WEBVTT - The Meaning of Stonehenge 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:05.960 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:05.960 --> 0:00:14.360 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:17.920 My name is Robert Lamb. In our last episode, we 0:00:17.920 --> 0:00:21.320 were talking about the construction of Stonehenge, about all the 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:25.680 work called the effort, all the Neolithic engineering and physics 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:29.000 that went into figuring out how to construct this, uh, 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:33.000 this amazing of five thousand year old circle of stones 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:37.400 and uh and just and all the multigenerational effort that 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:40.599 went into its completion. Yes, and this episode is all 0:00:40.640 --> 0:00:44.320 about the four Why Why would such an expenditure of 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:47.559 labor on such a grand scale be carried out for 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:50.080 so long? In the last episode we we mentioned the 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:52.760 comparison that the very strong comparison to be made between 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:56.560 the construction of Stonehenge and modern day space programs. This 0:00:56.600 --> 0:01:00.520 was essentially the Neolithic space program. Now, for that makes sense, 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:02.960 you have to think in terms of mega projects, Okay, 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:05.760 now we h We've spoken to neotographs types in a 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:08.039 couple of times on this podcast, and one of the 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:11.759 times we talked to him, he compared the space program, 0:01:11.959 --> 0:01:15.320 the modern human space program to megaprojects of the past, 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:17.680 the construction of the Pyramids, construction of the Great Wall, 0:01:17.680 --> 0:01:21.080 of the construction of Stonehenge. These are projects that require 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:24.039 vast amounts of energy and effort, and ultimately you have 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:27.920 to have a lot of UH of communal energy behind it. 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:29.600 You know. There there's a lot of talk to be made, 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:33.839 and certainly Neograss Tyson speaks a lot about the uh 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:37.240 the waning power of the idea of the space program, 0:01:37.240 --> 0:01:39.560 like there's not enough just public interest in it and 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:43.760 public power to put into the the the realization of 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:46.240 some of our space streams. What's interesting about this, and 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:48.240 we'll tie this all up in a neat little bow 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:51.280 at the end, is that that space program, the decline 0:01:51.320 --> 0:01:54.640 of it, could actually have parallels with the decline of Stonehenge. 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:56.400 And we'll get into that. But a lot of this 0:01:56.600 --> 0:01:59.560 story here about Stonehenge has to do with community, as 0:01:59.600 --> 0:02:02.280 you say, and there have been many, many theories that 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:06.080 have abounded for hundreds of years as to why it 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:10.000 was built. Um, we're talking about twelve century myths crediting 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:14.160 the wizard Merlin with constructing the site. Uh. More recently, 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:17.079 UFO believers have thought that this is perhaps some sort 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:23.320 of ancient alien and spacecraft landing pad. But I've also 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:26.640 read that that it might have been the totally about 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:31.400 the acoustics. That may be because it turns out I 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:33.400 think it's the blue stones to actually have some really 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:37.400 nice acoustic values to them. So, but that that actually 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:42.400 plays out in this idea of the site really hosting 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:45.720 a ton of people were talking about a tenth of 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:50.399 the population and b C. This pilgrimage, the side of 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:54.400 of of festivals and the site of the living and 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:56.720 the dead that we're all going to get into, and 0:02:56.800 --> 0:03:00.520 all of these more recent theories about its purpose had 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:03.760 kind of dovetailed together for the sort of unified theory 0:03:03.800 --> 0:03:07.480 as Stonehenge being a place where one could observe the 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:12.000 passing of seasons but also the passing of souls. Yeah, because, 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:15.120 as as Neutocrost Tyson pointed out, there basically three ways, 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:17.560 three things that motivate us to build things like this 0:03:17.800 --> 0:03:20.840 and do things like the space program, ETCeteras. One of 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:23.320 them is war. Now, that's the idea that the whole 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:26.919 space race in our modern times was in a large 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:28.800 part of product of the Cold War. There was a 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:32.720 war motivation to really push the envelope. Okay, so you 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:36.840 could have war as ego you could make the argument 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:40.320 that war is just an embodiment of ego, and certainly 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:46.160 Stonehenge could embody a certain aristocratic family or families in 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:48.760 their ego and be a monument to them. Yeah, And 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:50.880 of course though it's it would be hard to argue that, 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:52.600 I mean, nobody as far as I know, has ever 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:54.880 argued that Stonehenge was any kind of a fortification. It's 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:57.520 just obviously not. Like, clearly it has some other purpose 0:03:57.560 --> 0:03:59.960 in mind. So that the so the two other motivation 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:03.800 and on de grass his list um would be, uh, 0:04:04.280 --> 0:04:07.920 you're creating something out of obligation to a god or 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:10.320 or you know, some sort of religious strong religious reason, 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:12.600 or it's out of devotion to some sort of a 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:17.440 some sort of a keen. So those ideas hold a 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:20.200 whole lot more weight when we're talking about the more 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:24.760 prominent theories regarding the constructions. The stories must have been 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:27.680 so robust that they would compel people to work for 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:32.479 that long over that those many thousands of years to 0:04:32.560 --> 0:04:35.280 see something come to fruition. So that part, I think, 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:37.560 will always be a mystery to us. But we can 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:40.520 at least look at the site, look at the information 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:43.359 we have today, and try to figure out some of 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:46.839 the reasons why people would have congregated here. Yes, So 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:49.120 one of the big ideas that's often pushed around and 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:53.400 is the idea that, oh, well, Stonehenge is an astronomical observatory. 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:55.839 Ancient man built this so they could look at the 0:04:55.839 --> 0:04:58.960 sky and figure out how the seasons work and and 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:03.400 and chart the heaven. Now, it's an idea that became 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:06.039 a little more popular than it should have been in 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:08.919 the sixties just because you know, the sort of nineties 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:12.320 feel goody was abounding this and there's a the idea 0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:16.600 that that ancient man would build an observatory is it's 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:20.680 it's kind of a romantic notion. But uh, as as 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:22.720 we know today, it really doesn't hold the much water. 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:27.600 There's like one core astronomical bit of awesomeness to Stonehinge 0:05:27.880 --> 0:05:30.360 and that's really about it. Yeah, I mean, it really 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:35.159 is a rudimentary, celestial little observatory. Maybe that's even giving 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:38.640 it too much credit, but we're talking about is something 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:42.680 that Professor Clive Ruggles, he's a professor of archao astronomy. 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:45.800 He says there's really only one alignment, the main access 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:47.880 that runs through it on the summer solstice and on 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:52.719 the opposite end during the winter solstice sunset. Yeah, and 0:05:52.760 --> 0:05:55.800 it's important, it's an important part of the design. But 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:58.279 saying that it's that saying a stone hinge is an 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:01.599 observatory because of it is it's like saying that, oh, well, 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:04.640 this house that was designed for a passive solar energy 0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:08.599 is an observatory. No, it's just it's just it's it's 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:10.560 it's not the same thing at all. And actually the 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:14.840 placement of Stonehenge is not random at all, you know, 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:18.800 it's it has to do actually with the landscape itself. 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:21.920 And Professor Parker Pearson thinks that the site was chosen 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:25.760 because of a pair of naturally occurring parallel ridges in 0:06:25.760 --> 0:06:28.080 the landscape, and this would have been the result of 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:32.960 ice age melt water, which coincidentally points directly at the 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:37.000 midwinter sunset in one direction and in the mid summer 0:06:37.120 --> 0:06:40.000 sunrise in the other. So if on the winter solstice 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:43.760 your I followed these natural channels in the earth thousands 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:46.120 of years ago, you would have seen the sun appearing 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:49.360 to sit on the land as it was sitting there 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:52.919 on the horizon and lining up perfectly with these channels 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:55.440 in the ground. And that would have probably appeared as 0:06:55.440 --> 0:06:58.599 some sort of auspicious sign to you that this was 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:01.919 a place that was important and perhaps we should erect 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:04.279 something here. Yeah, you kind of have to, you know, 0:07:04.320 --> 0:07:06.480 we can we can never really fully put on the 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:10.480 Neolithic mindset, but it's kind of in the dna of 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:15.040 our existing beliefs, in our existing worldviews. So to to 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:18.600 an extent, we can just sort of we can understand 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:21.920 like the power of you know, winter and summer, and 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:24.760 you know, spring is the return of life, winter fall 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:27.560 and winter is the the advent of death. Uh. And 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:30.080 that uh and that and night and day as well 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:34.720 like these uh, these these these opposites are I have 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:37.920 always been a powerful part of virtually any myth building, 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:40.440 any kind of worldview that we've constructed for ourselves throughout 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:44.880 human history. And as we've discussed before, cyclical time seasonal 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:48.200 time would have been far more important than linear time. 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:50.920 And we take that for granted today that everybody has 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:53.720 been on some sort of clock or calendar, but really 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:57.920 the cyclical time, the season's would have been important and marking, 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:02.800 observing and and really honoring. Yeah, one of the crazy 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:06.440 things about a stonehenge that has really come to mind 0:08:06.640 --> 0:08:09.000 and researching this is that you know, we'll we'll take 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:12.200 the observatory explanation, will will paste that over it from 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:15.400 our modern perspective, or will paste aliens over it for 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:18.760 a modern perspective. And but but in a way, we're 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:23.600 kind of trying to take our modern cosmological wanderings, you know, 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:25.440 who are we in one of our place in the universe, 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:28.240 and we're trying to to put those on an object 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:33.960 that was constructed for a Neolithic uh cosmology, for Neolithic 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:39.120 questions and answers regarding their place in the universe. Yeah, exactly. 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:42.160 So if your only experience is the land in the 0:08:42.240 --> 0:08:46.319 seasons and it's not our modern understanding of buildings in technology, 0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:48.040 then you're going to come at it in a very 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:51.440 different way. That being said, I would I would wager 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:54.440 Tibet that everybody has that same question, no matter what 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:58.480 period they were born in, is why am I here? Um? 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:00.560 How did I get here? What was sort of story? 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:03.959 Can I cobble together to make my existence make sense 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:06.960 to me? Right? And so that's the really interesting part 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:11.480 when you start to look at Stonehenge in terms of burial, 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:15.240 because it turns out that there are crew mains inside 0:09:15.280 --> 0:09:18.560 of Stonehenge. That gives us a little bit of a 0:09:18.559 --> 0:09:21.160 different idea of how it might have been used, not 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:23.880 just as a burial ground, but but perhaps these cream 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:27.880 mains point to the kind of people who were buried 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:31.719 there in what sort of prominence they had. Yeah, there's 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:34.840 a British team led by Professor Parker Perison we've mentioned already, 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:38.439 and he in his group analyzed the remains of sixty 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:42.719 three bodies buried around Stonehenge and their findings seem to 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:45.800 suggest that the first minding it was originally a graveyard 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:48.880 for a community of elite families, uh, and their remains 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:51.120 would have been brought to Stonehenge and buried for over 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:53.160 a period of for a period of more than two 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:56.520 hundred years. And that you know, Okay, that's interesting in 0:09:56.559 --> 0:09:58.839 and of itself, right, So you have this idea that 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:01.520 there's an important play because it lines up on a 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:05.000 certain access and that people who were honored within the community, 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:09.160 perhaps you know, we're royalty of some kind, would have 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:11.520 been honored by being buried there. But that is only 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:13.400 part of the story. And we're gonna take a quick 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:14.960 break and when we get down we are going to 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:18.120 sort of expand on this idea and uh, check it up. 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:30.760 All right, we're back. So we're talking about stone hinge. 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:34.199 We're talking about the meaning of stone hinge. Why did 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:37.200 did men and women put so much effort in Theolithic 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:40.480 times to be creating this structure that still, for the 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:43.160 most part, stands with us today. It's it's it's you know, 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:45.320 it's fallen here and there, but it is still a 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:48.120 destination and it has remained so for five thousand years 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:50.360 of human history. Well, and the cool thing about this 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:52.640 next section that we're going to talk about durington Walls 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:55.800 is that the existence of something else can often bring 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:58.680 light into the thing that you're examining. Right, So for 0:10:58.720 --> 0:11:00.440 a long time, it was just thought, Okay, the pile 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:02.680 of rocks, that's all there is to it. Yeah, let's 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:04.439 dig up around it. Let's who we can come up with. 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:07.560 And so for the longest we didn't have any additional answers. 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:08.719 You know, it kind of brings you back to the 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:13.000 cock snowflake, right that you can you can examine one 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:15.439 side all you want, but there's only so many answers 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:17.880 to be gleaned from that particular site. But if you 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:20.960 can bring in another side, a connected site, then suddenly 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:23.600 you have a number of different answers that can present themselves. 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:26.160 And that's what has happened in the form of a 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:30.120 Neolithic settlement just two miles away from Stonehenge. This is 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:34.720 called Durrington Walls, and it is notable because it actually 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:39.319 has evidence of timber post holes arranged in a nearly 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:44.960 identical circular pattern, constructed around the same time as Stonehenge. Yes, 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:48.720 and that's that's key, the wood, because chances are no 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:51.520 one has ever had a poster of Durrington Walls on 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:54.000 their wall and their of their dorm room. You know. 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:56.520 Stonehenge is, you know, has to the test of time. 0:11:56.559 --> 0:12:01.840 There's still stone portions of it visible, drinking walls made 0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:04.760 of wood. So all we have is archaeological evidence that 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:09.040 this site existed. Yeah, and in some ways it's kind 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:12.400 of the mirror image of Stonehenge or the twin It's 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:15.400 also aligned with the solstices. But on the morning of 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:18.280 the winter solstice, the timber circle will point at the 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:21.520 rising sun and at the end of the day Stonehenge 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:24.679 will be framed with the setting sun. So and if 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:27.000 you think about summer solstice, Stonehenge would be aligned with 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:30.439 the sunrise, but Durington Walls would be aligned with the sunset. 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:32.960 So it's sort of it's neat because it kind of 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:36.920 encompasses this idea of light and dark, these two different 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:40.959 places serving two different purposes. And we think this because 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:44.360 there's this archaeologist by the name of Ramlas and Nina 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:48.040 and he visited Stonehenge and he thought this, there's an 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:52.720 interesting similarity going on here with Stonehenge and Madagascar because 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:56.840 in Madagascar you have the use of stone imburial sights only, 0:12:56.880 --> 0:12:59.280 and this is thought of as the realm of the dead, 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:04.640 right and you would use um ephemeral uh sorts of 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:07.360 materials for the realm of the living. The villages would 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:10.200 be constructed out of timber, for instance. And so he 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:13.880 began to look at this idea of Durrington Walls and 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:18.840 Stonehenge is perhaps being interlinked in the same way in 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:22.200 the same sort of symbolic relationship between life and death. 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:26.480 And there's this idea that that Parker Pierson actually runs 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:29.600 with a little bit more is that Drington Walls could 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:32.959 have been this place for weary travelers to stop off 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:37.920 before observing the solstice, and Stonehenge, which also would have 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:40.760 been a time to observe the passing of souls and 0:13:41.160 --> 0:13:45.920 lo and behold. Um, it even has a body of 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:49.720 water that is connected into this scenario because we always 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:51.840 need this, right when we're talking about passing between the 0:13:51.840 --> 0:13:54.240 realm of living in the realm of the dead, there's 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:56.319 gotta be a body of water to help the passageway. Yeah, 0:13:56.320 --> 0:13:58.240 you gotta pass the river. You've gotta go down the river. 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:00.760 I mean you find it and everything from his Inferno 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:05.240 to to American spiritual hymns. Uh, the river is a 0:14:05.240 --> 0:14:08.760 powerful symbol just throughout human history. Yes, and so in 0:14:08.800 --> 0:14:11.800 this case we have the river Avon. And so what's 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:14.439 really interesting about this is the Parker Pearson said, Okay, 0:14:14.440 --> 0:14:16.520 well we think this is the theory, but we don't 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:19.800 know unless we actually can find some evidence of a 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:23.840 pathway from both Durrington Walls and a pathway from Stonehenge 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:27.240 to the river. Because if if the river is connected 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:30.600 in this story, then obviously people would have made those 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:33.800 pathways and made it a part of ritual. Lo and 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:36.600 behold they found it. Yes, Yes, there's plenty of evidence 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:38.760 to show that there was a path both from Stonehenge 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:41.680 to Avon and from Durrington to Avon. Yeah, we're talking 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:44.440 about a thirty foot avenue that was uncovered between this 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:48.280 realm of the living and the water, and also evidence 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:51.840 of eight small Neolithic houses that coincided during the same 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:54.920 time the Sarson's were erected at Stonehenge. I think you 0:14:54.920 --> 0:14:56.360 really nailed it on the head earlier when you were 0:14:56.360 --> 0:14:59.960 talking about um the Durrington as a is a reflect 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:03.080 of Stonehenge as it's opposite, because you also see that 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:05.760 in the evidence of things found there. For so, we 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:09.400 found remnants of the dead at Stonehenge and found cremains. 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:13.080 We've also found some remains at Durrington, but most of 0:15:13.080 --> 0:15:17.320 those remains are animal remains, pig remains that evidence of 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:21.640 massive feast, massive barbecues. They'll find the bones, for instance, 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:25.200 will still have uh will will still be together in 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:28.880 a way that represents that they were buried discarded when 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:31.800 the soft material was still attached the bone. So it's 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:33.920 it's it's pretty obvious that what happened here is some 0:15:33.960 --> 0:15:37.880 people had a massive feast. Yeah, we're talking about testing 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:41.680 the cattle teeth from eighty thousand animal bones that were 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:45.840 excavated in in the complex Stonehenge complex, and the team 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:50.000 found that around that would have been the site of 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:54.480 those vast communal feasts, and more importantly, they found that 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:57.520 the animals would have been slaughtered in the winter, nine 0:15:57.520 --> 0:16:03.440 months after their spring birth, pointing to the midwinter solticem gathering. Yeah, 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:07.120 so the ideas people are making a long pilgrimage to 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:11.080 this during Concide, to this uh, this place of the living, 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:14.480 this place instructed of wood, this impermanent place in which 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:17.520 we can live and play and feast and enjoy ourselves. 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:20.840 And then once you have you've you've you've taken care 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:23.160 of those needs, then you can go down the river 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:26.520 avon a bit. You can you can disembark at this 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:28.160 other path, and you can go up to a place 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:30.360 that is made of stone, a silent place, a place 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:33.800 where no one's living, a place that that that stands 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:36.800 between life and death, where the perhaps the spirits of 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:40.240 the dead are are contacted or at least remember this. 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:42.520 And this is what is the interesting part of this 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:46.120 is again this is based on community. This is talking 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:50.040 about people who are unified in this one story to 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:52.800 observe this thing about the seasons and about what it 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:55.400 means to be a human being and passing through on 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:58.720 Earth at that time, and I wanted to read this 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:03.760 quote from Professor Parker Pearson. He said that it was 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:06.560 a monument soon as it was a monument that brought 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:09.600 ancient Britain together. What we found is that people came 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:12.520 with their animals to feast Stonehenge from all corners of Britain, 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:16.080 as far afield as Scotland. It was built soon after 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:18.760 the appearance of the first Pan British culture, the only 0:17:18.800 --> 0:17:21.639 time in prehistory that the people of Britain were unified. 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:24.320 So in a way you could, you know, not to 0:17:24.359 --> 0:17:28.000 make this all sort of rosy colored um time period, 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:30.400 but you could say that this was perhaps a peaceful 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:33.960 time in which people really were on the same page here. 0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:36.760 And certainly if you read anything about the history of Britain, 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:39.560 you know that that there has been plenty of strife 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:42.760 since those days, just pretty much almost constant strife. I 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:46.560 guess we're more or less in recent times where it's 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:48.480 a little calmer they're in the British Isles, but but 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:51.680 still there's plenty to argue about there as well. Strife 0:17:51.680 --> 0:17:55.800 has abounded. Uh. Professor Parker Pearson believes the decline is 0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:59.199 explained by the culture of the Beaker people known to 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:02.840 have arrived in these areas, these the aisles around the time. 