Stonehenge Festival Site Discovered!

madmatt · Post by **madmatt** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 7:32 am

Wow, it really made me smile to think of our ancestors thousands of years ago celebrating life and death in a temporary village.

National Geographic article.

LA Times article.

Archeologists working near Stonehenge in England have discovered what appears to be an ancient religious complex containing a wealth of artifacts that may finally illuminate the lives and religious practices of the people who built the mysterious monument 4,600 years ago.

The circle of massive stone blocks on Salisbury Plain southwest of London is one of the most famous archeological sites in the world, but researchers know surprisingly little about the people who built it and lived in the region.

The discovery, reported Tuesday in a teleconference organized by the National Geographic Society, reconfigures the geometry of Stonehenge, indicating that it is not an isolated monument but part of a larger religious complex that may have encompassed the area.

It also casts the people who built the monument in an unexpected light, indicating that they were not only the somber worshipers of Stonehenge but also a raucous, hard-partying group who gathered for regular festivals.

Seems that it had posts set up in a mirror image of Stonehenge, 2.4 miles away - Stonehenge is aligned with sunrise at the summer solstice and sunset at the winter solstice. The village is aligned with sunrise at the winter solstice and sunset at the summer solstice.

Findings indicated conspicuous consumption, partying, religious rites, etc., but no "industrious" activities. Lucky for us, they left tons of MOOP!!!

BAS · Post by **BAS** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 9:56 am

HOO-RAY FOR MOOP!!!

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 10:24 am

What is the neolithic equivalent of "down in front!"?

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 2:12 pm

And since they didn't have bikes back then, everyone had to get around the festival on HORSES!!!

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 2:21 pm

I'm not sure that horses were around back then. The reconstructions of building techiques that I've seen were all person powered...

Post by **AntiM** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 2:28 pm

Well, they did have beer!

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 2:29 pm

the international museum of the horse wrote:For perhaps half a million years - far into the dark reaches of prehistory - man's only contact with the horse was as a hunter in search of food. Only in the relatively recent past (between 4,000 and 3,000 B.C.) did man domesticate the horse, and yet it was still used for food. This domestication began on the steppes north of the Black Sea (where there were wild horses at the time) at a period when oxen were already being yoked in draft in Mesopotamia. By the early 3rd millennium B.C., asses and onagers (wild asses of central Asia) had been similarly harnessed in the region; and when the horse was brought there in numbers in the early 2nd millennium B.C., a tradition of driving already dominated the scene.

That doesn't sound like there were horses at Stonehenge.

the international museum of the horse wrote:The Reluctant Rider, 1,350 BC
Traditionally it has been felt that driving came before riding in the civilized lands of the Near East, where recorded history began. There were large chariot forces which required schooled, disciplined, and highly conditioned horses at a time when riding was probably still pursued only in a casual fashion. Disciplined cavalry mounts, trained to function with their riders in formation, are thought to have come only after 1,000 BC The state of riding before 1,000 BC is depicted by this scantily clad, unarmed rider (groom or messenger) in a camp scene. He is still riding the donkey seat that was used 600 years before in conjunction with nose-ring control. It would be another 600 years before the rider of antiquity sat upon a horse like a true horseman.

International Museum of the Horse
Amazing what we take for granted.

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 2:42 pm

Okay, maybe Tagie and I can hop into a time machine and show 'em how it's done

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 2:52 pm

Damn, wouldn't that be something to see.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 2:59 pm

AntiM wrote:Well, they did have beer!

Somethings are more important than others.

Box Burner · Post by **Box Burner** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:31 pm

Ugly Dougly wrote:What is the neolithic equivalent of "down in front!"?

A smack in the head.

Tiahaar · Post by **Tiahaar** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:48 pm

theCryptofishist wrote:
the international museum of the horse wrote:The state of riding before 1,000 BC is depicted by this scantily clad, unarmed rider (groom or messenger) in a camp scene. He is still riding the donkey seat that was used 600 years before in conjunction with nose-ring control. It would be another 600 years before the rider of antiquity sat upon a horse like a true horseman.
International Museum of the Horse

wow the photo looks like the fellow is sitting on top of the horses butt...even as a little kid I knew to sit on a horse's back right behind the withers (shoulders)...did it really take ancient humans hundreds of years to figure that out? I'm thinking not...and WHat will future historians make of our Burning Man pentagonal-bounded city?

madmatt · Post by **madmatt** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 7:32 am

diane o'thirst wrote:And since they didn't have bikes back then, everyone had to get around the festival on HORSES!!!

Poop moop.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 11:05 am

Tiahaar wrote:
theCryptofishist wrote:
the international museum of the horse wrote:The state of riding before 1,000 BC is depicted by this scantily clad, unarmed rider (groom or messenger) in a camp scene. He is still riding the donkey seat that was used 600 years before in conjunction with nose-ring control. It would be another 600 years before the rider of antiquity sat upon a horse like a true horseman.
International Museum of the Horse
wow the photo looks like the fellow is sitting on top of the horses butt...even as a little kid I knew to sit on a horse's back right behind the withers (shoulders)...did it really take ancient humans hundreds of years to figure that out? I'm thinking not...and WHat will future historians make of our Burning Man pentagonal-bounded city?

You never rode a donkey, have you pilgrim?

Tiahaar · Post by **Tiahaar** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 11:57 am

heheh, nope...and in fairness the horses Were said to be donkey-sized back then...so ok donkey seat ha. I want to ride a racing camel someday.

Apollonaris Zeus · Post by **Apollonaris Zeus** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 7:49 pm

madmatt wrote: "indicating that they were not only the somber worshipers of Stonehenge but also a raucous, hard-partying group who gathered for regular festivals.

Lucky for us, they left tons of MOOP!!!

Our brothers and sisters for sure, but...

See if we don't leave massive amounts of MOOP how will the next highly evolved beings know that burning man existed?

AIIZ

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 11:28 pm

The signature of man will be that thin gray line in the layers on the cliff face.

Karma · Post by **Karma** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 3:23 am

I'm sure people were asked to leave there horses at there camps on stone night so people would'nt trip on them.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 11:05 am

Interesting that they say that one or more of the building sites had no debris, and they think that perhaps this means it was a temple...

Tiahaar · Post by **Tiahaar** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 9:23 pm

that would be the Eurthe Guardaen's camp

madmatt · Post by **madmatt** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 9:35 am

Tiahaar wrote:that would be the Eurthe Guardaen's camp

Wonder where Ye Olde Poertae Pottieez were?

BAS · Post by **BAS** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 7:28 pm

Wonder where Ye Olde Poertae Pottieez were?

That would be the nearby river, actually!

B.

Stonehenge Festival Site Discovered!

Stonehenge Festival Site Discovered!

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