Insight into culture Stonehenge between mystery and identity Stonehenge is the most important prehistoric monument in the whole of Britain. What exists today is only a small part of the original complex. The construction of Stonehenge probably took place in several stages. It is still difficult to trace back the exact date of the monument, but it is likely that the first Stonehenge was built in about 3000 B.C: the outer circular bank and a large 1 earthwork were built to be used as 2 a place of Neolithic worship and 3 burial . Around 2500 B.C. the first forty bluestones from the Preseli Mountains in Wales were raised within the earthwork and over the next six hundred years a circle of twenty-five trilithons (two upright blocks crossed 4 by a lintel ) were added. The purpose 5 of all this work remains baffling . The location of the site (a slight rise in a flat valley with a view of the horizon in all directions) as well as 6 its alignment towards the points of sunrise and sunset on the summer and winter solstices suggest that
Civic Literacy
Stonehenge was some sort of observatory or time-measuring device. Today, new studies suggest that monuments like Stonehenge acted like prehistoric focal points, where Britons from the far corners of Scotland, England and Wales gathered to feast together as compatriots (the inclusion of the bluestones from Wales might simbolise some kind of “political unification” of different British peoples). Feasts were a crucial part of life in prehistoric Britain, involving long-distance travel, spectacular ceremonies and vast quantities of food. Since animals such as cows and pigs were also brought to the site from hundreds of miles away, experts concluded that in 2500 B.C. Stonehenge was known across Britain as a place of pilgrimage and celebration. 1. earthwork_terrapieno 2. worship_culto 3. burial_sepoltura 4. lintel_architrave 5. baffling_incomprensibile 6. alignment_allineamento
CHECK IN
1. Read the text and tick where appropriate. Stonehenge probably served as: a. □ an astronomical observatory b. □ a site for human sacrifice c. □ a temple d. □ a cemetery e. □ a gathering place 2. Read again and find a. how old Stonehenge is. b. where it is located. c. what recent theories about this monument suggest. d. who gathered at Stonehenge and why. 3. Watch the video “Evidence suggests Stonehenge was an elite cemetery”. What are the questions posed by the video?
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