Standing Stones
Some of the oldest relics of man-made heritage in the UK are not to be found in museums, but out in the fields and hills. They stand weathered, but monumental, as they have done for thousands of years.
Our prehistoric ancestors were exceptionally skilled at transporting large stone slabs and then erecting them, without the benefit of any kind of motorised cranes or hydraulic haulage. They have left us these strange rows and circles of lichen-covered rocks, and earth-covered barrows (burial chambers). Those that remain mostly date to the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, about 4,000 – 5,000 years ago.
Their historical importance has been long recognised, and Stonehenge, Avebury and partners around the country were all designated Scheduled Ancient Monuments in 1882.
Given the large size of some of these places, the construction of these monuments would have required a considerable number of people to build them. They indicate a “massive control of labour” and what’s particularly odd is that the location of where these labourers lived, is unknown. Their monuments survive, but their houses (rare exceptions aside, particularly in Orkney) are lost to us. It can be deduced, therefore, that in the later Neolithic and earlier Bronze Age, only the henges and stones circles themselves were important to the people who built them.
A great introduction to the best known standing stone site in Britain
What is known is that people were coming from some distance to these places. Settlements are not always found in their immediate vicinity. Combined with finds of exotic objects in and around the circles and the evidence from isotope analysis of the bones of animals eaten at these sites, all points to the fact that people were travelling to get to them, in some kind of neo-lithic pilgrimage. What were they coming to do? Eating seems to have been a substantial reason: Feasting, particularly on pork, is attested by excavated remains of animal bones.
An interesting article from English Heritage on the evidence of feasting that’s been found near Stonehenge:
Similarly, archaeological finds indicate that burial and commemoration of the dead also appears to have occurred. There was the deliberate deposition of unusual objects in the ground. Also, the observation of basic astronomical events would appear to have been practised, as many of the monuments have alignments that lend themselves to the solstices. Those are the main things that can be said with any sense of certainty, but of course that hasn’t stopped archaeologists and others from coming up with a multitude of theories about the purpose of these places.
What’s interesting is that their role seems to shift over time. There’s a gradual change from public buildings, which were (originally) wooden structures with a lot of animal bone and a lot of debris, to stone settings usually with cremation burials.
Then there’s a very last phase of use at stone circles: they were used all over again in the late Bronze Age (1200–800 BC) as cremation cemeteries and cremation pyres.
So, these circular monuments have had a long life and no doubt have meant different things to different people. That’s an attribute they maintain to this day, as anyone passing Stonehenge on a solstice will be able to attest.
An exceptionally good survey, across Britain, of standing stones and why they might have been built.