Stonehenge was a graveyard, say experts
11 March 2013 7:43 AM IST
British archaeological landmark Stonehenge started its life as a fancy cemetery for a community, according to a new explanation by archaeologists.
Experts studied cremated bones of 63 people, and the studies suggest that about 500 years before Stonehenge was built, a larger stone circle was erected at the same site as a community graveyard, the Independent reported.
‘These were men, women, children, so presumably family groups. We’d thought that maybe it was a place where a dynasty of kings was buried, but this seemed to be much more of a community, a different kind of power structure,’ said Mike Parker Pearson, a professor from University College London.
Archaeologists studied cremated bones of 63 individuals, and believed that they were buried around 3,000 BC.
The earlier circular enclosure, which measured around 300 feet across, could have been the burial ground for about 200 more people, Pearson said.
The team, which included academics from more than a dozen British universities, also offered some theories about the purpose of the second Stonehenge, which still stands today in Wiltshire.
Theories about Stonehenge say it was a place for Druid worship, an observatory for astronomical studies or a place of healing built by early inhabitants of Britain who roamed around with their herds.
Pearson said the latest study suggests that Stonehenge should be seen less a temple of worship than a kind of building project that served to unite people from across Britain.
The daily said that analysis of the remains of a Neolithic settlement near the monument showed that thousands of people travelled from far, bringing their livestock and families for huge feasts and celebrations.
The team said that the builders did not live there all the time but converged seasonally to build Stonehenge, but not for very long, possibly for decade or so.
BRITISH WOMEN LOSING JOBS AFTER MATERNITY LEAVE
At least one in seven women in Britain face illegal discrimination at work when they get pregnant, and lose their jobs while they are on maternity leave, a study has found. Around 40 per cent of the women surveyed said their jobs had changed by the time they returned, with half reporting a cut in hours or demotion, the Guardian said. More than a tenth had been replaced in their jobs by the person who had covered their maternity leave, according to Slater and Gordon, the law firm which commissioned the research. Samantha Mangwana, an employment lawyer at the law firm, said the results were ‘sad and shocking’. ‘Women are suffering in silence,’ she said. ‘A common case is that a woman goes back to her role and all her clients have been given to other people. And they are not returned. So everything she has built up over the years is gone. Or they are simply being made redundant ahead of worse-performing men.’ ‘Women are somehow seen as being less committed to their employers because they are now mothers,’ she said. Research company OnePoll questioned 1,000 women. On returning to their jobs, almost a third of the new mothers (30 per cent) felt they did not fit in any more, and two in five felt they lacked support. Almost 20 per cent felt that no one understood what it was like juggling work with new motherhood. However, only three percent sought legal advice over maternity discrimination. In Britain, it is unlawful to dismiss or otherwise disadvantage an employee for a reason related to her pregnancy or maternity leave.
Experts studied cremated bones of 63 people, and the studies suggest that about 500 years before Stonehenge was built, a larger stone circle was erected at the same site as a community graveyard, the Independent reported.
‘These were men, women, children, so presumably family groups. We’d thought that maybe it was a place where a dynasty of kings was buried, but this seemed to be much more of a community, a different kind of power structure,’ said Mike Parker Pearson, a professor from University College London.
Archaeologists studied cremated bones of 63 individuals, and believed that they were buried around 3,000 BC.
The earlier circular enclosure, which measured around 300 feet across, could have been the burial ground for about 200 more people, Pearson said.
The team, which included academics from more than a dozen British universities, also offered some theories about the purpose of the second Stonehenge, which still stands today in Wiltshire.
Theories about Stonehenge say it was a place for Druid worship, an observatory for astronomical studies or a place of healing built by early inhabitants of Britain who roamed around with their herds.
Pearson said the latest study suggests that Stonehenge should be seen less a temple of worship than a kind of building project that served to unite people from across Britain.
The daily said that analysis of the remains of a Neolithic settlement near the monument showed that thousands of people travelled from far, bringing their livestock and families for huge feasts and celebrations.
The team said that the builders did not live there all the time but converged seasonally to build Stonehenge, but not for very long, possibly for decade or so.
BRITISH WOMEN LOSING JOBS AFTER MATERNITY LEAVE
At least one in seven women in Britain face illegal discrimination at work when they get pregnant, and lose their jobs while they are on maternity leave, a study has found. Around 40 per cent of the women surveyed said their jobs had changed by the time they returned, with half reporting a cut in hours or demotion, the Guardian said. More than a tenth had been replaced in their jobs by the person who had covered their maternity leave, according to Slater and Gordon, the law firm which commissioned the research. Samantha Mangwana, an employment lawyer at the law firm, said the results were ‘sad and shocking’. ‘Women are suffering in silence,’ she said. ‘A common case is that a woman goes back to her role and all her clients have been given to other people. And they are not returned. So everything she has built up over the years is gone. Or they are simply being made redundant ahead of worse-performing men.’ ‘Women are somehow seen as being less committed to their employers because they are now mothers,’ she said. Research company OnePoll questioned 1,000 women. On returning to their jobs, almost a third of the new mothers (30 per cent) felt they did not fit in any more, and two in five felt they lacked support. Almost 20 per cent felt that no one understood what it was like juggling work with new motherhood. However, only three percent sought legal advice over maternity discrimination. In Britain, it is unlawful to dismiss or otherwise disadvantage an employee for a reason related to her pregnancy or maternity leave.
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