10. 6. 2008 Calendary

10 Jun 2008 Stonehenge was used as a royal burial ground

Categories: Calendar , Nálezy nejenom s detektorem ve Velké Británii a Irsku

British scientists announced thirteen years ago, after new excavations, that the ancient English Stonehenge served as a royal burial site. Using radiocarbon tests, they examined human remains.

The archaeologists found that ancient Stonehenge was the site of ritual burials. They found cremated remains there. Scientists carried out radiocarbon analysis and found that the skeletal remains belonged to people who lived from the third millennium to 2500 BC. But some graves were even younger.

This was new information because archaeologists originally thought the 240 bodies found were buried between about 2700 and 2600 BC. "All indications are that they were members of an elite family or even royalty. In our opinion, there were no ordinary people buried at Stonehenge," said archaeology team leader Parker Pearson.

There have been many theories about what Stonehenge was used for. In the early twentieth century, for example, English astronomer Norman Lockyer came up with the theory that Stonehenge was used by ancient shamans as a great stone astronomical calendar to calculate the positions of the sun and moon, solstices, equinoxes and eclipses of these celestial bodies. This theory was confirmed in 1961 by the astrophysicist Fred Hoyle.

"British archaeologist Mike Pearson, in turn, was convinced that Stonehenge served as a central burial site for burials by burning. Ashes and remains were thrown into the nearby River Avon. But whole skeletons have also been found here. It is also believed to have been a ritual shrine where the sick and seriously injured were treated and the beneficial energy emanating from the surrounding trilithons had healing effects," writes Vladimír Liška in his book Historical Monuments.

American astronomer Gerald Hawkins, in turn, used computer analysis to discover that Stonehenge was a monumental tool for prehistoric people to observe the sky. It was supposedly to set a basic calendar not only for religious but also for quite secular purposes, such as the start of agricultural work, sowing and harvest times.

Sources: www.bbc.com, www.english-heritage.org.uk, Vladimír Liška: Historical Monuments, www.wikipedie.org

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