Once in a Bluehenge Moon

Image via Wikipedia

The UK’s Daily Mail recently reported on an important archaeological find.  Within a stone’s throw (pun intended!) of Stonehenge is possibly a smaller version but with a slightly different slant!

It’s thought that Bluehenge was built about 5,000 years ago (around the time Stonehenge was built) and probably stood alongside it’s ‘big daddy’, Stonehenge, for hundreds of years before being dismantled.

The discovery has revealed that Bluehenge was around 60 ft across and 27 holes were found which would appear to indicate that the circle consisted of a total of 27 stones.  Based on the findings, it seems the stone fragments were of Preseli Spotted Dolerite – an igneous rock which is harder than granite – and each stone may have weighed in at a hefty 40 tons.  The stone was mined in the Preseli Mountains in Pembrokeshire, Wales some 200 miles away from Stonehenge and although it’s now commonly assumed that the stones were taken to Stonehenge by a mixture of rolling, dragging and floating, it’s still a bit of a mystery.

Once installed these stones were polished until they took on a dark blue hue, resembling the night sky, which seems to indicate they were connected to some type of religious ritual based around lunar or solar worship.

This latest discovery has now got all archaeologists in the area a-twitter as it could mean turning the last umpteen years of research and theorising on its head.  In the past, archaeologists have had a fair crack at how worship and burials may have been conducted at Stonehenge but now they have to add the Bluehenge factor into the equation!

At the moment the Wiltshire archaeologists are keeping Bluehenge under wraps but hopefully all findings will be revealed some time around February 2010.

For those of you interested in the type of people that would have worked in and around Stone/Bluehenge, they mainly consisted of farmers who lived in wooden huts covered with layers of clay and chalk.  These farming folks at the time were growing wheat and barley and raising pigs and sheep.  The chances are that they probably made beer and cider and ground the wheat to make flour.  The villagers also depended on wild fruit, peas, lentils, nuts and honey to maintain a healthy diet. 

Designer gear wasn’t available at the time so the populace had to resort to rather shabby leather coats, woollen leggings and shoes made of animal skin bound with twine.  Sounds a bit like the dress code of the farmers here in Norfolk today!!