To many people, the mention of a period of culture, such as the Early
Bronze Age, may not convey very much. To give a date in years, on the
other hand, is not always easy. The march of culture in those days was
slow, and the gradation from the use of one material to another very
prolonged, often reaching into centuries. Consequently any date must
only be approximate and given under great reserve. The late Sir John
Evans has suggested that the Bronze Age in this country might be set
at 1400 B.C. Continental authorities set the age for countries in
Europe somewhat earlier, at about 2000 B.C. This is a perfectly
natural conclusion, for it is an ascertained fact that the flow of
civilisation was from East to West, as has always been the case, and
that, therefore, it is only to be expected that the Bronze Age of the
Continent would ante-date that of England by some centuries.
But, it is obvious from our present knowledge of Stonehenge that the
Bronze Age was hardly established in the sense as used by Sir John
Evans. Probably at the time of the building of Stonehenge bronze was
only known as a rare substance, whose very scarcity would make it
valuable as material for ornaments. It would not, therefore, be
inconsistent with existing evidence to set the date of Stonehenge
roughly at from 1700-1800 years B.C.
WHAT WAS STONEHENGE?
The Megalithic Stone structures, which exist not only in this country
but also throughout the Continent of Europe, are a special feature of
that period known as the Neolithic Age. As has already been shown,
Stonehenge represents a very late type, erected at a time when the
bronze culture had begun to overlap that of polished stone
(Neolithic).
These stone structures can be roughly divided into three classes.
1. Single upright stones, or _menhirs_ (Celtic = "high stone"), which
may be commemorative of some great event or personage.
2. _Dolmens_ (Celtic = "table stone"), in which a stone slab is set
table-wise on three or four uprights.
3. _Cromlechs_ (Celtic = "stone circle"). Circles enclosing barrows or
dolmens.
Stonehenge is a highly specialised example of this last class. Round
these cromlechs popular myth and superstition have crystallised
themselves into tales of the devil and his works (as in the case of
Stonehenge), ogres, giants, dwarfs, Sabbath breakers, and infidels,
turned to stone. In nearly every case there is some story of the
supernatural, which cannot be accidental, but which must have its root
in past religious observance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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