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Stonehenge Version 2.0 Completed
Antarctic Lemur writes "The Stonehenge project previously mentioned has been completed near Wellington, New Zealand. This newer version utilises multiple ancient astronomical technologies (scroll down) and the BBC reports it is wired for sound."
Bleh, this is nothing compared to Car Henge in Nebraska.
Screw astronomy. It's about used cars, man!
It's a testament to the fundamental principles of the ancient methodologies of astronomy, that you can actually go in to and look at. I've never been do the one in Salisbury, but from what I've heard of it you're not allowed to go near the rocks, let alone inside.
Version 2.0-RC1
Illegal? Samir, This is America.
Mainly because my old local pub is smack in the middle of the circle. Ah, the days of sipping Wadworths 6X in the summer garden!
There are several circles similar to Stonehenge in the area around Wiltshire, one not so well known circle is Woodhenge, which is a few miles north east of Stonehenge just past Amesbury. The whole area is full of barrows and free-standing stones. A lot of them are in the middle of farm land which makes it difficult to get to, and there are a lot of ancient forts around too.
One funny thing I remember, walking past the entry gates to the stones one saturday morning walking the dog and there was a bus of American tourists doing the rounds, and I actually overheard one say "It's nice, but why did they have to build it so close to the road"...
Something that a lot of people don't realise about the circle is that a lot of the stones were moved around a lot during the early part of the 20th century. Six stones were set up-right in 1918 from their horizontal positions by the office of works and the stones were closed off to the public. They've also been moved backwards and forwards to London for inspection and maintenance a couple of times in the past, they certainly haven't been standing untouched for the last 3000 years!
Task Mangler
Precession must have some bearing on Stonehenge, and it looks like one hell of a thing to have to calibrate.
What does this button do...
Stonehenge is one of those things i always like to see on discovery channel shows.
I think it's fascinating that it's hard to figure out what's the deal exactly. I wonder if this will happen with anything of our age in like 5000 years.
Sample this!
It seems pretty clear to me that the what is going to stump the archeologists in 5000 years is our skyscraper foundations and what's left of our amazing superhighways.
that building in the upper left corner of the model is a representation of the Amazon.com headquarters, btw.
What is definitely cool is that after it snows, the so-called "Avenue" is revealed. Here's one link: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/filestore/stone hengeinteractivemap/timetravel.html
The "astronomy" stuff is what happens when you judge one culture my the standards of another.
In Victorian times, when archeology was getting going, all the large buildings in England were churches, so the inference was that large buildings were for religious purposes. Sure the druids used it, but the Druids did not exist until after stonehenge had been in use for 3,000 years and abonadoned for 1,000. Furthermore, we have good solid evidence that the religious practices of the time involved shrines in the home, and not communal worship.
The Computer/astrology thing came about in the 1970s, when all large govenrment expendature was on computers/space programs, so the assumption was that Stonehenge was a computer/astronomical something. Anyone who thinks it was important to predict the seasons for farming has never been to England. The wheather here is subject to enormous random variations, and folllowing a strict clock would get you nowhere.
The lesson learned is that sonehenge, as the largest manmade thing in Europe at the time, was there to solve man's largest problem at the time. Mans biggest problem at the time of stonehenge was what to eat - what ever it was there for had to be connected with eating. (Yay - it was a stone-age McDonalds!)
Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
I haven't worn a watch or cared what day it is let alone what time it is for the past 19 years. It amazes me how many folks I know that don't know how to look up at the sky or at shadows and tell what time it is. If you want to know what time of the year it is, stand outside for a few minutes and sense the weather, the air, the brush... Maybe the important of Stonehedge is to get folks to pay more attention to the world around us and less to the overwhelmingly growing 40-65% of net income being spent on rent or a huge mortgage.
--- Old Time NeXThead
Of course, Stonehenge has been upgraded several times. The hightly visible stones of the final version are quite new, as you say, but the original dates back even further than Newgrange. The oldest dates from the site are in the region of 10000 years old. Although, those parts don't seem to tell the time or anything like that.
While a 5000 tomb with a Solstice marker is impressive, a site which was in actual use by people and maintained and updated for coming on to 8000 years is fairly stunning too.
TWW
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
When I went to Stonehenge (courtesy of Mad Max Tours) some loon (I mean that in the best possible sense) was flying in powered paraglider with an oversized fan attached to its back. He appeared to be steering with his elbows as he snapped pictures like a madman. He got close enough that I was sure that he was going to lose control of his craft and turn Stonehenge into Stoneunhenged.
On this same tour we also saw Avebury, and I do agree that it was more enjoyable. I never did see the devil behind my shoulder, however.
Ben Hocking
Need a professional organizer?