Stonehenge for the Ancestors

Stonehenge for the Ancestors PDF Author: Michael Parker Pearson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789088907043
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 606

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Book Description
For many centuries, scholars and enthusiasts have been fascinated by Stonehenge, the world's most famous stone circle. In 2003 a team of archaeologists commenced a long-term fieldwork project there for the first time in decades. The Stonehenge Riverside Project (2003-2009) aimed to investigate the purpose of this unique prehistoric monument by considering it within its wider archaeological context.This is the first of four volumes which present the results of that campaign. It includes investigations of the monuments and landscape that pre-dated Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain as well as excavat.

Stonehenge for the Ancestors

Stonehenge for the Ancestors PDF Author: Michael Parker Pearson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789088907043
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 606

Get Book

Book Description
For many centuries, scholars and enthusiasts have been fascinated by Stonehenge, the world's most famous stone circle. In 2003 a team of archaeologists commenced a long-term fieldwork project there for the first time in decades. The Stonehenge Riverside Project (2003-2009) aimed to investigate the purpose of this unique prehistoric monument by considering it within its wider archaeological context.This is the first of four volumes which present the results of that campaign. It includes investigations of the monuments and landscape that pre-dated Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain as well as excavat.

Stonehenge for the Ancestors

Stonehenge for the Ancestors PDF Author: Mike Parker Pearson
Publisher: Stonehenge Riverside Project Volume 1
ISBN: 9789088907029
Category : Excavations (Archaeology)
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This is the first of four volumes which present the results of The Stonehenge Riverside Project, a long-term fieldwork project at Stonehenge for the first time in decades.

Stonehenge for the Ancestors. Part 2

Stonehenge for the Ancestors. Part 2 PDF Author: Mike Parker Pearson
Publisher: Stonehenge Riverside Project
ISBN: 9789088907050
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
For many centuries, scholars and enthusiasts have been fascinated by Stonehenge, the world's most famous stone circle. In 2003 a team of archaeologists commenced a long-term fieldwork project for the first time in decades. The Stonehenge Riverside Project (2003-2009) aimed to investigate the purpose of this unique prehistoric monument by considering it within its wider archaeological context.This is the second of four volumes which present the results of that campaign. It includes studies of the lithics from excavations, both from topsoil sampling and from excavated features, as well as of the petrography of the famous bluestones, as identified from chippings recovered during excavations. Other specialist syntheses are those of the land mollusca. The volume provides an overview of Stonehenge in its landscape over millennia from before the monument was built to the last of its five constructional stages. It concludes with a chapter placing Stonehenge in its full context within Britain and western Europe during the third millennium BC.With contributions by:Umberto Albarella, Michael Allen, Richard Bevins, Benjamin Chan, Robert Ixer, Claudia Minniti, Doug Mitcham and Sarah Viner-Daniels

Stonehenge for the Ancestors. Part 1

Stonehenge for the Ancestors. Part 1 PDF Author: Mike Parker Pearson
Publisher: Stonehenge Riverside Project
ISBN: 9789088907036
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 520

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Book Description
For many centuries, scholars and enthusiasts have been fascinated by Stonehenge, the world's most famous stone circle. In 2003 a team of archaeologists commenced a long-term fieldwork project for the first time in decades. The Stonehenge Riverside Project (2003-2009) aimed to investigate the purpose of this unique prehistoric monument by considering it within its wider archaeological context.This is the first of four volumes which present the results of that campaign. It includes investigations of the monuments and landscape that pre-dated Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain as well as of excavation at Stonehenge itself. The main discovery at Stonehenge was of cremated human remains from many individuals, allowing their demography, health and dating to be established. With a revised radiocarbon-dated chronology for Stonehenge's five stages of construction, these burials can now be considered within the context of the monument's development. The different types of stone from which Stonehenge is formed - bluestones from Wales and sarsen silcretes from more local sources - are investigated both at Stonehenge and in its surroundings. These surrounding monuments include single standing stones, the Cuckoo Stone and the Tor Stone, as well as the newly discovered circle of Bluestonehenge at West Amesbury beside the River Avon. The ceremonial Stonehenge Avenue, linking Stonehenge to Bluestonehenge, is also included, based on a series of excavations along its length.The working hypothesis behind the Stonehenge Riverside Project links Stonehenge with a complex of timber monuments upstream at the great henge of Durrington Walls and neighbouring Woodhenge. Whilst these other sites are covered in a later volume (Volume 3), this volume explores the role of the River Avon and its topographic and environmental evidence.With contributions by:Umberto Albarella, Michael Allen, Olaf Bayer, Wayne Bennett, Richard Bevins, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Chris Casswell, Andrew Chamberlain, Benjamin Chan, Rosamund Cleal, Gordon Cook, Glyn Davies, David Field, Charles French, Robert Ixer, Neil Linford, Peter Marshall, Louise Martin, Claudia Minniti, Doug Mitcham, Bob Nunn, Andy Payne, Mike Pitts, Rebecca Pullen, Julian Richards, David Robinson, Clive Ruggles, Jim Rylatt, Rob Scaife, Ellen Simmons, Charlene Steele, James Sugrue, Anne Teather, Sarah Viner, Tony Waldron, Katy Whitaker and Christie Willis

Stonehenge

Stonehenge PDF Author: Mike Parker Pearson
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0857207334
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 563

