbolic antecedents, its relationship to materialism and to man does link it to its former symbolic usages. Also, his inverted tree is always vaguely threatening.
www.english.uga.edu...

I think drawing a link between vedic mysticism and the Kabbalah and a henge in norfolk is a little tenuous Masqua


if you could prove a link between inverted trees and the underworld and ancient norse mythology then you might be closer
any ideas there ?

Sea'henge' is just another ancient monument, as are woodhenge and stonehenge.

And just to make sure you all know, seahenge is not actually a henge.

A henge has an internal ditch, external bank. Because of stonehenge, people started assuming that all stone/wood circle monuments were henges. Hence, woodhenge/seahenge.

: )

Originally posted by Marduk
I think drawing a link between vedic mysticism and the Kabbalah and a henge in norfolk is a little tenuous Masqua

if you could prove a link between inverted trees and the underworld and ancient norse mythology then you might be closer
any ideas there ?

First of all, Marduk... I did say;

To me it is a symbol of the Underworld

...signifying personal opinion and not proof. We are, after all, talking about 4 millenia and a time little understood.

Hitting the books a little proved to be interesting, though, because I drew many examples of 'World Trees' from cultures as varied as the Maya and the shaman of Tibet.

One of the best quotes I could muster on such short notice was;

Alchemical Studies, CG Jung, Princeton University Press Bollington 1978 (pg 340)

The inverted tree plays a great role among the East Siberian shamans. Kagarov has published a photograph of one such tree, named Nagassa, from a specimen in the Leningrad Museum. The roots signify hairs, and on the trunk, near the roots, a face has been carved, showing that the tree represents a man. Presumably, this is the shaman himself, or his greater personality. The shaman climbs the tree in order to find his true self in the upper world.

note that the tree is inverted, so the shaman climbs up towards the roots. In maya culture, there are three worlds...the upper spirit world, the middle world and the underworld which is symbolized by the roots of the 'world tree.

Anyways, it is interesting that the tree at Seahenge has the roots as a possible altar. Sacrifice on an inverted tree? Does it not conjure up the symbolism I'm referring to?

Here's one of those speculating websites...but it does have a pic of the Seahenge tree itself

spamandchips.net...
The central altar turned out to be a felled and dug up 167 year old oak stump - planted upside down, so that the roots acted as an 'altar' It was felled, and probably erected in 2050 BC. Part of the rope that was used to pull it into place was still wrapped around the buried end - it consisted of woven strands of honeysuckle vine. It was erected during that transitional time, when the Late Neolithic was being gradually exchanged for the Early Bronze Age. Incidentally, the wood was worked by early flat bronze axes rather than flint or stone axes. The inversion of a tree - apparently growing upside down is enigmatic - hints maybe of a meeting place between this world and another? Upside down pots, quernstones, etc, often feature in the excavation of prehistoric monuments

I think they speculate correctly.

One thing I do know for certain...the traditions carried by the human race during the migrations throughout time, from the Late Neolithic to the present, survive world-wide. The inverted tree as a symbol is one of those.

Yggdrasil forever.

In England, there are lots of henges, so it's not that much of a surprise to learn that one was found underwater. There might even be others in areas where water has flooded the land. It's still a cool discovery, though, but I don't think it's going to really alter our understanding of history all that much. Maybe, though, there might be something surprising to find there...

First of all, Marduk... I did say;
To me it is a symbol of the Underworld
signifying personal opinion and not proof. We are, after all, talking about 4 millenia and a time little understood.

I understand what you were saying Masqua i was just asking your reasoning
as it happens the roots of a tree do symbolize the underworld in Norse mythology

the fact that it also appears in the kabbalah and vedic mysticism is irrelevant however because of the time line because the sea henge site predates both by quite some margin.

further to that it is not actually a henge, that name was coined by the general public after the newspaper the independant posted a picture of it with the headline "Stonehenge on sea"
here you can also see that its not maybe quite as large as you have been led to believe

it was originally a wooden enclosure completely walled off except for an entrance to the northeast which aligned it with the midsummer sunrise.
something which it has in common with a lot of other early bronze age sites
this points more to it being constructed for funeral purposes although archaeologists believe it was not designed for a burial itself

if anything this points to a similar tradition of other british tribes of this time which used to leave the corpses of the dead on frames of wood above the ground so that the birds and other small animals could pick the bones clean of flesh
the defleshed bones would then be either cremated and buried in urns or just buried whole

you can easily imagine can't you in the landscape that this site was built which at that time was subject to seasonal flooding how a coastal community would use this same method but utilise the fish as the bone cleaners and get the job done in half the time.

