Stonehenge

I got nuttin' today, so I'll post an answer I wrote to a question on Quora a few days ago. Someone had asked "What is the historical relevance of Stonehenge?" I thought it an interesting question, and, after a quick look at a couple of information pieces online said:

The historical relevance of Stonehenge, famous megalithic monument in Wiltshire, England, is its connection to the Neolithic age during which there was transition from the hunter gatherer lifestyle to farming. The gradual spread of agriculture to Europe, from the Near East led to great cultural change. Climate in Britain was not always helpful to early agricultural efforts, the seasons and their turning points would have taken on extra significance.

Stonehenge is aligned northeast-southwest, it has been speculated that its builders placed significance on the winter and summer solstices, and the equinox points. The monument was built so that at midsummer the sun rose close to its Heel Stone, the sun's rays directly hitting the monument's centre - this cannot have been accidental. Stonehenge was built, using enormous amounts of energy, over lengthy periods of time, as a kind of clock or calendar to accurately mark the turning of seasons and possibly, over time, of solar and lunar eclipses. No doubt also there was spiritual significance to the monument, with some form of worship involved - of the sun - or of other, now uncertain, gods. Any leader able to announce or predict the return of warmth, and the growing season would have had recognition and powerful influence.

So, in a nutshell, the historical relevance of Stonehenge is in allowing us a peek into the Neolithic world of our distant ancestors.

Two other posts of mine, from the archives might be of interest:
From 2011
SOLSTICE
and
Ley Lines and Stonehenge Apocalypse

Solstice at Stonehenge panorama via Stonehenge News and Information.

SOLSTICE

In the northern hemisphere Winter Solstice this year will occur, for us in US Central Time Zone, at at 11:30 PM - tonight. In the UK, at the same point, clocks will say 5:30 AM GMT on 22 December. We've arrived at the shortest day, longest night - after which light will begin, slowly, to return. In the southern hemisphere, of course, Summer Solstice is being celebrated. Wherever you are,
SOLSTICE GREETINGS TO ALL!


An urge to mark and honour solstices and equinoxes - has to figure somehow in our DNA. Humans have been doing so for as long as we are able to see into the distant past. Indigenous people of every corner of the world had an awareness of the Sun's changing path through the sky. Their lives relied heavily on the Sun's lighting and warming of the land, and on its part in producing life-sustaining vegetation and crops.

Countless structures, still visible, served ancient civilisations as natural calendars to mark solstices, equinoxes, and sites of sacred ceremony, honouring the Sun. Britain's Stonehenge is one of the most famous of these. I read an article just this week on the BBC website, concerning expert research on the source of the stones. It appears that some of them originated in Wales. How the dickens those massive stones could have been moved to Wiltshire in England remains a fascinating mystery to which we shall never know the answer.

Here in Oklahoma, nearest natural structure used for tracking the Sun's path is in New Mexico, the state adjoining Oklahoma's panhandle, to the west.

At the southern entrance to an area known as Chaco Canyon stands 443ft high Fajada Butte, where in 1977 Dr. Anna Sofaer discovered the "Sun Dagger" - a petroglyph thought to have been carved some 1000 years ago by an ancient people, the Anasazi, who inhabited the area. Archaeologists still debate when a distinct Anasazi culture emerged, but the current consensus suggests they first appeared around 1200 B.C. The Ancient Puebloans first settled in the plateau area where water was plentiful, with their initial locations at Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde, and Kayenta. Later they spanned across the entire Colorado plateau including northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, southeastern Utah and southwestern Colorado.
The Anasazi were ancestors of modern Pueblo peoples. (See also HERE)


We haven't visited Chaco Canyon, but we've been close to it. In 2005 we visited Mesa Verde, in the same general area, though now it lies across the manmade state border in Colorado. The Anasazi abandoned the area around 700 years ago, for reasons unknown, one possibility is crop failure due to climate deterioration.

It was about a 40 minute drive from the highway, along winding roads up to Mesa Verde, then a long walk downhill to reach the dwellings site, and an exhausting one back up, at 7,000 ft. above sea level, and in the heat, the thinner air gets to you! We explored the remains of ancient Anasazi cliff dwellings, 3 photos from our trip are below - that's my back in #4. the first photo is not one of ours, but from HERE.

Artwork at THIS website gives an idea of the populated cliff dwellings in ancient times.

