Regional British History, General & Miscellaneous Architectural History & Criticism, Ancient Architecture - General & Miscellaneous, Great Britain - History - To 1066, General & Miscellaneous - Antiquities, Great Britain - Individual Buildings & Designs,

Stonehenge City: A Reconstruction

Name: Stonehenge City: A Reconstruction
Author: Leon E. Stover
ISBN: 9780786414697

by Leon E. Stover, Leon Stover

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Overview

Stonehenge, the megalithic monument in southern England that dates in its Bronze Age phase to 2000 B.C. (but with a history stretching back yet another thousand years to Neolithic times), attracts more than a million tourists a year, but is much more than a visible array of great standing stones. The entire region includes a vast cemetery and a number of other sites that indicate the remains of sizeable wooden buildings. Stonehenge was indeed its own city, the metropolitan center of a powerful kingdom heretofore unsuspected. That city is reconstructed by the author from the archaeological evidence -- royal palace, banquet hall and tomb, among other buildings. In passing, the author incisively demolishes the popular theory that Stonehenge served as a prehistoric astronomical observatory. He rather advances a political theory grounded in cultural continuities that carry forward into the early Iron Age, best documented in ancient Ireland. Here (apart from Homer) begins European literature, derived from oral traditions. The entire book is richly illustrated.

Synopsis

Stover (Illinois Institute of Technology) uses scientific and historical analysis to show that—rather than serving as a prehistoric astronomical observatory—Stonehenge was once the metropolitan center of a powerful kingdom. Centering on a series of imaginative paintings portraying the principal buildings, Stover reconstructs "Stonehenge City" using archaeological evidence and analysis of cultural continuities that carry forward from the early Iron Age. The book begins with an examination of early scholarly studies of Stonehenge, especially the 17th-century book Chorea Gigantum (giant's dance) by Doctor Walter Charleton. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR