yyilylliy III It
Modern Macki
tke iVlassive Stones Wkick tke -Old
Druid Priests First Set. Up witk
Suck Painful Effort and ?kick
at juast uvertnrown
, ruin
The Ruins of Stonehenge, Showing'
L
a r alien J-aniei to its VJia riace on a op 01 a stai oi
Upright Monoliths,
STQNEHENQH. that mysterious circle
of colossal stones which were set in
place thousands of years ago on
fiallsfonry Plain, England, by the painful
fort3 of prehistoric, man. Is v being re
stored by modern machinery. For ages
the great gray monoliths bad resisted
time, falling slowly and stubbornly one by
one. Beneath a terrifies storm awhile ago
two of the largest fell, and then it was ;
realized that unless Immediate steps were'
taken ! for Stooehenge'a preservation this
monument of antiquity, perhaps the most
extraordinary In all the world, would soon
be little more than a shapeless heap. ,
So that Is why to-day, a donkey-engine
and immense cranes are seen at the side
of this ancient temple of earliest man.
Workmen swarm about- the huge stones :
where the Druid priests carried on their
rites before hundreds of worshippers, and
the monoliths that were raised with such
prodigious' oil by the hands of men of the
tone age are lifted with ease by the
winches and cables, or swing through the
air Into place by a truer magic than that
whirh hv T)orular HvmerstitioTi tx'rtlaina
their original placing. ; ;"
The real antiquity of Stonehenge Is un
known. It Is asserted that the Druids, the
priests of the early Britons, used It as an
astronomical observatory and a 1 temple
2,000 years before Christ. But even then
it must have been very old, and prarious
scientists have placed its building as from
10,000 to 50,000 years ago. It is even prob
able that another race than, the Britons
erected It. There are records of a power
ful Neolithic, or Stone Age, maritime power
which . before- history' began established
colonies throughout the then lchown wbrld.
This power was African, but not Egyptian.
Dr. 'Cope Whitehouje, of -New York.- the .
distinguished Egyptologist, has called at
tention to the evidence in Egyptian rec
ords of a great maritime nation, "estaV
lished to the west of the Nile, that threat
ened Egypt's supremacy at the height of
her greatness. J : ' . . j ;
According to Mr. Whitehouse's theory,
these people, as a great sea-power, must
have left traces of themselves all over the
accessible world to ' which, their ships
" traded. He holds the remarkable rock
structure known as Fingall'sj Cave, in
Scotland, to be clearly of human origin,
and thinks it reasonable' to believe that it
was the work of the forgotten; African
race. . . "!
If. Is also reasonablo to believe that
Stonehenge is the creation' or': the , same
. people, since both works belong to an ad
vanced period of the Stone Age, with simi
lar characteristics of rough grandeur. It
need hardly be added thai the discovery by
Professor Norton of a temple west of the
Nile of similar workmanship to Stone
henge strengthens the theory that a great
maritime power, whose existence has been
forgotten, covered Europe with their stone
monuments. i li' i S--,'
The blocks of Stonehenge were orlg
. lnally arranged to form two ovals. - There
are now. 140 of. them, weighing from
ten to seventy tons each, i la the
centre of the ovals Is a huge flat
calcareous stone which the Druids used
as an altar. Upon the tops of the mono
liths other enormous squared blocks were '
placed like lintels. Th accomplishment
of such a task by hands alone must ever
remain a triumph of human determination
and Ingenuity.- While 'the reconstruction
Is going on the huge stone mauls and axes
hat the builders used ' to rough-hew the
THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAIi, PORTLAND. SUNDAY MORNING
Puts: Back in Place
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LB:
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at the Right One of the Cranes
i "
. glacial noulders into shape are
frequently found. Apparently
, the stones were then raised
into the position with wooden
blocks and levers.
