Stonehenge, Two

 
 
 
 

Vocabulary

 

inner	neolithic	archaeology
plain	amount	stand/stood/stood (2)
outer	ring (3)	believe (2)
arch	massive	evolve (2)
ton	move (2)	smithereens
weigh	transport	heavy/heavier/heaviest
suggest	dolerite	period (3)
mile	original	fashion (2)
isle	indicate	predominant
mega	megalith	build/built/built
sludge	mystery	civilization
roller	transfer	legendary
lug	so-called	know/knew/known
raft	block (3)	wood/wooden
float	advanced	around (3)
coast	level (2)	embankment
local	research	according to
ditch	multiple	ground (2)
barely	construct	concentric
hole	go up (2)	go/went/gone
fill	structure	particular
scholar	hedge (2)	get/got/got-gotten
scratch	spot (2)	mainstream
bury	surround	burial ground
plains	cemetery	amounts to
similar	structure	find/found/found
quarry	show (2)	incredible
crush	trunk (4)	sophistication
theory	surround	scratch the surface
surface	worship

 
 
 
 
 
 

Video

 

 

Transcript

Archaeologists today believe that this great neolithic stone circle has stood on the plains of Wiltshire, England for no less than 5,000 years.

An outer ring of thirty, 4-ton stones surrounds five huge arches, whose massive blocks weigh 22 tons each. And which were somehow transported from 120 miles (193 kilometers) away.

It’s an astonishing feat of ancient engineering and the mysteries about its construction still remain.

Scholar One: “Some of the stones at Stonehenge weigh between 50 and 70 tons. Some of the stones are even heavier.

So how could you move these into place? How could you have moved them from Wales where the blue stones the spotted dolerite came from within Stonehenge.”

Scholar Two: “”The blue stones from which the original Stonehenge was constructed were transported from 120 miles (193 km) to the west from a place called the Priseli Mountain, which is the only place in the British Isles where you can get that kind of stone.

Now how they were moved is a mystery.”

The predominant theory as to how the megalithic blocks were moved is that the builders fashioned sludges and rollers out of tree trunks to lug the blue stones from the Preseli Hills.

Then transferred them onto rafts, and floated them first along the Welsh coast. And then up the River Avon towards Salisbury Plain.

Giorgio A. Tsoukalos, Publisher, Legendary Time Magazine: “You know this idea that all these ancient blocks were moved with wooden rollers is is very interesting.

However do you know what happens to wood when you put 20 tons on a wooden roller? It’ll just get crushed to smithereens.”

Scholar Two: “However they did it, it must have been very important for them to move these particular stones to Stonehenge. And that’s a mystery. That doesn’t happen anywhere else at stone circles in the country; they only come from stone that’s quarried locally.”

However Stonehenge was constructed it involved moving much more than just the stone blocks that stand today.

According to researchers, this is just twenty-five percent (25%) of the original monument, the center of a much larger structure that was surrounded by multiple concentric circles, constructed over a period of more than a thousand years.

John Martineau, Editor, Megalith: Studies in Stone: “So Stonehenge is very interesting in that it evolves over a very long period of time, and the first thing that goes up at Stonehenge is not there anymore.

It’s the 56 holes that today are known as the Aubrey Circle. It used to be filled with the blue stones from Priseli.”

Scholar Two: “Around the outside of the stone circle is constructed a ditch and embankment. This is the so-called henge structure that stands around Stonehenge from where it gets its name.”

Many mainstream scholars suggest that Stonehenge was simply a place of worship and a burial ground.

 
But why would the ancient people of Britain have spent more than a thousand years to build what amounts to a church and a cemetery.

Scholar One: “And the big problem is we don’t really know who these people were. We don’t really know where they come from.

So we find similar structures around the world that show incredible levels of sophistication, like the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, like Machu Picchu in Peru.

So why not in ancient Britain? Why not have a very advanced civilization here?”

Giorgio A. Tsoukalos, Publisher, Legendary Time Magazine: “The fact that we now know that Stonehenge was part of a much larger superstructure indicates to me that we’ve only barely scratched the surface. What did it all mean?”

Questions

Stonehenge. Stonehenge is located in the center of London. True or false?

Abominable Snowman, Yeti. Was Stonehenge constructed in 2001?

Unidentified Flying Object (UFO). Are the stones small, medium-sized, big or very large? Did the stones of Stonehenge come from the local area?

Lochness Monster. Historians, scientists and scholars know everything about Stonehenge. They know every detail about Stonehenge. Is this right or wrong?

Bigfoot, Sasquatch. Were the stones transported by trucks, ships and cranes?

Pyramids of Giza, Pyramids of the Sun. Was Stonehenge completed in seven years? Is Stonehenge today exactly like how it was five thousand years ago, or has it changed?

Bermuda Triangle. What may have been the purpose of Stonehenge? Why was Stonehenge built?

Noah’s Ark. Mysterious structures are unique only the Britain. There are mysterious monuments only in Britain. Is this correct or incorrect?
 
 
 
Machu Picchu. Who do you you think constructed Stonehenge? How did they build Stonehenge? Why did they construct Stonehenge?

Easter Islands, Rapanui, Moai. Are there ancient mysteries in your country? Have you or your friends visited the pyramids, Stonehenge, Easter Island or other places with mysterious structures?

Nazca Lines. Would you like to visit these mysterious places? What places would you like to visit? Would you like to be a scholar, researcher or writer of mysteries or wonders?

Sacsayhuaman. What might happen in the future? Will people ever solve the mystery of these enigmas?

Stone Spheres of Costa Rica. What could or should scholars, governments, universities and people do?