Frank Stevens

“ The astronomer, in his quest for alignments, will convert barrows into observation mounds, without reference to their uses and contents, and without allowing for the ignorance of the period, while the anthropologist often allows his imagination to carry him beyond the limits of actual fact. Time, and constant careful investigation, will pierce some of the mists which must always shroud the origin of Stonehenge, but the true solution will be for the field archæologist, rather than to the weaver of theories or the student in his library. ”

“ In Avebury the Sarsen is a rough unhewn monolith; in Stonehenge it is squared, dressed, and crowned with its lintel. All evidences of a slow evolution from Neolithic to Bronze culture. But whereas the circle alone is used at Avebury, Stonehenge has in addition the horseshoe series of Trilithons and foreign uprights, and in this particular differs from all other Cromlechs in this country. It is the climax of the Megalithic monument, and its use very certainly must have been connected with the religion of the race which set it up. ”

“ It will be well to consider the facts which must have been within the knowledge of the builders of Stonehenge, and to trace as far as may be their reasoning in the building of it.
To begin with, it is almost certain that at the time of building, there existed some primitive [60] form of priesthood, or body of "wise men." This is quite compatible with the culture of the period. The existence of the Neolithic Long Barrows is sufficient evidence that man had, by this time, arrived at that particular culture which grasps the existence of a "spirit." ”

“ At first it may seem difficult to disentangle the chaos of fallen stone which meets the eye; but when once the original design of the structure is grasped, it becomes easy to piece together again in imagination a work which even in the light of modern and scientific engineering presents very considerable difficulties and problems. ”

“ While it is quite possible that the Hele Stone was erected to mark the Solstice and to afford a definite means of determining the year, this may not justify the theory that the entire structure was an astronomical observatory and dedicated entirely to sun worship, with elaborate ramifications, and "observation" mounds for celestial phenomena. Weighing, therefore, the archæologist's and astronomer's evidence, it is fairly safe to conclude that Stonehenge can be dated at about B.C. 1700, and that its use was religious; probably a temple, in which the sun may have been adored in some way. ”

“ The feeling of relief is akin to that of the schoolboy whose task is done, and who is free to give vent to his animal spirits unchecked by the hand of his master. The feeling of reluctance is that which this same master must feel when he finally takes off his cap and gown and becomes as other men, his brief authority gone with them. ”

“ The Chief Druid of Tara, decked out in golden ear-clasps and his torque of heavy gold, is shown us as a "leaping juggler" as he tosses swords and balls in the air, "and like the buzzing of bees on a beautiful day is the motion of each passing the other." ”

“ In all matters of archæology it is constantly found that certain questions are better left in abeyance, or bequeathed to a coming generation for solution. The "Slaughtering Stone" appears to be an admirable example of this class. Just within the area enclosed by the earthwork circle, lies a prostrate Sarsen Stone, to which this name has been given. The idea of its having been used as a place of slaughter for the victim intended for sacrifice in the "Temple" of Stonehenge, seems to rest upon a very bare foundation. ”

“ The fictile vessels are all of a very primitive nature, being entirely moulded by hand, and showing no trace of the use of the potter's wheel. The body consists of a mixture of clay mixed with fine pebbles, or pounded flint, and sometimes ground chalk or shells. For finer work sharp sand has been employed. The firing is most primitive and imperfect. After drying in the sun the vessel was probably baked in the ashes of a fire of brushwood piled over and about it. The decoration, like the other processes, bespeaks a simple culture. ”

“ In all ages there is a perceptible overlap from the former culture. In much later days the bow and arrow lingered on long after the introduction of fire-arms; so, too, in these early times, the stone implement was used side by side with the more recent metal one. Axes both perforated and unperforated have been found, but it is distinctly significant of an advancing culture, that the perforated axes outnumber the older form. Several of these stone hammer-axes have been found associated with bronze daggers and celts, showing that the use of stone and bronze was contemporaneous. ”

