Stonehenge a monumental attraction since prehistory

Stonehenge a monumental attraction since prehistory

Stonehenge may have been a top international tourist attraction in prehistoric times – just as it is today.

Ongoing scientific research suggests that around 30 per cent of the wealthiest individuals buried around the neolithic and Bronze Age temple came from hundreds and, in some cases, thousands of miles away.

Recent isotopic tests carried out by the British Geological Survey and announced yesterday reveal that one very high-status individual – a teenage boy – found buried near Stonehenge,

(visit the link for the full news article)


www.independent.co.uk













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Another fantastic archaeological find.
This goes some way to confirm how highly regarded these stone monoliths were.

It's still unknown exactly why people visited these stone, many theories have been put forward from religious/spiritual to paranormal theories.

I think this find is fantastic... it just shows how far people were willing to travel to see these majestic stones.

Why they did remains a mystery.

www.independent.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Or maybe they simply visited them for the same reasons we do.
Why do people assume those before us thought any different than we do now?

reply to post by Nventual




Oh sure, there's no reason they couldn't have just visited them for pleasure/interest,
But 3500 years ago is quite a long time ago.... how would Stonehenge have adverstised?

I just find it fascinating that people would come from all over Europe to see this stone circle.

reply to post by blupblup

So the wonder is more about how the message of Stonehenge got out rather than why they visisted it?
I also wonder that.

I'm sure back then people also visited it because they wondered how it was made/who made it/why it was made though, much like us.

Originally posted by Nventual
reply to post by blupblup

 

So the wonder is more about how the message of Stonehenge got out rather than why they visisted it?
I also wonder that.

Well sure... That in itself is pretty odd.
That people from the med came over to visit a stone circle in England.... why and how?

Both are interesting questions, people have theorised for hundreds of years what stone henge was built for and how and blah blah.... but this, for me anyway, poses a whole new series of questions.

How did they hear about Stonehenge?

Was it some kind of pilgrimage?

The stones are said to have maybe had healing powers, was it a prehistoric Lourdes?

I have no idea... but It's interesting all the same.

I'm sure back then people also visited it because they wondered how it was made/who made it/why it was made though, much like us.

I'm sure they did too.... I think people will always be amazed at such structures.

reply to post by blupblup


Stonehenge was one of the very first stops on The Amazing Race last week

England looks way cool

:-)

anyway...

I think this find is fantastic... it just shows how far people were willing to travel to see these majestic stones.

Why they did remains a mystery.

so, it was the Lourdes of it's time maybe

travel was more difficult and even dangerous then - if you're sick and or dying, what kind of information convinces you to travel that far?

edit to add: seriously? :-) I should learn to read the last post before I post

Imagine if we all died tomorrow and not one single human being was left. What would whoever found our relics think of us? What consensus would they come to in terms of how we lived/why we did things/etc? I'm willing to bet that whatever they came up would be completely wrong, as is anything we come up with to do with past civilizations.

Alot of pagans visit stonehenge, they visit for spiritual reasons. So is stonehenge older than we all believed it to be? One has never visited there. Might put that on my calendar for next year.

reply to post by Spiramirabilis




Well I don't actually know if SH was the Lourdes of It's day, just tossing ideas around.
The stones are said to have powers and Druids, Pagans and Wiccans have visited the area for centuries.


The whole Ley lines/Vortices thing too...

channel.nationalgeographic.com...

www.leyhunter.com...

There may be something to it all, I have no idea and I'm not sure we ever will.

reply to post by Laurauk



Stonehenge in Its current location is about 5000 years l I believe.
There is evidence of a similar (perhaps original structure) structure beneath where the Car-Park is now, dating back to 8000 BCE.


en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by blupblup


Thanks for the link. I am not one for researching the history off a Monument or aything like that. One supposes it might be a good time to start doing so. It does make one wonder why, people came from far and wide to bury thier loved ones at stonehenge.

reply to post by blupblup


went to the National Geographic link - this is the part that interests me the most:
news.nationalgeographic.com...

all the dying :-)

not just a graveyard - but maybe a place you actually went to to die

reply to post by Spiramirabilis




That is cool.... They also say it was an observatory, to study the stages of the moon.
So yeah... a celestial burial would be very cool

Most likely he was a slave brought over from Middle East, but I'd like to think he was a victim of a failed stargate teleportation experiment.

Originally posted by Nventual
Or maybe they simply visited them for the same reasons we do.
Why do people assume those before us thought any different than we do now?

Yeah but now, when we visit we can get a headset that gives you an audio commentary as you walk around the stones. I highly recommend getting the headset if you visit stonehenge, really helps bring it all to life.

How did people from thousands of miles away know about it back then?

Maybe international trade and commerce was more common in them days than many would have us believe?

reply to post by Freeborn




That was what I was thinking?

As I said a few posts up, not like they would have advertised.
I think this is really interesting... and really makes you wonder.

Originally posted by Alxandro
Most likely he was a slave brought over from Middle East, but I'd like to think he was a victim of a failed stargate teleportation experiment.

Maybe not failed.... maybe his earthly shackles (body) was left here?

Ya never know...

reply to post by blupblup


I'm sure I've read reports of there being a tin trade between Ancient Britain and The Phoenician Sea Peoples around 1500 B.C.
Who is to say they weren't following established trade routes of previous Mediterranean civilisations and cultures?