Stonehenge: Ancient Burial Site or Access To Earth For Extra-Terrestials?

Every single person on Earth knows about and is mystified about what the purpose of one of the most unusual and interesting manmade objects in the world? This object is Stonehenge in England, and has had the eye of archaeologists and sight-seers alike for many, many years. What is the purpose of this structure that lines up perfectly with both the summer and winter solstices. This is one of the most interesting aspects of it, because those who made it had an intimate knowledge of the world in the sky and how the stars worked. New archaeological evidence has arised about the origin and purpose of Stonehenge, but before we look into this, we must brush over the history of the site.

First of all, before reading the article in the June 2008 National Geographic (http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/06/stonehenge/alexander-text) and then doing my own research, I had no idea what was so special about Stonehenge. Sure, it looks awesome and is super old, but what else? Well, a henge, by definition, is a circular bank of earth paralleled by an internal ditch. This is strange because at Stonehenge, the bank is located on the inside and the ditch is on the outside. As it was first being made around 3100 B.C., this was the only thing there. Then, before the bluestones or any stones were brought in, there was some monuments made of wood put in the center of the henge. There are many cremation remains that today's archaeologists have found that date back to this stage in time, so these professionals have deemed it possible that Stonehenge was a cemetery at this stage.

Then, around 2500 B.C., the stones began to appear. At first it were the bluestones, which are now known to be from the Preseli Hills, which are located about 250 miles from the site. How did these Neolithic humans get the means to carry these stones over that great distance. Did they use means similar to the inhabitants of Easter Island, with their reed-tracks? Or did they use a more basic idea of pulling them with either oxen or humans? This is an interesting question that archaeological evidence has yet to unfold. These stones make up most of the inside of the Sarsen circle, the next advancement of Stonehenge.

The Saarsen circle is what is most commonly recognized as Stonehenge today. They are the circle that surrounds the inner "courtyard-like" are. They consisted of 30 worked stones that are topped with what is called a lintel, which is basically just the beam that connects the two posts underneath it. On the inside of the circle, there now came a horseshoe shaped configuration of five trilithons (which is the same structure as the outside of the circle, but each stone is only connected to another one, not an entire chain). Also added during this period was a path to the River Avon, that is around two miles away. This path is very important in the modern theor y about Stonehenge that we will revisit later.

At the final stage of advancements, probably around 2000 B.C. or slightly after, the bluestones that used to form the circle of Stonehenge were repositions inside the Sarsen circle in a circle shape of their own. Then, after about 1500 B.C., there were no more changes made on Stonehenge (by man at least).

Down the River Avon around two miles from Stonehenge is another site from around the same period known as Durrington Walls. This is another henge (in the correct manner) and consists of many circles of wood within the henge. It is also connected to Woodhenge, a much smaller Stonehenge, but made of wood, obviously. Some recent scholars have come up with theories that connect the two. In the Ramilisonina and Mike Parker Pearson theories, they believe that the Neolithic people saw timber as a symbol of life and stone as a symbol of death. Therefore, during a funeral procession, a dead body would travel from Durrington Walls and Woodhenge, down the River Avon to Stonehenge in a ritual that signified the changing of life to death. Religious scholars of the time period uphold this theory in many ways, although there are some downfalls to the theory as well. For example, if Stonehenge was the end of this funeral procession, how come it is surrounded by tools and other evidence that the area around it was used for farming? This is not considered holy by today's standards, but we weren't alive with these people, so who knows what their respect for the dead was.

There are many other theories, such as the "birth canal theory," "the alien theory" and the "Merlin theory" that have been deemed as possible in the past (or present), but I find that this theory is the most plausible. The idea that Stonehenge is some sort of communal burial site has been around for many, many generations of scholars and the new evidence brought forth by recent excavations furthers the possibility. I will continue to research into this (and hopefully catch a re-run of Stonehenge Decoded on the National Geographic Channel) and write some more blogs about it. Maybe I'll even do some conspiracy theorist blogs about aliens and their possibility in this field. Let me know your opinions and any other topics you have researched regarding Stonehenge. Thanks.