SCI-FI FRI ~ Ley Lines & Stonehenge Apocalypse

Among some DVDs we rented last weekend was Stonehenge Apocalypse, a movie made for TV - USA's SyFy channel. I'd spotted it, almost hidden on the bottom shelf, and though suspecting it'd be a tacky bit of hokum, the mention of Stonehenge appealed to me.

Hokum it was, yet I thoroughly enjoyed it. The obviously faux Stonehenge made of styrofoam was a bit offputting at first though! Reviews of the film read later had little good to say about it - but I seldom agree with reviewers. Disbelief suspended, a drink or two to hand, and it turned out to be darn good entertainment.

Although the words "ley lines" were never mentioned once in the movie, I immediately recognised from whence the idea for the story had originated. Long ago and far away I'd read a few books on ley lines. There may or may not be a link to astrology, though I suspect there has to be some connection.

A quick nutshell version of the plot first.

Stonehenge Apocalypse was directed by Paul Ziller, who co-wrote the story with Brad Abraham. Main character is Jacob (played by Misha Collins) a guy who was once a child prodigy, became a respected physicist, now discreditied by skeptics and reduced to running a conspiracy theory type of phone-in radio show from
a shack in the woods, somewhere in the USA. He is alerted by a caller to some strange elevated electromagnetic energy readings which seem to emanate from Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England.

A string of disasters spread across the world. Jacob has a theory. He travels to England and somehow gets himself accepted into the group of scientists, military and government bods who are trying to understand what's going on. Throughout the world, more disasters are occurring, all linked to ancient sites, for example an eruption at Chichen Itza in Mexico.

Jacob’s ideas are ridiculed; he's written off as a tinfoil hat quack.

A former colleague of Jacob's turns up in the plot, he has become a fanatical cult leader...... That's as far as I'll take it, except to say that it did turn out that a network of lines of electro-magnetic energy was found to connect points all around the globe, specifically linked to ancient stone constructions.

The network of connecting lines wasn't referred to as ley lines in the movie. That term was coined by an Englishman, Alfred Watkins (left) back in 1921. Watkins had discovered a straight alignment passing through various ancient sites and churches on a map of the Blackwardine area. He theorised that these lines marked Neolithic trading routes, published his findings in his book Early British Trackways (1922). In 1925, he published more of his theories and findings in The Old Straight Track. Watkins' massive information gathering, research, and his mathematical proof point out and support that the distribution of the key points along the ley lines could not have resulted by mere chance. Later researchers have found ley lines connecting ancient pyramids in China, Egypt, Mexico (Mayan & Aztec), and Greece; Grand Canyon in Arizona; The Recumbent Stone Circles in North East Scotland; Stonehenge; Easter Island and many other sites.

Skeptics have tried to discredit the ley line theory by pointing out that distant points of any kind can be joined by straight lines. Join all museums or all pubs, or all concert halls, for instance. But what gives the ley lines theory extra plausibility is the layer of ancient folk lore and tradition which link to the points involved. These lines have different names in different cultures: fairy lines, song lines, spirit ways, death roads, etc.

Various theories as to the meaning or use of ley lines have been proposed over the years. Mr. Watkins' trades routes seems reasonable, as does a recent theory that, in England in particular, the lines formed a kind of sat-nav for primitive man (see a piece in the UK's Telegraph). Are these ley lines similar to possible lines that birds, mammals, insects and bacteria use to migrate across long distances? Sacred geometry is involved, it seems, and Feng Shui has connection to the theory, as does dowsing. Early astronomical positions have to form part of the puzzle - most (all?) locations/positions of these ancient structures link to the solstices or equinoxes.

Some theories are harder to accept, but nothing should be considered out of the question these days. Do the lines run along the joints of Earth's tectonic plates, so that some kind of magnetic energy might escape along them? Did a civilisation more ancient than any we currently have on record leave behind some knowledge of a network of energies, possibly related to earth's magnetism or the position of certain stars or planets? Is the grid of energy lines a remnant of some magical artefact used by the people of lost Atlantis? Do the freemasons hold any secret information on this? Do UFOs appear at points along these lines? Finally, an even more way out there whacky one: was Princess Di's death connected to a ley line in France?

You can attach all manner of "stuff" to any theory. Some ideas make the storyline of Stonehenge Apocalypse seem almost sensible.

Best all-round article on ley lines I've found online is here:
http://www.ancient-wisdom.co.uk/leylines.htm

Another interesting site: THE PREHISTORIC ALIGNMENT OF WORLD WONDERS -PART I - THE GREAT CIRCLE : http://home.hiwaay.net/~jalison/index.html