- An upcoming book by a leading stone circle
scholar claims that Stonehenge, Britain's famous prehistoric stone monument,
was built, at least in part, by the French, using materials obtained at
the site.
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- The theory unhinges the widely held belief
that locals transported bluestones from Wales to construct the magnificent
megalith.
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- According to "Great Stone Circle,"
to be released in May, Stonehenge was erected in Salisbury, England, during
three separate building phases between 3500 B.C. to 1520 B.C. Archaeologists
generally agree that early Britons established the monument's outer circle,
over the first two phases, utilizing nearby gray sarsen stones. The third,
and final, phase, though, has a rockier history.
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- Aubrey Burl, former principal lecturer
in archaeology at Hull College in England and author of the book, says
Brittons probably built the circle's inner horseshoe of bluestone trilithons
at that time.
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- "The horseshoe configuration is
quite rare in England, but is abundant in Brittany," explains Burl.
"Carvings on the stone of axes, daggers, crooks and anthropomorphs
are typical of Breton art, but are nothing like the abstract carvings usually
found in England and Ireland."
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- The carved bluestones originated in the
Preseli mountains of Wales, 140 miles west of Stonehenge. The traditional
view is that men laboriously transported the heavy stones to the site.
Burl disagrees.
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- "The route would have been dangerous
and unmanageable," he says. "Besides, the bluestones at Stonehenge
are a rag bag of rubbish and are not the result of careful selection by
individuals prospecting for stone."
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- Instead, Burl says a glacier carried
the stones to southern England during the ice age. He points to evidence
that bluestones existed in Salisbury before Stonehenge.
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- "A bluestone, approximately one
thousand years older than Stonehenge, was found in the region at a burial
mound known as Boles Barrow," he says. "It is now in Salisbury
Museum."
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- John Rick, professor of anthropological
sciences at Stanford, doubts glaciation transported the stones.
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- "A glacier would likely have brought
in more stones," says Rick. "A major ice sheet would have had
to travel an unusual linear path across flatland from Wales. I don't think
there's proof yet that this occurred."
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- Rick, however, believes the French connection
to Stonehenge is plausible.
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- "There is no question that similar
monuments are found in Brittany," says Rick.
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