Stonehenge fascinating hidden world of wonder
Solstice worship at Stonehenge united ancient Europe
Stonehenge © English Heritage
Story of Stonehenge built 4,500 years ago
The World of Stonehenge exhibition brings together over 430 objects from across Europe to tell the story of Stonehenge.
Bronze twin horse–snake hybrid from Kallerup hoard, 1200–1000 BC. Kallerup, Thy, Jutland, Denmark. National Museum of Denmark/Ofret Museum. CC-BY-SA, Søren Greve, National Museum of Denmark
Key loans include elaborate ancient gold hats depicting the cosmos; the astonishing wooden monument – dubbed Seahenge – that recently emerged after millennia from the sands of a Norfolk beach; and the spectacular Nebra Sky Disc, the oldest surviving representation of the cosmos.
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Stonehenge was built 4,500 years ago, around the same time as the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.
Fine jadeite axe-heads made from material quarried in the high Italian Alps, c. 4500–3500 BC. © The Trustees of the British Museum
This exhibition, at the British Museum, sets the great monument in the context of one of the most remarkable eras on the islands of Britain and Ireland, which saw enormous social and technological revolutions alongside fundamental changes in people’s relationships with the sky, the land and one another.
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At the heart of the exhibition is the sensational loan of a 4,000-year-old Bronze Age timber circle, dubbed Seahenge due to its similarity to Wiltshire’s Stonehenge.
Seahenge 1999 – Seahenge at the time of excavation. © Wendy George
It is a hugely significant and scarce surviving example of a timber monument that has also been called “Stonehenge of the Sea”.
It re-emerged on a remote Norfolk beach in 1998 due to the shifting sands, and it consists of a large upturned tree stump surrounded by fifty-four wooden posts.
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The oak posts, some up to three metres tall, were tightly packed in a 6.6-metre circle with bark-covered sides facing outwards.
Gold flange twisted spiral torc. 1400 BC-1100 BC. Dover, UK. © The Trustees of the British Museum
Inside the circle was a mighty oak, its roots upturned towards the heavens like branches. Collectively, the circle creates a giant tree.
Monument was used for ritual purposes
A narrow entranceway was aligned with the rising midsummer sun, and it is thought this monument was used for ritual purposes.
Bone-bead necklace, part of the finds from Skara Brae, c. 3100–2500 BC Skara Brae, Orkney, Scotland. © The Trustees of the British Museum
Visitors can see some of the monument’s most important elements, including many timber posts and the “doorway” where worshippers would enter.
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Its inclusion in the exhibition helps tell the story of the shared beliefs that inspired ancient communities to build the many astonishing monuments found across Britain, Ireland and beyond.
Stonehenge © English Heritage
Dr Jennifer Wexler, project curator, said, “We know about some aspects of the monument, including that it was constructed in the spring and summer of 2049 BC from mighty oaks.
But there’s much that still eludes us, including exactly what it was used for. Perhaps the central upturned trunk was used in funerary rituals to support a dead body.
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Perhaps entering the circular shrine brought worshippers closer to the otherworld. By displaying Seahenge in this exhibition, we hope to bring it to a wider audience.
The circle of stone and timber were at the heart of the belief
It provides an unparalleled opportunity to time travel back to the moment when circles of stone and timber were at the heart of people’s beliefs.”
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The 3,700-year-old Nebra Sky Disc is also on display. This bronze disk was uncovered in Nebra, Germany, in 1999 and is considered the oldest known illustration of the night sky with its depiction of the sun, a crescent moon, and a seven-starred Pleiades cluster.
Nebra Sky Disc, Germany, about 1600 BC. Photo courtesy of the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt, Juraj Lipták
It also has a gold crescent that accurately records the 82 per cent angle between the solstices when seen from Nebra.
It was found amid several bronze-age weapons, which helps date it back to c.1600 BC, predating an Egyptian claim to the title.
Dagger from the Bush Barrow grave goods (with replica handle), 1950–1600 BC. Amesbury, Wiltshire, England. Photographs taken by David Bukach. © Wiltshire Museum, Devizes
It is considered to be one of the most important archaeological finds of the twentieth century and is registered as such by the UNESCO Memory of the World register.
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Nearly two-thirds of the objects going on display are loans, with objects coming from thirty-five lenders across the UK, the Republic of Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, Denmark and Switzerland.
The Schifferstadt gold hat, c. 1600 BC, which was found with three bronze axes Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Historisches Museum der Pfalz Speyer
Going on show in the exhibition are two rare and remarkable gold cone-shaped hats: the Schifferstadt gold hat from Germany and the Avanton gold cone from France.
These are decorated with elaborate solar motifs that reflect the religious importance of the sun during this era.
The Mold Gold Cape, 1900–1600 BC. Mold, Flintshire, Wales. © The Trustees of the British Museum
Only two other examples of these hats are known to have survived. Serving as headgear during ceremonies or rituals, they perhaps imbued the wearer with divine or otherworldly status.
Carefully buried alone or accompanied by axes, rather than interred with the deceased, it seems they were held in trust for the community.
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Similar motifs are to be found on a belt plate on loan from the National Museum of Denmark. This example was found on the stomach of a woman buried in Scandinavia.
Decorated sun-disc from a woman’s belt, c. 1400 BC Langstrup, Frederiksborg Amt and Vellinge, Fyn, Denmark. CC-BY-SA, Roberto Fortuna & Kira Ursem, National Museum of Denmark
Its conical central point might represent the same concept as the sun hat, but in miniature form.
Alongside the international loans, visitors can see some of the most important objects unearthed in the Stonehenge landscape, many of them now in the collections of neighbouring museums.
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On loan is the whole hoard of objects that accompanied a burial known as the Bush Barrow site. This burial hoard has never been lent in its entirety before.
Stonehenge includes Bronze Age gold
They include the “gold lozenge”, the finest example of Bronze Age gold craftsmanship ever found in Britain, which was buried across the chest of the Bush Barrow chieftain.
The gold lozenge of the Bush Barrow grave goods, 1950–1600 BC Amesbury, Wiltshire, England. Photographs taken by David Bukach. © Wiltshire Museum
This grave, with commanding views of Stonehenge, shows close parallels with the richest graves from northern France, eastern Germany and even Ancient Greece.
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The exhibition illustrates these long-distance connections.
Lunula, 2400–2000 BC. From Blessington, County Wicklow, Republic of Ireland. © The Trustees of the British Museum
Also on show are the treasures buried with the Amesbury Archer, a man honoured with remarkable grave goods after his death. His grave contained the richest array of items ever found in a Bronze Age burial site in the UK.
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Thirty-nine of these items – including copper knives, gold ornaments and flint tools – have travelled to the exhibition.
Bronze Age sun pendant, 1000–800 BC © The Trustees of the British Museum
The gold discovered is thought to be among the earliest found in Britain. The Amesbury Archer was also buried close to Stonehenge, but he came from the area of modern-day Switzerland or Germany.
His early dates mean that he could have participated in the construction of the iconic phase of the stone circle.
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The world of Stonehenge and the artefacts this exhibition brings together are helping to reveal some ancient mysteries.
Solstice sunrise at Stonehenge
But there remain more secrets, and so the ongoing fascination with this ancient monument continues.
Text & Photos courtesy of the British Museum
