XIV Международный конкурс научно-исследовательских и творческих работ учащихся
Старт в науке
Мистический Стоунхендж
Автор работы награжден дипломом победителя III степени
Полная версия работы доступна во вкладке "Файлы работы" в формате PDF
Introduction
Four thousand years ago, a small community of people, which was at the level of the Stone Age time, lived in Britain. They hardly provided their existence using the most primitive tools made of stone and bone. However, these people somehow created huge quarries in the Cambrian mountains where they gained large stone boulders weighing up to thirty tons. Moreover, these stones were dragged at a distance of 240 miles to the area of modern Amesbury. The people placed them in circles with pinpoint accuracy. This construction was called Stonehenge, which means "Hanging Stones".
By nowadays, Stonehenge has been explored by dozens of scientists. Historians, geologists, anthropologists, chemists, civil engineers tried to recreate why the monument was built. However, all the answers to the question are only hypotheses we would like to sum up in our work. Our project will help other people with studying the history of Great Britain and its landmarks. The project can contribute to encouraging interest in learning English.
The relevance of the project consists in the fact that even nowadays a lot of scientists can’t define what is Stonehenge - an astronomic observatory, or just an ancient monument. So we would like to express our opinion with proof, of course, and try to sort out the problem by ourselves.
The main aim of the project is to get acquainted with the history of the origin of Stonehenge and the legends associated with the monument.
According to the aim, we can set the following tasks:
1. Study the literature about Stonehenge and its history of the construction.
2. Compare different opinions and sources about the monument and summarize them.
3. Create a poster about Stonehenge.
Besides, we made the following hypothesis: knowing the history of Stonehenge, we can say it has been built as a kind of prehistoric observatory or the purpose of this ancient building has not been revealed yet.
Object: history of England.
Topic: Stonehenge is just a monument or an ancient observatory.
Methods of the research:
1. Collecting and processing of the information from different sources.
2. Comparison, generalization, and synthesis.
CHAPTER 1
1.1 The historical facts
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, two miles west of Amesbury. It is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world. The monument and its surroundings were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1986 [1].
Stonehenge consists of circular and horseshoe-shaped structures built of large menhirs. By the way, menhirs are the simplest megaliths in the form of roughly processed stone blocks installed by people. Vertical dimensions of the boulders noticeably exceed the horizontal ones. Most menhirs of Stonehenge are each around 4 meters high, 2.1 meters wide and weighing around 25 tons.
Stonehenge consists of two types of stone. The first is sarsen, which forms an inner circle, brought from Marlborough Downs, which is 32 km from the building. These stones weigh 25 tons and are 9 meters high. The second type of stone is dolerite or blue stone, which weigh about 4 tons and turn blue when it is wet outside. They are probably from West Wales, which is 250 km far from Stonehenge [3].
Archaeologists believe Stonehenge was constructed from about 3000 BC to 2000 BC. One of the earliest built of the monument has been dated to 3100 BC.
Having studied and systematized the information of the construction of Stonehenge, we get the following picture: according to archaeologists, Stonehenge was built in three stages:
The first stage of the building consisted of the construction of the main moat and small burial holes called "Aubrey holes".
The second stage was marked by the appearance of the wooden structures of Stonehenge.
The third stage of Stonehenge construction is the most global and the longest. First, a crescent of 80 blue stones weighing 5 tons was built, then it was removed, and a circle of stones was constructed in their place. 30 megaliths were placed in a circle with a diameter of 33 meters. Lintels with a length of 3.2 meters are placed on top of the stones. Inside the circle, five enormous trilithons were installed in the form of a horseshoe. The weight of some stones is up to 50 tons. Moreover, around the circle were created two rings of blue stones [1].