“ There must exist a very wide gap of anything from seven hundred to a thousand years between the "May Year" Druids of whom he writes, and the builders of Stonehenge, and an interval possibly as great or even greater between Stonehenge and Avebury and those other north-east and south-east temples to which he attributes a Druidic form of worship. It is even a matter of grave question if the race who built the Stone Circles was not entirely different to the late Celtic inhabitants of the plain. ”

“ The mortice holes were easier to accomplish. A small depression may have been made first of all, and then a round stone inserted with sand and water. In this way a smooth hollow could soon be worn. This principle is and has been applied by stone-using peoples in all quarters of the globe. The rough dovetailing of the lintels of the outer circle would present no difficulty to users of the tools already mentioned.
To-day the surfaces of the Sarsens bear undoubted signs of weather, but in the Stonehenge of yesterday the Sarsens were beautifully finished with rough tooling all over their surface. ”

“ It is a recognised fact that the worship of stones is more widely distributed than any other primitive cult. Its almost universal distribution can be referred to the tendency of the half savage mind to confuse persons and things, and from seeming likeness of the inanimate to the animate, to endue the lifeless object with the virtue and power of the living object. This mental outlook is better understood in practice than in theory. A Melanesian native may come across a large stone, lying upon the top of a number of smaller stones. ”

“ The foremost question will surely be "How shall I get to Stonehenge?"
The answer largely depends upon the constitution and habits of the querist. For the motorist, the way is clear: he will choose the best road, or his chauffeur will do it for him; but it is possible even with a motor to secure a little variety on the road. An excellent route is to follow the main road from Salisbury to Amesbury, passing Old Sarum, a very considerable earthwork of Roman if not earlier origin. ”

“ Yet another sidelight upon the date of Stonehenge is to be found in the presence of chippings of foreign stone found inside some of the neighbouring Bronze Age barrows, which prove conclusively that the barrows must have been built at a date later than the erection of Stonehenge.
[56] To many people, the mention of a period of culture, such as the Early Bronze Age, may not convey very much. To give a date in years, on the other hand, is not always easy. ”

“ In a district like the Plain, devoid of building material other than flint, these stones have attracted the unwelcome attention of the farmers. Walls, gateposts, and paving-stones have accounted for many, while in the interest of the road-mender many a noble Grey Wether has been led to slaughter to provide macadam for the roads. Hence it is not surprising that the number of Sarsen stones to be found on the Plain where Nature placed them is becoming less and less. ”

“ This disproportion in distribution cannot altogether be the result of accident; it must bespeak a special attraction for the spot by the builders of the Barrows, and from the very fact that Stonehenge was erected at a time when these people were first arriving on Salisbury Plain, it does not seem extravagant to claim that they had some reason for wishing their remains finally to rest within easy distance of what must have been to them a sacred spot. ”

“ It was, in short, a religious structure, probably used for the observation of the sun, and possibly connected with "nature worship."
The fact that the sun rises over the Hele Stone on the Summer Solstice, and that it can be observed in direct alignment with the centre of the Great Trilithon, can hardly be due to accident. Chance might bring two stones into such a position on the Solstice, but, in this case, the entire monument is so arranged as to place the rising sun in a due line with its axis on this particular day. ”

“ Amesbury, home of the adorable Kitty Bellairs, Duchess of Queensbury, and patron of Gay, who wrote the Beggar's Opera under her roof, and the church (early English) all make pleasant breaks in the journey.
The bulk of the objects found at Stonehenge, and in the Barrows on the Plain, belong to the Wiltshire Archæological Society, and are preserved in their collection at Devizes. Visitors to Salisbury will find the journey by train somewhat lengthy, but it should not be neglected by the antiquary. ”

“ The Barrows on the Plain were built of the materials most easily accessible, mould, chalk, and flints, with occasional fragments of Sarsen. As has already been recorded, fragments of Foreign Stone from Stonehenge have been found in one of those forming the group which lay immediately south-west of the circle, but now destroyed by cultivation. The method of procedure was simple. A grave would in many cases be dug sufficiently long to contain the body if buried by [78] inhumation in a crouching position. ”

“ The early race, comparatively short, and armed only with stone weapons, must in the struggle for existence, have given place to a taller and more powerful people, provided with metal and possessed of a higher culture. There is no proof that the early race was exterminated by the bronze-using people. ”