early bronze age co op funeral parlour basically
the fact that the central oak was dragged to the spot with ropes made from honeysuckle indicate that whatever the purpose it was one that was an act of love by the people who constructed it
this is borne out by the fact that it isn't the only structure of its kind in this area
there is another built like it further to the east which is approximately 400 yars older and this fits with the theory that the sea at that time was encroaching further and further inland making the construction of this site neccesary as the older one was now fully submerged. the archaeological trust actually categorizes this site as Holme 2 and the other one as holme 1 naming them after the district (Holme) in which they both stand

the upturned roots in this case although as you speculated possibly indicating the underworld served a far more practical purpose.......
they stopped the body from washing away with the tide

that would be something wouldnt it
you go to all the trouble of preparing an automated bone cleaning structure only to find Grandma got a burial at sea instead
hehe









[edit on 19-12-2006 by Marduk]

[edit on 19-12-2006 by Marduk]

[edit on 19-12-2006 by Marduk]

[edit on 19-12-2006 by Marduk]

Originally posted by Marduk
he fact that it also appears in the kabbalah and vedic mysticism is irrelevant however because of the time line because the sea henge site predates both by quite some margin.

More speculation on my part;

First of all, I would disagree with the notion that since Seahenge predates the Kabbalah and Vedic mysticism by millenia, that it is irrelevant.

As I said before, the oral transmission of ritual tradition survive tens of millenia as is shown by global similarities regarding the 'World Tree'. I don't dismiss for a second that Vedic mysticism, the Kabbalah, Nordic myths, Natve American traditions and Tibetan shamanism all stem from the same roots. An early pan-human religion.

There are hints of this in such symbols as the circle, the cross, the circle containing a cross, the spiral, the labyrinth and so on. These symbols can be seen painted 40.000 years ago on cave walls in France and petraglyphs in North America, but their meanings are usually quite similar.

Symbols are a language all on their own and able to cross all cultural differences and time.

I tried looking, but would like to find out the actual dimensions of the outer circle at the unfortunately mis-named Seahenge. Could the diameter be 26 feet?



[edit on 19/12/06 by masqua]

the actual maximum diameter is 6.78 metres
thats 22 and 1/4 feet


there is no physical connection between the people who built this site an any other mythology or symbolism from eurasia before 9000bce
7000 years is a long time to hold onto this idea when there is no other recorded instance of it in the uk at all

I agree that there is a racial connection and more than likely a religious one as well
but in this case speculation is the only available evidence

Naarfolk gets onto ATS

yes they also made the news recently on www.geneology.com
apparently they currently have a deal where they will trace your ancestry back to the norman invasion for £100
unless you're from Naarfolk in which case they'll do it for a fiver

Kids were playing sand castle and became rock after thousand years before the land collapsed to sea level. - from reliable scientific source.

It looks more like a sun dial? And for astronomy alignment, a kind of stargate - from pseudoscience.

It is for direction, the big rock in the middle is pointing to Ka'bah. - The truth!




[edit on 18-1-2007 by CinLung]

My question is is seahenge like stonehenge where people and tv shows like jackie chan adventures a cartoon series have different theories about stonehenge. The two theories I saw in the show were either that stonehenge and magic powers or that aliens have something to do with the building or the upkeep of stonehenge. So does seahenge follow these theories?

Originally posted by pornanist
My question is is seahenge like stonehenge where people and tv shows like jackie chan adventures a cartoon series have different theories about stonehenge. The two theories I saw in the show were either that stonehenge and magic powers or that aliens have something to do with the building or the upkeep of stonehenge. So does seahenge follow these theories?

No, no no

Anyway Jackie Chan is a joker.
No Aliens has anything to do with anything on earth.
If you don't get what I said, please consult the expert "MARDUK", he is the expert on everything, he spent all his life to study these STUFF just to prove it has nothing to do with aliens.
He is the expert, and there is good news for you ( only for you ), he is British!

Just to prove you he is legitable and to prove you he is credible, he has spent years on college to study Egyptian pyramids, and he has proven pyramids is nothing but no mystic and no aliens thingies. Pyramids were just plain human humble made.

Do you ask, why a British spent years in college to learn pyramid is Bul*SHI..*TT?
Simple, it is because he is British as British always do.

Originally posted by masqua

I've even painted it

Wow, I love your work, it's great!

I think the inverted trees were components of early henges
In Frazer's Golden Bough we read of the giant tree that was cut down and drawn by many oxen.This was called a Dedal.

The French for a maze is Le dedale and the common denominator is that the original maze was the riggoll or drainage groove cut in the ground beneath the giant haystacks, the central part of which, the rig or rick, was initially a large tree, upright or upside down.

The roots at the top allowed riggbands to be attached and later this developed into the halo-shaped ring that connected the top end of the riggbands with the riggboles around the perimeter and all that enclosed the thrashing floor or Halos.

The thrashing was done by foot and gave rise to many dances, including Flamenco and the call to the dance in the 18th Century was O'Hal O'Hal and where do we dance now ? Dance Halls. The word hall is now also attributed by symbolism to any place where special value is gathered.

Graham Burgess