C. A. Newham and Stonehenge

Abstract

The peat deposits of the Somerset Levels have yielded many prehistoric finds, including objects reported in Antiquity (Coles, 1968; Coles and Hibbert, 1971). Recent archaeological

Local Colour: Megalithic Architecture and Colour Symbolism in Neolithic Arran

“…The use of different qualities of stone within megalithic constructions has long been recognised. The stones employed in the construction of Stonehenge, for instance, are of quite different lithologies and provenances (Atkinson 1960, Cleal et al 1995. Furthermore, the use of these stones is patterned.…”

Analytical Surveys of Stonehenge and its Environs, 2009–2013: Part 2 – the Stones

“…Many of the stones at Stonehenge have been purposefully shaped and, indeed, William Stukeley observed evidence of stone-dressing in the 1720s, while William Gowland (1902), E. Herbert Stone (1924) and Richard Atkinson (1956; 1960; 1979) have all provided detailed accounts documenting the various modes of working, from coarse pecking to the application of a fine surface finish. Nevertheless, it was widely accepted that weathering had removed almost all traces of tooling from the above-ground surfaces.…”

“…Atkinson (1979, 208) maintained that in order to achieve an accurate alignment the mortises were prepared first. He based this interpretation on the examination of Lintel 122 that exhibits two pairs of mortise holes, suggesting that they had been re-adjusted to align with the tenon of Stone 21.…”

“…He based this interpretation on the examination of Lintel 122 that exhibits two pairs of mortise holes, suggesting that they had been re-adjusted to align with the tenon of Stone 21. However, Stone 21 is one of the unusual narrow uprights identified by Petrie and the only one which appears to have been erected from inside the sarsen circuit and is, therefore, anomalous (Atkinson 1979, 207; Cleal et al 1995, 197). To fit, the standard mortise would have had to be positioned differently to the others.…”

Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy So Far [and Comments and Reply]

“…The archaeological knowledge with regard to Stonehenge in Wiltshire and other megalithic structures in the British Isles and France had by 1960 become sufficiently detailed to encourage specialists from other disciplines to attempt to assess the function these structures might have served for their builders (Atkinson 1960, Daniel 1963. The azimuths of sun and moon, unlike those of constellations, are little affected by the precession of the equinoxes2 Thus 'Precession, a conical motion of the earth's axis around the pole of the ecliptic approximately every 25,800 years, is caused by the gravitational pull of the sun and moon on the earth's equatorial bulge.…”