Stonehenge Information 1A Read these theories about why Stonehenge was built and then decide which you think is most likely.

Transcription

1 Stonehenge Information 1A Read these theories about why Stonehenge was built and then decide which you think is most likely. Anglo-Saxon people thought the stones at Stonehenge with two upright stones and a stone on top (the trilithons) looked like places where people were hanged. Anglo-Saxon hanging places were called henges and were made of two upright posts of wood joined together by another piece of wood on top as in this picture here. Geoffrey of Monmouth, who wrote The History of the Kings of Britain which was published in AD 1136, explained how he thought Stonehenge had been built. He wrote that Hengist, a Saxon, invaded and slaughtered many British men but the king Aurelius defeated him. Aurelius wanted a great monument built to remember his fallen warriors and asked Merlin for help. Merlin organised for the famous stone circle from Ireland that had been built by giants to be brought over and erected on Salisbury Plain. William Stukeley did some investigation at Stonehenge, including surveying the monument and digging some trenches inside the circle. He found some Roman pottery about halfway down in one trench, and prehistoric pottery at the bottom of the trench, so he decided that the monument was older than the Roman period. He believed it was built by druids, the priests of pre-roman Britain. In 1965 Gerald Hawkins, an astronomer, published a book called Stonehenge Decoded. He explained that he had found patterns in the layout of Stonehenge that showed it was aligned on the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset in the Bronze Age, about 4000 years ago, but also that 56 holes around the outside of the stones, the Aubrey Holes, were used to predict lunar eclipses. Ramilisonina (who is from Madagascar) have done lots of excavation and surveying in the area around Stonehenge. They suggest that a nearby monument called Durrington Walls was the place of the living and was built in wood, while Stonehenge was the place of the dead and was built in stone. Funeral processions may have left Durrington Walls and travelled along the River Avon to Stonehenge.

2 Worksheet 1A Which of the theories about why Stonehenge was built do you think is most likely? Cut and paste the theory cards from your information sheet into the ranking grid here: Not likely at all Paste in the theory here Why have you chosen to put it here? Not very likely Not sure Quite likely Very likely

3 Stonehenge Information 1B Read these theories about why Stonehenge was built and then decide which you think is most likely. Anglo-Saxon people thought the stones at Stonehenge looked like places where people were hanged. Anglo-Saxon hanging places were called henges and were made of two upright posts of wood joined together by another piece of wood on top as in this picture here. A book published in AD 1136, contains the story of Hengist, a Saxon, who invaded Britain but king Aurelius defeated him. Aurelius wanted to build something to remember his fallen warriors and asked Merlin for help. Merlin organised for a famous stone circle from Ireland that had been built by giants to be brought over and put up on Salisbury Plain. William Stukeley dug a trench inside Stonehenge. He found some Roman pottery about halfway down, and prehistoric pottery at the bottom of the trench, so he decided that the monument was older than the Roman period. He believed it was built by druids, the priests of pre-roman Britain. Gerald Hawkins, who was an astronomer, thought that he had found patterns in the layout of Stonehenge that showed it lined up with the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset in the Bronze Age, about 4000 years ago, and that 56 holes around the outside of the stones were used to work out when the moon would be eclipsed. Ramilisonina (who is from Madagascar) suggest that Stonehenge was the place of the dead and was built in stone. They think funeral processions travelled along the River Avon to Stonehenge from a place built in wood.

4 Worksheet 1B Cut and paste the theory you think is correct here: Why do you think this one is the right one?

5 Worksheet 1C Write in this grid what you think of each theory. Think about what type of evidence the theory is based on, how long ago people believed this and how convincing you think it is. Theory Anglo-Saxon people thought the stones at Stonehenge with two upright stones and a stone on top (the trilithons) looked like places where people were hanged. Anglo-Saxon hanging places were called henges and were made of two upright posts of wood joined together by another piece of wood on top as in this picture here. Geoffrey of Monmouth, who wrote The History of the Kings of Britain which was published in AD 1136, explains how he thought Stonehenge had been built. He wrote that Hengist, a Saxon, invaded and slaughtered many British men but the king Aurelius defeated him. Aurelius wanted a great monument built to remember his fallen warriors and asked Merlin for help. Merlin organised for the famous stone circle from Ireland that had been built by giants to be brought over and erected on Salisbury Plain. Inigo Jones, writing in 1655, thought Stonehenge was a Roman temple but in the 17 th century William Stukeley did some investigation at Stonehenge, including surveying the monument and digging some trenches inside the circle. He found some Roman pottery about halfway down in one trench, and prehistoric pottery at the bottom of the trench, so he decided that the monument was older than the Roman period. In 1723 he said it was built by druids, the priests of pre-roman Britain. In 1965 Gerald Hawkins, an astronomer, published a book called Stonehenge Decoded. He explained that he had found patterns in the layout of Stonehenge that showed it was aligned on the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset in the Bronze Age, about 4000 year ago, but also that 56 holes around the outside of the stones were used to predict lunar eclipses. Ramilisonina (who is from Madagascar) have done lots of excavation and surveying in the area around Stonehenge. They suggest that a nearby monument called Durrington Walls was the place of the living and was built in wood, while Stonehenge was the place of the dead. Funeral processions may have left Durrington Walls and travelled along the River Avon to Stonehenge. What do you think of it?