What Does Stonehenges Existence Indicate About Humans and Art?
Significance of Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a unique prehistoric monument, lying at the centre of an outstandingly rich archaeological mural. An extraordinary source for the written report of prehistory, it holds a pivotal identify in the development of archeology. Many different theories have been put forrard nearly who congenital information technology, when, and why.
In 2016 Stonehenge celebrated its 30th yr as a World Heritage site – in 1986, together with Avebury, it was i of the very first sites in the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Listing.
A World Heritage Site
The Earth Heritage Site Management Program summarises the significance, or outstanding universal value, of the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site as follows:
The Stonehenge, Avebury, and Associated Sites World Heritage Site is internationally important for its complexes of outstanding prehistoric monuments. Stonehenge is the nigh architecturally sophisticated prehistoric stone circle in the world, while Avebury is the largest in the world. Together with inter-related monuments and their associated landscapes, they aid u.s.a. to understand Neolithic and Bronze Age ceremonial and mortuary practices. They demonstrate effectually 2000 years of continuous utilize and monument building between c. 3700 and 1600 BC. As such they represent a unique apotheosis of our commonage heritage. [1]
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The Rock Monument
The significance of Stonehenge itself can be summarised equally follows:
- Stonehenge is the nigh architecturally sophisticated and only surviving lintelled stone circumvolve in the world.
- The earliest stage of the monument is one of the largest cremations cemeteries known in Neolithic Britain.[two]
- The stones were brought from long distances – the bluestones from the Preseli Hills, over 150 miles (250km) away, and the sarsens from West Woods, xv miles (25km) north of Stonehenge on the edge of the Marlborough Downs.[3]
- The stones were dressed using sophisticated techniques[four] and erected using precisely interlocking joints, unseen at any other prehistoric monument.
A Unique Landscape
Stonehenge does not stand up in isolation, but forms part of a remarkable ancient landscape of early Neolithic, late Neolithic and early Bronze Historic period monuments.
Containing more 350 burying mounds and major prehistoric monuments such equally the Stonehenge Avenue, the Cursus, Woodhenge and Durrington Walls, this mural is a vast source of information about the ceremonial and funerary practices of Neolithic and Bronze Historic period people.
It can also assist our understanding of regional and international contacts from the quaternary to second millennia BC, and shed light on how prehistoric society was organised.
Archaeology and Meaning
Stonehenge has often been at the forefront of the development of archaeology (run into Inquiry on Stonehenge).
It has as well perhaps been the focus of more than theories about its origin and purpose than whatsoever other prehistoric monument. These take included a coronation identify for Danish kings,[5] a Druid temple,[6]an astronomical figurer for predicting eclipses and solar events,[vii] a place where ancestors were worshipped[8] or a cult centre for healing.[9]
Today, the interpretation of Stonehenge which is most generally accustomed is that of a prehistoric temple aligned with the movements of the dominicus.
Icon and Inspiration
Finally, Stonehenge is an icon of the by and a powerful prototype of aboriginal achievement. It has been the subject of many paintings and poems and featured in books, music and films.
Stonehenge continues to accept a role as a sacred identify of special religious and cultural significance for many, and inspires a strong sense of awe and humility for thousands of visitors who are fatigued to the site every year.
Footnotes
1. Official UNESCO brief description of the Globe Heritage Site, agreed by the World Heritage Committee, July 2008; published in C Young, A Chadburn and I Bedu, Stonehenge Earth Heritage Site Management Plan 2009 (English Heritage, London, 2009), part 1, 21.
2. Thou Parker Pearson, A Chamberlain, M Jay, P Marshall, J Pollard, C Richards, J Thomas, C Tilley and K Welham, 'Who was buried at Stonehenge?' Antiquity, 83 (2009), 23 (subscription required; accessed 3 March 2015).
3. DJ Nash et al, 'Origins of the sarsen megaliths at Stonehenge',Science Advances 6:31 (2020) (accessed xxx July 2020).
4. M Abbott and H Anderson-Whymark, Stonehenge Laser Browse: Archaeological Assay, English Heritage Research Section Report 32-2012 (English Heritage, 2012), 26–37.
5. W Charleton, Chorea Gigantum: Or, The Well-nigh Famous Antiquity of Great United kingdom, Vulgarly Called Stone-Heng, Standing on Salisbury Plain, Restored to the Danes (1663) (accessed 18 Nov 2013).
6. J Aubrey, Monumenta Britannica, or, A Miscellany of British Antiquities, Parts I and II, ed J Fowles (Sherborne, 1980–82; originally compiled 1665–93).
7. G Hawkins, Stonehenge Decoded (London, 1965).
8. One thousand Parker Pearson and Ramilinsonina, 'Stonehenge for the ancestors: the stones laissez passer on the bulletin', Antiquity, 72 (1998), 308–26 (subscription required; accessed 3 March 2015).
9. T Darvill, 'Towards the within: Stonehenge and its purpose', in Cults in Context: Reconsidering Ritual in Archaeology, ed D A Barrowclough and C Malone (Oxford, 2007), 148–57.
Source: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/history-and-stories/history/significance/
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