It was Sir Norman Lockyer,
one . of the most distinguished
English astronomers who first
dissipated some of the mystery
of Stonehenge by proving that
Ht had been used by the Druids
or other., prehistoric astrono
mers somewhat as a gigantic ' '
calendar. On the longest day of the year
at the time they lived the rays of " the
rising sun passed over certain markers still
known as the 'Slaughter Stone" and the
, Heel" atone, and struck directly upon the
altar. -. On no other day did this occur and
so the Druids were enabled to know ac
curately the beginning of their year.
There is also no question that when this
happened cruel sacrifices were offered.
The restorers have found a circle of pits
beyond the outer circle which are filled
with human remains, evidently the ghostly
relics of these sacrifices.
It is probable that the original temple
was the inner smaller ring of stones and:
that the Druids built the outer ring, ar
ranging the trillthons, as the pairs of up
rights with their lintel are called, tn a
way to carry, on thefr solar observations.
The deposits about the bases of this inner
circle certainly antedate those found at 1
the bases of the larger. vi .
The restoration is being done by the
English Office of Worts under the direc-,
tlon . of archeologlsts experienced' in . tie
task of restoration of similar monuments. "
Never was T the most - precious of babies
more carefully wrapped up than Is one of
these great .monoliths before the sacri
legious Jack sets to work upon At Not
only is it cradled in thick baulks of tim-
ber, out every cranny is tiled up and 4
padded with felt and wedges, and the
whole frame work, is again supported-by,
4
4 ' '
A Druldess Sacrificing Flowers to the God of the River, A Painting by
Georges Girardot Depicting One of Jthe Gentler Rites of thtf Druids. "
- At Stonehenge Cruel Sacrifices of Youths and Maidens Were a,' -.
Part of the Sun Worship of .Which It Was the Temple.
struts and steel Joists. The " excavation
round the base is done with the most soli
citous care bo as to leave Intact the shape
of the original holes made to hold the
stones ' and also to salVe anything that
may be found there, whether It be a stone
hammer, a Roman sestertium, an old clay
pipe or k penny of George III. It must be
a very small object, indeed, that will es-
. cape- the sieves of those who search.
There' are many wonderful things about
' Stonehenge, and one "that strikes- the
stranger with the greatest amazement is
the apparently casual way in which the
, stones were made fast by the original
builders. A monolith weighs, as has been
said, anywhere from ten to seventy tons.
It' has, as, a rule, an end dressed to a
roughly; tapering shape, and this end goes
' but a small number of feet underground
and has round it a loose packing of bould-
: era. : Incidentally, it is a curious fact that
. while some of these boulders are of sar-
2 sen, the same stone as the monoliths are
made of, others are of greensand. In the
case of the famous "leaning stone," now
set upright again the whole height of the
monolith was 29 feet inches, and it was
buried in the earth to a depth of eight
.feet. Its -brother stone was only 25 feet
long and so had but tour feet underground
to support its 21 feet in the air, to say
nothing of the lintel stone. This four feet
of base was dressed in a particular shape,
(0X420. ZatenaUoaal feature ServicLM.
b Ui Ml ilUU 1 1 aipibKQl
r
V.
4j
2 '
it
'lot tapering, but having a
large projecting boss; yet
even so, it fell and now
lies : on the., ground broken
'.right through at its very
heart.
. To the amateur, at any
rate, it is wonderful that
with such foundations the
stones have stood at. they
have. In the case Cf all
those 'that . are being
straightened, " the packing
boulders, 'their long task
done, - are examined -and
- numbered and then will , be
reverently buried once more.
In their place the stones
are given -a foundation'of
si
reinforced concrete, which will, of course,
be discreetly buried beneath the turf. ;
. . While this ? giant surgery that is j being
practised on the trillthons is a wonderful
thing to see, there is' something else hap
pening at Stonehenge less spectacular, but
to the archeologist still more exciting.
That is the uncovering" of the burial pits
already referred to. One by one, at an
. interval of about seven paces from one
another, a whole ring of these newly dis
covered holes has been laid bare Just in
side the earthwork .which ; surrounds
Stonehenge. A clue . from . the old i docu
ment . known- as Aubrey's map, which
Crest BrtUln RlghU Beeerved.
JUNE 13, 1920.
9'-:
A
7
S
A Diagram Illustrating Hcy on Midsum
mer Morn the Rays of the Rising Sun
Shot Over the Marking Stones and Fell
Upon the Central Altar of the Great
' Stone Circles.
showed certain now vanished depres
sions In the turf, set the searchers looking
for this ring of holes by means of a heavy .
steel bar with a sharp point. Once - they
found the first hole, the others soon fol
lowed; the steel bar, instead of encoun-'
tering the hard chalk, went right through;
the turf was turned back and there, with all
the fascinating accuracy of a puzzle, was
the hole Just where it ought to tbe. .
That many dreadful scenes went on In
ancient days within the great circles is
certain. The human sacrifices of the
Druids were peculiarly cruel, although
many of -tuelr. other religious rites were
v
VI
very beautiful and gentlSj
, spirits , of the earth, the
streams and woods and so
on, as well as the greater
ones of the sun and moon.
T,he priestesses, : or Druid
. esses, had charge of these
softer phases - of ' the cere
monials, and the . painting
on this page is a famous art
ist's conception of one of
'these milder rites. The
Druldess, surrounded by her
maidens, la offering sacrifice
. of flowers to the God of the
. River.
jFrom relics found during
the excavating those in charge
have been enabled to recon
struct the methods by which
Stonehenge j was " originally
built The immense stone
hammers and mauls are
- clearly;: those used In dress
tng the monoliths. Not $.
single netal tool of any kind
was discovered only a slight
copper stain on a' stone. t So
the circles were almost cer
tainly previous to the bronze
. age, the commencement of
A
which fn England is placed
at about 2000 B. C, T
The stones appear to have
been carried In the glacial
Period to. the vicinity of
Stonehenge and then drawa
to the site of the temple by
; rollers or on wooden sledges
hauled by thong ropes. A strange sight
it must have been whentbe Neolithic men
dragged one of these huge monoliths
across the plain, hundreds of men sweat
ing and panting as they hauled at the long
leathern ropes.
When a stone reached the temple site
a hole was cut into the chalk rock of
the plain, leaving an upright face on one
side and a. slope leading down into the
hole along which the 70-ton stone was
slid. It was then raised by packing up
timber levers' under-the top end until a
sufficient height had. been reached to en
able it to be hauled into an upright posi
tion. The rubble was then packed in with
supporting stones.
The date of the building of 8 ton eh en ee
has been the subject of much speculation
and study and has given rise to several
conmcung ineones. An interesting theory
was advanced by Sir Norman Lockyer.
director of the solar Physics Observatory,
who assumed that the people who built
Stonehenge were v not only sun-worshippers,
but -had progressed far la their
knowledge of astronomy. : , :
He bases his assumption upon the ex
istence of a path leading from the central
altar at Stonehenge to the spot where the
sun first appears above the horizon at the
solstice. The path is in reality the axis
of the temple, a line drawn through the
centre of the Altar Stones to the Slaughter
Stones and thence to another stone called
the Friar's Heel. A person standing at the ;
altar and looking over the Friar's ileel
would see the rising sun at the .solstice,
but slightly out of line.
Owing to the changes in the course' of
vmw bA awuua luo BUU IUQ IIB&US UlUs
of the sun changes slightly every year.
Sir Norman assumed that when the temple
was-huilt the axis was directly In line with
the rising sun at the solstice. Knowing
the amount of change taking place ezxcU
year it is not dllflcult for him to calculate
how manr rears must have elansed ihca
the axis. was exactly in line instead of ap
proximately. By his computation the date
of the building was given as 1680 B. C, or
3,600 years ago. ' .
Other scientists, however, maintain that
a Neolithic -people built Stonehenge, and
tha. this race had disappeared long before
the; time assigned by Sir Norman. There
is fat much to choose between the several
theories. Each seems quite tenable until
Tie red la the light of its rival.