Rarely do you get breaking news on a topic over 4,500 years old, so when it comes up, I feel like its worth sharing. Plus, I love Stonehenge. At the risk of sounding like a Time Life Mystic Places book, there’s some kind of freaky cosmic energy thing going on there.
The big mystery of Stonehenge is who built it, and why? There have been lots of theories about Romans, Druids, astronomers, Merlin, priests, aliens and just about anyone else you can think of. What scientists do know is that Stonehenge underwent about 2,000 years of construction in several stages to get to the point we see it at today by some people who seemed to have vanished without a trace. If you visited Salisbury Plain prior to January of this year, it would have been baffling to you too. Just a bunch of stones, out in a field, with nothing else, no big roads, no houses.
This week archaeologists announced that they have uncovered a neighboring village that they believed housed the Stonehenge builders. The site is called Durrington Walls, and what lies inside may lead to uncovering the truth about Stonehenge. Early theories from the scientists involved contend that Stonehenge is a funeral site.
Regardless of who built it or why, Stonehenge tours are worthwhile, particularly in light of the new discoveries, which are sure to bring more visitors out to Salisbury Plain. Housed in a beautiful part of England, it is an impressive monument to behold. I remember an eerie, but peaceful, quiet and tranquility while I was walking around the stones, and a strong sense of awe at how people so long ago could get such massive monoliths transported (the stones aren’t local) and then arranged as they are, standing so tall, and buried so deep. I’m a little sad that with the new discoveries Stonehenge might become less mysterious, but it certainly won’t become less wonderful.
Read the New York Times article on the Durrington Walls discovery.
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