Film: The Mystery of Stonehenge (McGraw Hill) For The Art of Ireland (102-3007)
Prof. T. Waldeier Bizzarro

Part I:

**Stonehenge, Salisbury Plains, England is about 90 miles from London
**Experiments performed at Stonehenge by astronomer, Dr. G. Hawkins of Boston University (1964).
**Barrow tombs of a ca. 2,000 BCE: builders were farmers with primitive tools.

ca. 1800 BCE: men with bronze weapons "conquered" Stonehenge
ca. 1500 BCE: building of Stonehenge completed: attested to by radiocarbon testing and


thermoluminescence.
Radiocarbon testing and thermoluminescence.
**Hawkins's theory: Stonehenge as astronomical observatory used to follow movement of sun, moon.
Movement of sun, moon.

-stone lintels: 20'H, 1'W
-heelstone marked sunrise exactly (at midsummer sunrise)
-Aubrey holes (56), 16' apart, mark 56 year in eclipse circle.
-calendar for marking time, planting crops, keeping record of movement of sun, moon, etc.
-all stones/holes account for position of sun:

Part II: Experiment to determine whether or not men of 4,000 years ago could predict an eclipse?
**Sarsen - ancient, underwater granite (50 ton weight)
**Blue Stones (brought from Wales), drug overland, loaded onto barges along seas, river, etc. to Stonehenge.
**30 Sarsens with lintels (brought from Marlborough Downs, 20 miles north standing around central point
**Mediterranean influence is assumed.
**Stonehenge as observatory:

-heelstone between archway reflects midsummer sunrise
-30 stones at center mark days of month and phases of moon/eclipse
-ancient Britons were ahead of Babylonians in terms of astronomy, by about 1,500 years!
-oral tradition was sufficiently strong to conserve/preserve ancient knowledge.
Aubrey holes filled up with chalk in order to hinder growth in hole.

**Advantages to "thinking big" with megaliths:

-they are permanent
-they are spectacular
-not much could change/hinder their function.

Questions:
1. Who were the Druids? From which period in Ireland's history do they date?
2. Define henge according to O'Kelly.
3. What is radiocarbon testing? Thermoluminiscence?
4. Why is an eclipse frightening? Think about it.
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