Stonehenge: Exploring The Greatest Stone Age Mystery Exploring The Greatest Stone Age Mystery

Our knowledge about Stonehenge has changed dramatically as a result of the Stonehenge Riverside Project (2003-2009), led by Mike Parker Pearson, and included not only Stonehenge itself but also the nearby great henge enclosure of Durrington Walls. This book is about the people who built Stonehenge and its relationship to the surrounding landscape. The book explores the theory that the people of Durrington Walls built both Stonehenge and Durrington Walls, and that the choice of stone for constructing Stonehenge has a significance so far undiscovered, namely, that stone was used for monuments to the dead. Through years of thorough and extensive work at the site, Parker Pearson and his team unearthed evidence of the Neolithic inhabitants and builders which connected the settlement at Durrington Walls with the henge, and contextualised Stonehenge within the larger site complex, linked by the River Avon, as well as in terms of its relationship with the rest of the British Isles. Parker Pearson's book changes the way that we think about Stonehenge; correcting previously erroneous chronology and dating; filling in gaps in our knowledge about its people and how they lived; identifying a previously unknown type of Neolithic building; discovering Bluestonehenge, a circle of 25 blue stones from western Wales; and confirming what started as a hypothesis - that Stonehenge was a place of the dead - through more than 64 cremation burials unearthed there, which span the monument's use during the third millennium BC. In lively and engaging prose, Parker Pearson brings to life the imposing ancient monument that continues to hold a fascination for everyone. Despite Its Being One Of Prehistory's Most Alluring Landmarks, Before The Stonehenge Riverside Project Led By Noted Archeologist Mike Parker Pearson, Only Half Of Stonehenge Itself -- And Far Less Of Its Surroundings -- Had Ever Been Investigated, And Many Records From Previous Digs Are Inaccurate Or Incomplete. With Fresh Evidence Based On Seven Years Of Unprecedented Access To The Stonehenge World Heritage Site, This Excavation Replaces Centuries Of Speculation About Even The Most Fundamental Mysteries Of Stonehenge With Hard Proof. Stonehenge Changes The Way We Think About The Site, Correcting Previously Erroneous Dating, Filling Gaps In Our Knowledge About Its Builders And How They Lived, Clarifying The Monument's Significance Both Celestially And As A Burial Ground, And Contextualizing Stonehenge -- Which Sits At The Center Of One Of The Densest Prehistoric Settlements In History -- Within The Broader Landscape Of The Neolithic Age. The Man From Madagascar -- A Brief History Of Stonehenge -- Starting The Project -- Putting The Trench In The Right Place -- The Houses And The Henge -- Was This Where The Stonehenge Builders Lived? -- The Great Trilithon And The Date Of The Sarsens -- Mysterious Earthworks : The Landscape Of Stonehenge -- Mysteries Of The River -- The Druids And Stonehenge -- The Aubrey Holes -- Digging At Stonehenge -- The People Of Stonehenge And The Beaker People -- Bluestonehenge : Back To The River -- Why Stonehenge Is Where It Is -- Origins Of The Bluestones -- Origins Of The Sarsens -- Earthworms And Dates -- The New Sequence For Stonehenge -- Stonehenge : The View From Afar -- The End Of Stonehenge. By Mike Parker Pearson. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [367]-382) And Index. Stonehenge is one of the world's most famous monuments. Who built it, how and why are questions that have endured for at least 900 years, but modern methods of investigation are now able to offer up a completely new understanding of this iconic stone circle. Stonehenge's history straddles the transition from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age, though its story began long before it was built. Serving initially as a burial ground, it evolved over time into a sacred place for gathering, feasting and building, and was remodelled several times as different peoples arrived in the area along with new technologies and customs. In more recent centuries it has found itself the centre of excavations, political protests and even conspiracy theories, embedding itself in the consciousness of the modern world. In this book Mike Parker Pearson draws on two decades of research, the results of recent excavations and cutting-edge scientific analyses to uncover many of the secrets that this prehistoric stone circle has kept for 5,000 years. In doing so, he paints the most comprehensive picture yet of the history of Stonehenge, from its origins up to the 21st century, and reveals how in some ways trying to explain its power of attraction in the present is harder than explaining its purpose in the ancient past.. A striking and original interpretation of the awesome Stone Age site from one of the world's foremost archaeologists on death and burial