Stonehenge birthdate discovered by archaeologists

Stonehenge birthdate discovered by archaeologists
By Jon Swaine

The monument's original stones were erected in about 2300 BC, it has been discovered - 300 years later than had previously been thought.

Analysis has indicated that the original circle of bluestones was transported to the site from the Preseli hills, 150 miles away in South Wales - an extraordinary feat.

The finding came in an ambitious project, involving the first dig inside the historic stone circle for 44 years. Professors Timothy Darvill and Geoffrey Wainwright, the project leaders, are set to disclose other early findings.

The pair have found evidence suggesting Stonehenge was a centre of healing. They have compared the monument to a "Neolithic Lourdes", to which sick people travelled from far away, hoping to be healed by the stones' powers. An "abnormal number" of remains found in tombs nearby display signs of serious disease, they say, while teeth found in graves prove that about half the bodies there were "not native" to the local area....>

http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/global/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/global/2008/09/22/noindex/Stonehenge.xml&source=EMC-exp_22092008

But their legacy remains
Hewn into the living rock... Of Stonehenge

...disproving the analysis that "civilization and technology" are a result of some more devient process (such as monotheism, authoritarianism, fascism, etc).

Whoever they were they wanted to do something that would last for a long ass time.

And that they did.

didn't the aliens help them. Like with the pyramids?










yes, I'm kidding.

...that the culture that built Stonehenge was not highly authoritarian?

Graves from the megalithic period show significant social stratification.

Duh!

I kid (if it's not obvious). I don't know that for sure, but many pre-history fantasists believe that everything was great then, and that mass agriculture and writing resulted in essentially evil.

I don't see any evidence *for* mass authoritarianism in this example at least. It's not like Stonehenge was a totally huge project like the Pyramids.