Stonehenge is one of the best known, but most misunderstood, monuments
in the world. Contrary to common belief, it was not a static, unchanging
structure built by shadowy figures or druids. Rather it represents the
cumulative achievement of numerous generations who were woven into a
complex and widespread network of cultural interactions, environmental
change, and belief systems. This publication, which accompanies the
first exhibition about Stonehenge ever staged in London, uses the
monument as a gateway to explore the communities and civilizations
active at the time of its construction and beyond, between 4,000 and
1,000 BCE.
Recent archaeological findings regarding the origin of Stonehenge's
striking 'bluestones' have re-ignited interest in this ancient wonder,
the people who built it, and the beliefs they held. Through the 'iconic'
structure, spectacular objects of precious and exotic material and more
humble, personal objects, authors Duncan Garrow and Neil Wilkin examine
the dramatic cultural and societal shifts that characterized the world
of Stonehenge, including the introduction of farming and development of
metalworking.
Covering a period of thousands of years, the publication traces the
appearance of the first monuments in the landscape of Britain around
4,000 BCE, the arrival of the bluestones from the Preseli Hills in
Pembrokeshire 1,000 years later, all the way up to a remarkable era of
cross-Channel connectivity and trade between 1,500 and 800 BCE.
Through a new study of the enigmatic and beautiful objects made and
circulated during the age of Stonehenge, connections are charted in the
shared religious practices and beliefs of communities from across
Britain, Ireland, and continental Europe. The presence of other stone
and wooden circles hundreds of miles from Salisbury Plain - including
Seahenge, discovered on a beach in Norfolk in 1998 - is further evidence
of these shared ways of thinking.
At a critical moment in the narrative of Stonehenge, around 2,500 BCE,
the significance of the cosmos and the heavens expressed through the
construction of stone circles and megalithic passage tombs began to wane
and portable objects gained increasing importance. This key
transformation is demonstrated by a highlight object from Germany: the
Nebra Sky Disc, a bronze disc inlaid with gold symbols believed to
represent the Sun, a crescent moon and the Pleiades constellation. More
modest items found in tombs, burials and settlements are no less
important in shedding light on the development of ideas relating to
identity, religious practices, and relationships between the living and
dead.
Monuments such as Stonehenge cannot be understood in isolation.
Stonehenge was not always a static, monolithic structure: over
generations it was adapted and added to by communities that changed and
developed the landscape on which it still stands today.