“ On entering the circle from the north-east (the usual path taken by visitors) a recumbent foreign stone will be noticed on the left-hand side, which has two cavities worked in it. This is the only worked foreign stone in the whole monument, and at first sight these cavities may possibly suggest themselves as "mortise holes" similar to those on the Sarsen trilithons, to be described later. It has even been suggested that the small uprights once carried imposts, or lintel stones similar to the trilithons, on the evidence of this one stone. ”

“ Visitors entering Stonehenge are apt in their eagerness to reach the stones to overlook a definite banked Avenue leading from the north-east towards the Hele Stone, and entering the circular earthwork enclosure. This earthwork is not very considerable to-day, but in the Stonehenge of yesterday it was probably far more marked and imposing. ”

“ The surface of these blocks is often soft, and sugary, while the [41] body of the stone is dense. The nature of their composition is such that no two stones are quite alike in hardness, some can be disintegrated easily, even with the fingers, while others are dense, and will resist blows with a hammer and chisel.
But in any case the natural structure of the stone made it an ideal material for the Trilithons, or, it may be, that the Trilithons were the natural outcome of the physical peculiarities of the rock. ”

“ In the immediate neighbourhood of Stonehenge there are two Long Barrows and three hundred Round ones, or, in other words, one-fourth of the Barrows in Wiltshire are to be found within a short distance of the Altar Stone of Stonehenge. This cannot altogether be accidental. The suggestion at once rises to the mind that these burial places clustering about the circle of Stonehenge are strongly reminiscent of the graveyard about the village church of to-day. The Rev. William Gilpin, writing in 1798, when as yet the Plain was unbroken by the plough and cultivation, recognised this fact at once. ”

“ Stag's horn pick from Stonehenge.
In addition to the stone tools, picks of deer horn were employed for quarrying the chalk when making the foundations of the uprights. Those who are familiar with the antlers of the [40] deer, will recall the sharp pointed tine, known as the "brow tine," which projects forward from the horn above its core or socket. This was the tooth of the pick, all other tines being sawn off; thus transforming the antler into a very rough implement closely resembling a pick, with a single point. ”

“ Flint arrow-heads when found are always finely barbed. The bronze objects, however, are in excess of those of stone, thus showing that the new bronze was displacing the older flint implement. Moreover, all the bronze weapons are of an early type. This is of some considerable importance, since it would seem to indicate that the Barrows were erected very shortly after Stonehenge, which it will be remembered has been referred to an early period of the Bronze Age. ”

“ It stands to reason that a primitive race, when faced with the problem of transporting a vast mass of stone, would first of all reduce its bulk to the approximate proportions which it would have when finished and erected. Moreover, the chippings and mason's waste discovered in the excavations of 1901 reveal comparatively little Sarsen stone, and only a few large fragments, such as must have been broken off in finally reducing the "Grey Wethers" to monolithic pillars and lintels. ”

“ The Men of the Barrows
It is only natural that the appearance of the men who lived at this remote age should attract some attention. Were they tall or short, dark or fair? What manner of man was it who went armed with the bronze dagger and wore the ornaments above described? Of the cremated remains, of course, nothing can be said ”

“ Greenwell describes the Implements from Grimes Graves as belonging to "a period when both metal and stone were in use."
It is obvious, therefore, that the similarity between the tools used in the construction of Stonehenge, and those used in other parts of England for similar purposes, and definitely assigned to their period in the history of Man, demonstrates very clearly that the date of the building of Stonehenge may fairly be placed at a time when the use of stone was continuous with a partial use of bronze ”

“ Avebury has been classed as a Neolithic monument, built by the "long-headed" race whose remains are usually found in the Long Barrows; Stonehenge belongs to a bronze period, but at a very early date in that culture; its builders would probably belong to the round-headed type of man whose barrows are studded very closely round about it.
[70]
THE BARROWS OF SALISBURY PLAINToC
It is impossible to approach Stonehenge without passing numbers of burial mounds or Barrows. ”