Travel
Sites
Visit
Goa,
Karnataka,
Kerala,
Tamil
Nadu, Andhra
Pradesh
in South India,
Delhi,
Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh, Himachal
Pradesh in North India, Assam,
Bengal,
Sikkim
in East India
|
|
|
|
|
|
Back
To:
Index
Page
NEWSPLUS
& ENTERTAINMENT & CINEMA
Stonehenge was hidden from 'lower
classes' in Stone Age Britain
London:
Archeologists have uncovered the remains of what
they believe to be a 20 ft fence designed to block
Stonehenge from the view of 'lower classes' in Stone
Age Britain. According to a report in the Telegraph,
the wooden onstruction extended nearly two miles across
Salisbury Plain more than 5,000 years ago, and would
have served to shield the sacred site from the prying
eyes of ordinary lower-class locals. Trenches have
been dug around the monument, tracing the course of
the fence that meanders around the stone circle. The
construction must have taken a lot of manpower, according
to the dig's co-director Dr Josh Pollard, of Bristol
University in the UK. "The palisade is an open structure
which would not have been defensive and was too high
to be practical for controlling livestock," said Pollard.
"It certainly wasn't for hunting herded animals and
so, like everything else in this ceremonial landscape,
we have to believe it must have had a religious significance,"
he added. "The most plausible explanation is that
it was built at huge cost to the community to screen
the environs of Stonehenge from view. Basically, we
think it was to keep the lower classes from seeing
what exactly their rulers and the priestly class were
doing," said Pollard. According to Mike Pitts, editor
of British Archaeology Magazine, this is a fantastic
insight into what the landscape would have looked
like. "This huge wooden palisade would have snaked
across the landscape, blotting out views to Stonehenge
from one side. The other side was the ceremonial route
to the Henge from the River Avon and would have been
shielded by the contours," he said. "The palisade
would have heightened the mystery of whatever ceremonies
were performed and it would have endowed those who
were privy to those secrets with more power and prestige.
In modern terms, you had to be invited or have a ticket
to get in," he added. .
-Sept 1, 2008
Go
To Top
|
|
|
|