1.2 The plan of Stonehenge
According to many archaeologists, Stonehenge has the following plan: (picture 4)
The plan highlights:
1 - Altar stone, a six-ton monolith of green sandstone from Wales
2-3 - mounds without graves
4 - fallen stone 4.9 meters in length
5 - Heel stone
6 - two of the original four vertically standing stones (now their position is indicated differently)
7 - ditch
8 - inner shaft
9 - outer shaft
10 - parallel pair of ditches and shafts
11 – the ring of 30 pits called women’s holes in the 1930s, the holes were marked with round columns, which are now removed
12 – the ring of 30 pits, so-called men’s holes
13 – circle of 56 holes, known as Aubrey holes
14 – small south entrance
1.3. Myths and legends
So, who and why constructed this historical monument? The most discussed versions are based on legends.
According to one legend, the stones of Stonehenge are an association with the Knights of the Round Table. They were not only equal among themselves, but also voluntarily recognized the primacy of Arthur [2]. The horizontal stones symbolize friendship and loyalty, and the altar in the center of the circle is the Holy Grail that every knight dreamed of.
There were also legends that the mysterious object was constructed by the main wizard of the Britons. His name was Merlin.
According to another legend, Stonehenge was built as the grave of the warrior Boudicca, the leader of one of the tribes of the Celts. After the death of her husband, who fought with the Romans, the woman took on the role of leader. During a fierce battle, the tribe were defeated, but Boudicca did not want to surrender and took poison. Her funeral was attended not only by the Celtic tribes, but also by the Romans, who admired the courage of the woman. And they built a stone circle over her grave [3].
There is a version that Stonehenge mostly served as a place intended for the cremation. There is a certain logic in this, considering that European Neolithic cultures associated a tree with life, and a stone with death.
Nowadays scientists from all around the world still do not know the right version of how the monolith was built there because it was too long ago.
1.4 The function of the monument
There are several versions too:
1. This ancient monolith is a solar and lunar calendar and represents an accurate cross-sectional model of the solar system. According to this model, the solar system consists not of nine, but of twelve planets, two of which are beyond the orbit of Pluton, and one more is between the orbit of Mars and Jupiter, where the asteroid belt is located now.
2. Stonehenge is an ordinary religious building designed for the performance of religious rites by the ancient Britons.
3. Stonehenge is a means of conveying a message left to people. It was left in such a way that people were able to read it at a certain point in time when humanity has accumulated enough knowledge to guess it.
4. The City of the Dead. It is the burial place of the deceased from the tribe of giants who once lived there and constructed this monument.
CHAPTER 2
2.1. My visit to Stonehenge
Two years ago, I visited England and, of course, I went to Stonehenge. I was always interested in the monument because it has very mysterious history. I wanted to visit it at once, and my dream came true.
When I saw Stonehenge, I could not believe my eyes. The scale of this structure amazed me. It is really an extraordinary feeling when you see history with your own eyes; when you see the huge monument that was built 5 thousand years ago. I have taken some photos there so I want to share them.
As a result of working on the project, I created a poster for other students because I think Stonehenge is one of that kind of places which everyone should visit and know about it.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, I would like to say that each of us would find our own answer to the questions why Stonehenge was built. It was built for 2500 thousand years, during this time, some details were constantly changing in its ensemble, different generations of people worked on it, and most likely each generation saw its own special meaning in this magical and majestic structure and used it in different ways.
"Stonehenge" is a mystery that will likely never be solved, because time has worked too much on it, and people have contributed, trying to restore it at their discretion.
The main aim and tasks for our project are almost completed. The hypothesis is partly confirmed.
Literature
Johnson, Anthony. Solving Stonehenge: The New Key to an Ancient Enigma; Thames & Hudson, 2008, - 288 p.
Ионина Н. А. 100 великих чудес света; Вече, 2018, – 432 с.
Дж. Хокинс. Расшифрованный Стоунхендж. Обсерватория каменного века; Центрполиграф, 2006, – 272 с.
Браун П. Стоунхендж. Загадки мегалитов; Гардарики, 2010, - 318 с.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/stonehenge-1
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z82hsbk/articles/zg8q2hv
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/things-to-do/stone-circle/stones-of-stonehenge/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge#Function_and_construction
Application 1
My photos of Stonehenge:
The plan of Stonehenge: