SOFiA - Exploring Values, Meaning and Spirituality: Newsletter issue 165, Apr 2023

Stonehenge

Stonehenge, an ancient stone circle on the Salisbury plain, has fascinated and intrigued generations. The Auckland Museum is currently displaying an impressive account of it, revealing the current theory based on the latest archaeological investigations. (Well worth a visit and the exhibition is open until 25 April.)
The dimensions of Stonehenge are impressive. Its earliest form consisted of a wide circle of bluestones that were brought 233 km from West Wales. The main design appeared about 2500 BCE. The big sarsen stones each weigh about 25 tons and came from 32 km away. They needed to be shaped and the lintel stones needed a notch to fit them on top of the vertical stones. This required considerable engineering expertise and the coordinated, painstaking effort of many people.

Until recently, the dominant theory was that Stonehenge was some kind of calendar or celestial observatory, based on the fact that it was aligned to the summer solstice in one direction and the winter solstice in the other. (On the summer solstice, the sun rises over the Heel Stone. Conversely, on the shortest day, the sun sets over the Heel Stone.) however, modern research has established that Stonehenge is but part of a much larger whole, consisting of a wooden circle at Durrington Walls, Stonehenge itself, with the Avon river between the two and ceremonial avenues connecting both. Stonehenge is the realm of the ancestors, while Durrington Walls is the realm of the living. People came together for celebrations from a wide area. Excavations have revealed bones sufficient for animals to feed 1,000 people. While we can only speculate about the content of any ceremonies, Stonehenge weaves together heaven and earth, the living and the dead into a single all-encompassing whole.

Wilfred Cantwell Smith in his book Towards a World Theology argues that our approach should be “earth wide and history long.” In other words, all views currently in the world and all views from the past are relevant when we set about doing theology. Only trouble is, we are indoctrinated in the idea that our job is to establish the one and only true and correct doctrine and to characterise all others as false. A truly encompassing “world theology” would include voices from other cultures as well as from the distant past, such as Stonehenge, ancient Egypt, and Aztec culture. Arguing against any of these voices would be like arguing for Mozart against Bach or Shakespeare against Milton.

Stonehenge is regarded as the largest burial place in Britain during the third millennium BCE. Probably over 150 people were buried there. Imagine taking part in the ceremonies at the time. Your friends and relatives come together from all over Great Britain (we know that some even came from the Scottish Highlands) bringing with them young animals to be sacrificed in the feast. You come together on the other side of the Avon, in the domain of the living and participate in a ceremonial walk from Durrington Walls to Stonehenge. There the dead would be buried and you would be close to all your ancestors. Death is like the setting of the sun, which Stonehenge marks through its alignment to the winter solstice. In this way, you and your ancestors are part of a larger whole that encompasses both the living and the dead and connects human culture with nature and cosmos.

The Editor