lmc@denelcor.UUCP (07/09/84)
Stonehenge was developed through its various stages between the years 2700BC and 1500BC. At the time that Stonehenge achieved its final form (known as Stonehenge IV) all Megalithic work in England and Western Europe stopped (all about 1500BC). The people who did the work underwent a culture shift brought about by either invasion or changing environment, and became the Beaker people and/or the Battle Axe culture. The proto-Celts *invaded* the megalithic areas at about 800BC from Central Europe. To them, the megalithic works of the previous inhabitants were as mysterious as they were to our own ancestors. As one author in the field has written, "The Celts were unlikely to perform the tremendous cooperative work required to build megalithic monuments; they more likely invested their time in hill-forts." -- Lyle McElhaney (hao,brl-bmd,nbires,csu-cs,scgvaxd)!denelcor!lmc
dgary@ecsvax.UUCP (07/12/84)
Lyle McElhaney refers briefly to Celtic hill forts. Some of these are
among the most mysterious objects in archaelogy. Part of the stone in them
has vitrified, which requires intense heat. Recent experiments involving
huge woodpiles with imbedded stones showed only slight vitrification after
many hours of burning. To my (admittedly very limited) knowledge of the
subject, no one has offered a truly satisfactory explanation. Accidental
perhaps? How? No accident seems able to account for it. Deliberate? Why?
It doesn't seem to strengthen the forts any, or damage them either. Perhaps
part of a ceremony of consecration? Unsatisfactory, but perhaps the most
nearly plausible notion.
D Gary Grady
Duke University Computation Center, Durham, NC 27706
(919) 684-4146
USENET: {decvax,ihnp4,akgua,etc.}!mcnc!ecsvax!dgary