23 September 2008

lourdes of the ring

Stonehenge / Salisbury Plain, England
Mystery solved .. or so they say. Apparently, two British archaeologists have now claimed that Stonehenge served as a primeval Lourdes, of sorts. It was a pilgrimage site where the sick came for the healing powers of the stone circle. Their theory is tied to the inner bluestone rings found at the center; a stone prized for its mystical healing powers. This is further reinforced in that many of the human remains discovered at the site showed evidence of illness and disease with recent testing suggesting that most were not indigenous to the local area - thus the pilgrimage factor. If you go, don't miss Woodhenge which is a similar arrangement of concentric rings except made from wooden columns. It is a mile or so from Stonehenge, far less crowded and equally interesting. Personally, I would have much rather been involved in building Woodhenge than dragging those huge stones over 300 miles from Wales. As Woodhenge appears to line up on the same east/west axis as Stonehenge, it is likely it was a precursor to the much more permanent stone version.

1 comment:

TheCrankyProfessor said...

Small world - I blogged about this yesterday, too!

I finally figured out why there's so much Stonehenge press for a little paper given at the Royal Society of Antiquaries; there's an episode of Timewatch about the excavatin scheduled for this Saturday, 24HourMuseum says.