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:07.280 He believes that they're greater individualism and new material goods, 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:09.560 including the first metal goods scene in Britain, put an 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:12.320 end to the communal culture for which the monument had 0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:15.240 originally been created. So what he's talking about is that 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:18.600 people were no longer interested in being buried in a 0:18:18.640 --> 0:18:22.520 more communal sense. But now we're talking about really the 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:26.720 sort of uh focus on material goods and metals and 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:31.040 wanting to be buried with your stuff. Individual exceptionalism sort 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:35.040 of taking over. So they essentially crash the the ancient 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:39.399 hippie party U in Britain. These these jerk show up 0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:43.840 who are self obsessed, who are carrying metal instruments of 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:47.160 death with them, and uh so suddenly they they make 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:50.600 a quick work of the existing populations. Now is that 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:53.800 a perfect parallel to the Space Program. Perhaps not, But 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:56.399 there is this idea that there is more of a 0:18:56.640 --> 0:19:00.960 turning towards individualism and away from community. Yeah, yeah, yes, certainly, 0:19:01.000 --> 0:19:04.639 because with the Space Program, you know, it was anything 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:06.880 on that scale, like people have to believe in it 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:09.040 or in the case of the Pyramids, enough people have 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:11.439 to believe in it to enslave other people to do 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:14.520 the work for them. And that's why this is ultimately 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:17.719 much are under as far as our understanding Stonehage goes, 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:21.640 it's it's a much happier megaproject than than than pretty 0:19:21.720 --> 0:19:23.480 much anyone I can think of, you know, because like 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:26.000 I said, there's not really a war angle here, there's 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:29.399 not a slavery angle here. There are people working to 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:34.120 build this thing that is the physical manifestation of their belief, 0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:37.200 of their idea, of their view. Uh. And there's there's 0:19:37.240 --> 0:19:40.239 something just infinitely beautiful about that. Like they form this 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:43.320 idea of what life is and how it works, about 0:19:43.359 --> 0:19:46.320 the importance of community, about the importance of their ancestors, 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:52.720 and they made a physical sight that empowers that, I mean, 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:56.720 and it continues right, It's extant, and that's pretty amazing. UM. 0:19:56.760 --> 0:19:58.719 I also wanted to mention if I haven't already, that 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:03.040 Stonehenge pretty eights the Pyramids in Egypt. So um, again, 0:20:03.040 --> 0:20:06.200 this is a huge undertaking. Um. And I would love 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:09.159 to hear from you guys if you have been to Stonehenge, 0:20:09.200 --> 0:20:12.399 because I hear tale hold of I think twice a 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:14.720 year summer soltists, in which are solsists in which people 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:19.200 are actually able to walk through Stonehenge. Otherwise it's something 0:20:19.240 --> 0:20:23.480 like you're roped off thirty yards away. Yeah. Yeah, Like 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:26.399 when you touch that is, do you do you feel something? 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:29.600 Not because there's you know, ancient alien energy resonating through it, 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:32.400 but more in terms of like the stin doll syndrome 0:20:32.400 --> 0:20:35.800 that we've discussed before, bringing all of your ideas about 0:20:35.840 --> 0:20:37.879 Stonehenge with you, Like what kind of experience do you 0:20:37.880 --> 0:20:40.320 have there. I haven't looked at any any of the data, 0:20:40.400 --> 0:20:43.000 but I I wonder if there is a Stonehenge syndrome 0:20:43.080 --> 0:20:46.120 that takes place. That would be fascinating to find out 0:20:46.160 --> 0:20:48.840 if someone felt crushed by the weight of history and man, Yeah, 0:20:48.880 --> 0:20:51.159 because you know you're getting some cookie people show up 0:20:51.200 --> 0:20:53.959 for that. You know, there's some some alien hunters showing up. 0:20:54.000 --> 0:20:57.560 You know, there's some some very mystical individuals showing up. 0:20:57.760 --> 0:21:00.000 And you know, if you bring that mindset of miss 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:02.679 stism if with you, if you bring that mindset of 0:21:02.720 --> 0:21:05.879 alien visitations with you, then then it can be an 0:21:05.880 --> 0:21:09.800 overpowering situation to actually touch those stones. Yeah, and I've 0:21:09.800 --> 0:21:12.280 read that um it is a place of worship for druids. 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:14.640 But the fact of the matter is is that Stoneheench 0:21:14.760 --> 0:21:18.600 was erected two thousand years before uh Druid people begin 0:21:18.680 --> 0:21:22.760 to actually really worship and form their ideas. All right. 0:21:22.800 --> 0:21:24.840 So there you have it, Stonehenge. So we tackled it 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:27.359 in two parts again because we felt you really need 0:21:27.400 --> 0:21:32.119 to needed to understand the challenges of building Stonehenge and 0:21:32.160 --> 0:21:35.800 the mysteries that we've had to tackle regarding how Neolithic 0:21:35.840 --> 0:21:40.080 man built it, to fully understand the mysteries regarding why 0:21:40.359 --> 0:21:43.560 they built it. Yeah. And Uh, if you ever have 0:21:43.640 --> 0:21:46.679 anything that seems terribly difficult or prolonged in front of 0:21:46.680 --> 0:21:49.040 you that you need to do, just think about Stonehenge. Yea, 0:21:49.640 --> 0:21:51.760 it's not Stonehengch. If this is something I can do 0:21:51.840 --> 0:21:55.040 in my lifetime exactly, all right. We would love for 0:21:55.080 --> 0:21:56.959 you to get in touch with us. Yeah, and if 0:21:56.960 --> 0:21:58.119 you want to do so, you can find us at 0:21:58.119 --> 0:22:00.600 all the usual places. Our main hunt is stuff to 0:22:00.600 --> 0:22:03.320 blow your mind dot com. Uh. It is the stone 0:22:03.359 --> 0:22:09.080 Hinge of our world, constructed over the course of a month. Yeah, 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:13.320