Stonehenge: "Domain of the Dead"

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There are many legends about Stonehenge at Salisbury Plain. Some contend aliens placed the hefty stones at the monument, while others credit the wizard Merlin. But after 5 years of research, Mike Parker Pearson, an archeologist at the University of Sheffield in England, has offered a simpler solution Stonehenge was the burial ground for Britain's first royal dynasty.

Stonehenge (left) and the woodhenge at Durrington Walls.

Thriving settlement on the British Isles

Pearson's efforts to solve the Stonehenge mystery began after he stumbled upon ancient constructions at Durrington Walls, three kilometers to the northeast of Stonehenge. Radiocarbon dating showed that they had been erected at the same time as Stonehenge around 4,500 years ago. The discovery caught Pearson's attention and he decided to spend a few years excavating the area.

Pearson's digs uncovered nearly 1,000 homes — a thriving settlement for the day. Previously, scholars had doubted the existence of such large ancient settlements on the British Isles. Pearson and his team are now studying 10 stone, wooden and clay houses found in the area. Although the homes had hearths and scattered flint instruments were found within, the archeologists don't know who resided at the settlement.

Soon after, Pearson and his team discovered another sensation at Durrington Walls — the remains of a woodhenge nearly identical to Stonehenge. Radiocarbon dating showed that the two henges were built around the same time.

River Avon

In 2005, Pearson's success was reported worldwide. But he refrained to comment specifically on his findings. His team preferred to keep Stonehenge's meaning a secret. This only added to the mystery. And so their digs continued. The following year, the archeologists discovered a massive 30-meter-wide stone "avenue" leading from the Durrington henge to the nearby River Avon.

"Clearly the avenue wasn't needed for a settlement with 1,000 homes," Pearson said. "It had no practical purpose. It was rather used for celebrations and ceremonies."
Stretching to the river, the Durrington avenue ended abruptly. No traces were found on the opposite side of the Avon.
Royal burial site

Pearson and his team agreed that the settlement and Stonehenge were intimately connected. But Stonehenge's meaning remained unclear.

Pearson refuted the popular theory that Stonehenge was built as an astronomical observatory. He said that there was no reason to erect a bulky stone structure to determine the summer solstice when a woodhenge would do. So Pearson kept looking for answers.
As the whole area near Stonehenge had been excavated numerously, Pearson was only left with one option — to receive permission to excavate Stonehenge, a heavily protected UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In the mid-20th Century, the UK Archeological Society discovered the cremated remains of three burials in ditches nearby Stonehenge. The remains were preserved at the Salisbury Museum for 50 years. Researchers previously believed that people had been buried in the area for no more than 100 years — from about 2700 to 2600 B.C. But Pearson wasn't satisfied with their conclusions. He reexamined the remains excavated in the 1950s and found the site was used for burials for at least 500 years between 2570-2340 B.C.
Pearson's team later uncovered the remains of 150-240 men, women and children while excavating Stonehenge. Radiocarbon dating showed that the burials took place from 3000 B.C. until after Stonehenge was erected around 2500 B.C.
"I don't think it was the common people getting buried at Stonehenge — it was clearly a special place at that time," Pearson said. "One has to assume anyone buried there had some good credentials."

Pearson believes Britains' first royal line may have been buried at the monument. Stonehenge, he said, symbolized the "Domain of the Dead," while the woodhenge represented the "Domain of the Living."
Pearson believes that the celebrations at Stonehenge and Durrington honored the life cycle and the Durrington avenue played an integral role. The Durrington henge was used to celebrate life. People walked down the Durrington avenue to lay their dead to rest in the Avon.
Meanwhile, Stonehenge was a memorial to the dead. The monument also boasts an avenue of its own discovered in the 18th Century. The Stonehenge avenue aligns with the midsummer solstice sunrise and the Durrington avenue with midsummer solstice sunset. Furthermore, the Durrington henge aligns with the midwinter solstice sunrise and Stonehenge with the midwinter solstice sunset.

"What we suspect is that the river is the conduit between the two realms, of the living and the dead," Pearson added. "It was the prehistoric version of the River Styx."

Pearson said thousands of people came to Stonehenge from all over Britain twice per year came for celebrations dedicated to the life and seasonal cycle. In the summer they thanked their descendants for continuing the life cycle and bringing fertility to the soil and in the winter they buried their dead.

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Стоунхендж - «мир мертвых». Русская версия + фото + видео