Dramatic Stonehenge Discovery

February 12, 2021 5:42 AM

In ancient times / Hundreds of years before the dawn of history / Lived a strange race of people, the Druids / No one knows who they were or what they were doing / But Geoffrey of Monmouth was probably actually right in a way / And they got it secondhand and dragged it into Wiltshire

More excavations are taking place at Stonehenge due to planned road construction, and further finds have come to light.

posted by Hypatia (11 comments total)

So Stonehenge was stolen from the Welsh, possibly by a mysterious ancient figure called Lord Elginius?
posted by TheophileEscargot at 5:49 AM on February 12, 2021 [4 favorites]

this needs a Spinal Tap tag.
posted by jonathanhughes at 5:53 AM on February 12, 2021 [6 favorites]

If you want to get completely stoned out this site will do it one by one and this 2017 pdf talks about the The Early Field Systems of the Stonehenge Landscape.
A little and a lot more about the Presceli 'bluestone' quarries.
posted by adamvasco at 5:57 AM on February 12, 2021 [2 favorites]

‘If you want to grace the burial-place of these men with some lasting monument,’ replied Merlin, ‘send for the Giants’ Ring which is on Mount Killaraus in Ireland. In that place there is a stone construction which no man of this period could ever erect, unless he combined great skill and artistry. The stones are enormous and there is no one alive strong enough to move them. If they are placed in position round this site, in the way in which they are erected over there, they will stand for ever.’
posted by adamvasco at 6:03 AM on February 12, 2021

I wish Mary Stewart had lived to see this. It was a pretty good chapter in The Crystal Cave. (Though she went with Geoffrey's 'steal it from Ireland' bit.)
posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 6:54 AM on February 12, 2021 [1 favorite]

"The acidic soil had destroyed almost all organic matter that could have been carbon-dated. But traces of ancient sunlight lingering in the soil [were] analysed and gave a likely construction date of around 3,300BC."

I never knew it was possible to detect ancient sunlight buried in soil. That's amazing! What's that dating method called?
posted by granada71 at 7:40 AM on February 12, 2021 [9 favorites]

What's that dating method called?

I think that's lightr.
posted by maxwelton at 8:26 AM on February 12, 2021 [5 favorites]

What's that dating method called?

I assume it was optical stimulated luminescence dating (OSL), which takes advantage of special properties of quartz grains. It's what they used to date the Uffington White Horse to c. 1000 BC.
posted by tavella at 8:47 AM on February 12, 2021 [8 favorites]

I like to think this was product testing.
“Yeah, your henge is basically ready, but we’re just going to put it together to make sure it works before we flat-pack and ship it.”
posted by Phanx at 8:56 AM on February 12, 2021 [6 favorites]

Any time Stonehenge is mentioned, I hear Eddie Izzard's voice in my head saying "Ah, so it's a henge you're building. Fantastic!"
posted by Lexica at 9:21 AM on February 12, 2021 [6 favorites]

"200 miles in this day and age? I don't even know where I LIVE now."
posted by Horkus at 11:11 AM on February 12, 2021 [1 favorite]