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Book Description
Our knowledge about Stonehenge has changed dramatically as a result of the Stonehenge Riverside Project (2003-2009), led by Mike Parker Pearson, and included not only Stonehenge itself but also the nearby great henge enclosure of Durrington Walls. This book is about the people who built Stonehenge and its relationship to the surrounding landscape. The book explores the theory that the people of Durrington Walls built both Stonehenge and Durrington Walls, and that the choice of stone for constructing Stonehenge has a significance so far undiscovered, namely, that stone was used for monuments to the dead. Through years of thorough and extensive work at the site, Parker Pearson and his team unearthed evidence of the Neolithic inhabitants and builders which connected the settlement at Durrington Walls with the henge, and contextualised Stonehenge within the larger site complex, linked by the River Avon, as well as in terms of its relationship with the rest of the British Isles. Parker Pearson's book changes the way that we think about Stonehenge; correcting previously erroneous chronology and dating; filling in gaps in our knowledge about its people and how they lived; identifying a previously unknown type of Neolithic building; discovering Bluestonehenge, a circle of 25 blue stones from western Wales; and confirming what started as a hypothesis - that Stonehenge was a place of the dead - through more than 64 cremation burials unearthed there, which span the monument's use during the third millennium BC. In lively and engaging prose, Parker Pearson brings to life the imposing ancient monument that continues to hold a fascination for everyone.

If Stones Could Speak

If Stones Could Speak PDF Author: Marc Aronson
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 1426306008
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 68

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Book Description
Explores the mysterious monument of Stonehenge and reveals some of its secrets and history.

Stonehenge for the Ancestors

Stonehenge for the Ancestors PDF Author: Michael Parker Pearson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781789258967
Category : Excavations (Archaeology)
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


Stonehenge

Stonehenge PDF Author: Clive Ruggles
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
ISBN: 1835532713
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
Stonehenge is one of the most famous ancient monuments in the world and its solar alignment is one of its most important features. Yet although archaeologists have learned a huge amount about this iconic monument and its development, a sense of mystery continues about its purpose. This helps fuel numerous theories and common misconceptions, particularly concerning its relationship to the sky and the heavenly bodies. A desire to cut through this confusion was the inspiration for this book, and it fills a gaping hole in the existing literature. The book provides both an introduction to Stonehenge and its landscape and an introduction to archaeoastronomy—the study of how ancient peoples understood phenomena in the sky, and what role the sky played in their cultures. Archaeoastronomy is a specialism critical to explaining the relationship of Stonehenge and nearby monuments to the heavens, but interpreting archaeoastronomical evidence has often proved highly controversial in the past. Stonehenge: Sighting the Sun explains why. It makes clear which ideas about Stonehenge are generally accepted and which are not, with clear graphics to explain complicated concepts. This beautifully illustrated book shines new light on this most famous of ancient monuments, and is the first in-depth study of this fascinating topic suitable both for specialists and for anyone with a general interest.

Stonehenge

Stonehenge PDF Author: Mike Parker Pearson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350192252
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
Stonehenge is one of the world's most famous monuments. Who built it, how and why are questions that have endured for at least 900 years, but modern methods of investigation are now able to offer up a completely new understanding of this iconic stone circle. Stonehenge's history straddles the transition from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age, though its story began long before it was built. Serving initially as a burial ground, it evolved over time into a sacred place for gathering, feasting and building, and was remodelled several times as different peoples arrived in the area along with new technologies and customs. In more recent centuries it has found itself the centre of excavations, political protests and even conspiracy theories, embedding itself in the consciousness of the modern world. In this book Mike Parker Pearson draws on two decades of research, the results of recent excavations and cutting-edge scientific analyses to uncover many of the secrets that this prehistoric stone circle has kept for 5,000 years. In doing so, he paints the most comprehensive picture yet of the history of Stonehenge, from its origins up to the 21st century, and reveals how in some ways trying to explain its power of attraction in the present is harder than explaining its purpose in the ancient past.

How to Build Stonehenge

How to Build Stonehenge PDF Author: Mike Pitts
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
ISBN: 0500777187
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
Drawing on a lifetime’s study and a decade of new research, archaeologist Mike Pitts explores the mystery of how Stonehenge was built. There is nothing like Stonehenge: the simple, graphic genius of these great, arranged blocks. The stones seem to rise from the ground in some antediluvian heave of the Earth: lintels, great horizontal slabs, roughly squared, the grey rock now covered in subtle lichen green. But who made it? When did they make it? And most importantly, how was it built? How it was constructed is perhaps the central question about Stonehenge and likely the most common query from its many visitors. Yet it’s one of the least-researched aspects of the site, which author Mike Pitts aims to correct in this new book. With a unique focus on the monument itself, How to Build Stonehenge describes the site as it is today, what we know about the different types of stone, how they were carved and positioned to create the ultimate in megalithic architecture, and how this was taken down and left to ruin until the decay was arrested in the twentieth century with substantial restoration works. Pitts then examines the latest research on the site, interrogating the key questions: the sources of the various stones, how they were transported, and how it was all put together. The book considers the first significant study of sarsen, the stone most of Stonehenge is made of, in detail. Recent groundbreaking discoveries using cutting-edge scientific techniques have given us incredible new detail on the sources of these immense stones and brings it into the wider context of other megalith buildings around the world, as well as placing Stonehenge at the center of a network of European Bronze Age cultures.