{"id":2110,"date":"2013-12-19T10:47:21","date_gmt":"2013-12-19T15:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/preserving\/?p=2110"},"modified":"2013-12-19T10:47:21","modified_gmt":"2013-12-19T15:47:21","slug":"the-solstice-and-stonehenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/2013\/12\/19\/the-solstice-and-stonehenge\/","title":{"rendered":"The Solstice and Stonehenge"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A peep into the inner sanctum<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

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Dating back to the Neolithic Age, the winter soltice has been observed, revered, and worshiped as an iconic moment in the earth’s annual cycle. Ancient physical remains around the globe attest to the allure of the winter solstice for both religious celebration and practical planning for the growing season. In Britain, the primary axes of Stonehenge appears to have been carefully aligned on a sight-line pointing to the winter solstice sunset. The ongoing mystery and obsession with Stonhenge, along with speculation on its supposed purpose, should be credited to William Stukeley (1687 \u20131765), a harbinger of modern archeological study and a pioneer in the restoration and preservation of ancient monuments and sites. Stukeley, a friend and biographer of Isaac Newton (acknowledged with creating the “apple falling” story), was a fascinating character in his own right.\u00a0 An English gentleman, scholar, historian, physician, freemason, and druid, Stukeley surveyed Stonehenge in the 1720s and published his principal work on the ancient monument in 1740. Although Stukeley incorrectly theorized that the monument was part of the druidic religion, he was the first to recognize and describe the alignment of Stonehenge with the solstice. His meticulous observations and thorough survey remain significant and valuable in the history of the monument.<\/p>\n

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“Stonehenge stands not upon the very summit of a hill, but pretty near it, and <\/em>
\n for more than three quarters of the circuit you ascend to it very gently from <\/em>
\n lower ground. At half a mile distance, the appearance of it is stately and awful, <\/em>
\n really august. As you advance nearer, especially up the avenue, which is <\/em>
\n to the north-east of it, (which side is now most perfect) the greatness of its con- <\/em>
\n tour fills the eye in an astonishing manner… Nothing in nature could be of a more<\/em>
\n simple idea than this vast circle of stones, and its crown-work or corona at top ;<\/em>
\n and yet its effect is truly majestic and venerable, which is the main requisite<\/em>
\n in sacred structures. A single stone is a thing worthy of admiration…\u00a0 ” \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/address>\n
–\u00a0\u00a0 William Stukeley<\/em><\/address>\n

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Remains of Stonehenge<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

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Inward view of Stonehenege<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

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View of Stonehenge from Bush Barrow site.<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

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Description:<\/dt>\n
Stukeley, William. Stonehenge, a temple restor’d to the British druids. London : Printed for W. Innys and R. Manby, at the West End of St. Paul’s, 1740.\u00a0<\/dd>\n
Persistent Link:<\/dt>\n
http:\/\/nrs.harvard.edu\/urn-3:FHCL:<\/strong><\/a>10937246<\/a><\/strong><\/dd>\n
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Repository:<\/dt>\n
Widener Library<\/dd>\n
Institution:<\/dt>\n
Harvard University<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Dating back to the Neolithic Age, the winter soltice has been observed, revered, and worshiped as an iconic moment in the earth’s annual cycle. Ancient physical remains around the globe attest to the allure of the winter solstice for both religious celebration and practical planning for the growing season. In Britain, the primary axes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2559,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2559"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2110"}],"version-history":[{"count":58,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2168,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2110\/revisions\/2168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}