novel story - The enduring mystery of the stones of England

The dew accumulates faster we were there, and my feet were wet, but I do not care. Cold air in June has been pierced by the sounds of the wind channel and a pair of didgeridoo players in the center of the moon tide of St. John was. Around us, on the wet grass up to the ankles was the elongated shape of the Merry Maidens, a stone circle of who-knows-made, if by who-knows-who. This could be a meeting of occultism, who received five of us who share a magical prehistoric ritual on one of the great days of the pagan calendar. Actually, my wife, our taxi driver, and I was running randomly in both musicians, we decided that we wanted to see the stones in the night. Certainly, I was riveted to this humid place. Was it the music, the rhythm of the breeze and the original instrument? Or it would have been a great revelation, like some long buried memory? It was neither, I was frozen, like many others before and after me, the mystery of the stone.
England is full of the Neolithic Age, made the deliberate patterns, circles, most often, and left on the plains of the island to the other. They are often in a quiet, secluded places, and rarely draw many tourists. These premises, combined with the mysterious atmosphere emanating from the stones, so they go to places where apart from the noise of civilization is first and foremost in their plans. On my first trip to England in 1989 I had a vague knowledge of Stonehenge, and even less interest in it. But our visit began in Cornwall, where life, my wife informed me novelist, the soul of mystery and romance. She had come to research a historical novel set in 1807, but we soon fascinated by a much older history.
Then we have the ranks of thousands of people visit Neolithic stone west of England, and are more fascinated than ever. Even better, from a tourism point of view, most of these sites accessible. Many are on private property and owners can not change the historical sites, it is common to the approval of landowners before trodding review their charges. Stonehenge remains one of the few places where you pay an entrance fee, it is also one of the few sites that we could not approach closely.
The first question from visitors or armchair Indiana France Televisions channels, or "Who asked these structures built up," right? "What they are archaeologists who have a variety of technologies available that enable them to give us a variety of indexes. For example, the most famous prehistoric monument of all, Stonehenge, on top of a chalk formation is located. The Expert to say that if you carry heavy objects, such as twelve tons of stones, in chalk, it will break. Based on their assessments of the chalk around the monuments, the archaeologists tell us that all the stones were transported in one direction the same way what has been called "the void. "Stones are not local, but from 35 or more miles. They were carefully cut, shaped, and moves, while a considerable effort, suggesting both aesthetic and meticulous technique. (I also think that" deep pockets "will be on the list are, but since we do not really know how they were cut and transported ...)
Stonehenge was abandoned long before the Roman conquest of Britain, and was unknown until rediscovered in 1130 AD In every century, from the assumptions on its use, and manufacturers, reflects better the ideological prejudices interrogators the identity of the architect. A joint statement by people found that the circle of the Druids was established, and for human victims. Unfortunately, this statement is another case of anachronism is exaggerated (as Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, a Franciscan in England about 150 years before the founding of the Order), was built for thousands of years after Stonehenge druids. This does not mean they could not have used the remains of long vanished after its creator. Other ideas show the colored circle was a terminal for UFOs or the grave of a truly great leader.
Smaller stones have a variety of forms. Some, called blanks, are now known to be places of burial. But others remain a mystery, despite all attempts to get them to reveal their secrets. One of the men of El-Tor, Cornwall unique, only recessed round stone, known in Europe. Nearby is a vertical arrow. Legend has it that through the circle three times, you can be cured from a variety of diseases. I can guarantee that this is not for all the ills of the work. My explanation for this structure (and my own hypothesis) is that back around 7333 BC to invent, Grog the wheel. He showed his brother, who replied: "What do you do with it?" Grog just a little, shrugged his shoulders and tossed the prototype in the garbage next to the other invention is interrupted, Axel (ah, but he built the first two wheels, how different would the story be). Other scientific thinkers suggest that these stones combined in human fertility were used. In fact, no one knows for sure.
If you have a secret love, we do not know much better than trying to fathom the stones. I had no interest in them until we were actually in a circle in 1989. Girls Merry, where my feet were wet with dew, is a circle, where my wife and I spent a long time, especially because it is so cheap. There is also a very relaxed attitude of the local population, which does not seem interested in marketing the surrounding ruins. Our taxi driver, from Penzance, was full of legends about these prehistoric relics. My favorite is the story of the farmer who tried to around the First World War to remove the stones from the field. This coupled with strong ropes to a stone, then his horse.
When the stones began to move, the horse fell dead a heart attack. Fascinating as it may seem, it is, like so many legends, supported by fact. On my first visit I noticed a couple blocks outside of the circle, which were not mentioned in the guide. They went with a stone in the circle almost exactly north-northeast. I have no idea what that means something, but I have to check a compass direction. Enter the circle, my compass turned slowly in all directions, a phenomenon observed by my wife and our guide. Outside the circle, it works well. If we have a better two years later tried compass, the results were different, the needle shows a few degrees east of magnetic north. So far, the most mysterious thing that we met on a property in stone.
Cross the street and within walking distance of the Merry Maidens are permanent Pipers. Legend has it that the girls at the Piper's music danced on the Sabbath, for which they were beaten in stone indiscretion. Vengeful gods notwithstanding, one approaches the Pipers with great care, from time to time, is a bull grazing in their field. While young girls form a circle defined (eternally with two outdoor units to a "gun-sight"), the large rectangular Pipers in a row, people playing attention. What if some had committed early British to a prehistoric version of the urban ("Little Boy, five thousand years from now, tourists will eat this!"), There is also an old grave chamber, immediately west of the circle of girls and slightly from the mid- circuit considered. Facing the East, and you can see the pipers. Have they been built by the same people? If the related functions?
The most dramatic of all is mysterious, in my opinion, Avebury, literally a city in a big circle. It is an artificial hill and a moat around the city, where some places are still large stones some of which are circles. Most stones are long since broken down and used to build buildings in the center, but the artificial ditches you both know how these people were and how advanced we are without hope to discover who they were. We have our visit one night lights of the moon (not planned it just happened so), and the size of the stones were impressed remaining. Each oval monolith is 15 feet wide, six feet deep and twelve feet high. He must have got them here and Herculean efforts to arrange a series of circles, of which surround the city. The rare stones are as inflated sail, drive or on a sea of time, the Iron Age Flying Dutchman, the mock us to understand them.
Astronomers and physicists have largely archaeologists in the interpretation of the stones replaced. The most popular hypothesis that the structures observatories allows accurate prediction of the seasons were. At Stonehenge, for example, the sun lines up some very remarkable structures on the most important days of the year, including the equinox and solstice. No doubt such an approach is probably more than coincidence. On the other hand, it seems strange that the culture would spend fifteen years and the erection of the stone Drag a timeline (try to hang on the wall!). Which confirm the hypothesis of the schedule, the stones were recently discovered in the symbols carved axes and other instruments. Even after 800 years of observation, this massive structure has secrets now revealed that further improvement of its mysticism.
Stonehenge was my site's most recent review. We took one double-decker bus from Salisbury to the circle, about 8 miles. Our first glance, it was a small group of gray on a slope, wedged in a triangle of land between two highways. The proximity approach, not just one but two modern facilities, ridiculous relic of the past seemed inexplicable Britain. Friends say he has lost much of its power and mystery. He did not, but the fact that it can not be addressed, it is less than or Avebury Pipers. So even if the site is slightly different, is to see a good picture or a TV documentary. I think it was about two thirds the size I had expected.
Stonehenge was begun around 5,000 years ago, over a thousand years before the pyramids were started. It is ruined, old, and the gap, but the fact remains that the modern capital city lost a place.
In my opinion, Stonehenge has a solution, that the philosopher as a scientist: It's an eternal question mark, a monument to the fact that there are things that man will never know is. A visit to England would not be complete without a visit to one of those question mark complete, and give you a souvenir, a mystery insoluble, which will last a lifetime.