Stonehenge: Exploring the Greatest Stone Age Enigma - Brossura

Parker Pearson, Mike

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0857207318 ISBN 13: 9780857207319

Casa editrice: Simon & Schuster Ltd, 2012

Riassunto

A striking and original interpretation of the awe-inspiring Stone Age site from one of the world's foremost archaeologists on death and burial In lively and engaging prose, this book brings to life the imposing ancient monument that continues to fascinate, exploring the theory that the people of Durrington Walls built both Stonehenge and Durrington Walls, and that the choice of stone for constructing Stonehenge has a significance so far undiscovered—that the stone was used for monuments to the dead. Through years of work at the site, the author and his team unearthed evidence of the Neolithic inhabitants and builders which connected the settlement at Durrington Walls with the henge, and contextualized Stonehenge within the larger site complex, linked by the River Avon, as well as in terms of its relationship with the rest of the British Isles. This book corrects previously erroneous chronology and dating; fills in gaps in knowledge about its people and how they lived; identifies a previously unknown type of Neolithic building; discovers Bluestonehenge, a circle of 25 blue stones from western Wales; and confirms what started as a hypothesis—that Stonehenge was a place of the dead—through more than 64 cremation burials unearthed there, which span the monument's use during the third millennium BC.

Su questo libro

L'autore

Mike Parker Pearson is an archaeology professor, the author of Earthly Remains, and the coauthor of If Stones Could Speak. He has carried out excavations in South Uist, Madagascar, and at Durrington Walls as part of the Stonehenge Riverside Project and has appeared in the National Geographic Channel documentary Stonehenge Decoded and in the NOVA episode "Secrets of Stonehenge."

Dalla quarta di copertina

We had stumbled upon the reason why Stonehenge is where it is.
The northeast entrance of Stonehenge is positioned at one end of a pair of natural ridges. It is not unusual for Neolithic monuments to incorporate such aspects of the natural world into their design, but what is exceptional here is that this particular natural feature, by sheer coincidence, is aligned on the solstice axis.
The natural ridges formed what anthropologists call an
axis mundi, an axis or centre of the world.
A striking and original interpretation of the awe-inspiring Stone Age site from one of the world's foremost authorities on the archaeology of death and burial, this landmark book sets out the new theory about Stonehenge's true significance: it was a monument to the ancestors, built as a symbol of political unification.

For centuries archaeologists and historians have speculated about Stonehenge's true purpose: was it a temple of the sun, a megalithic calendar, or a centre for druidic worship? The archaeological confirmation of Mike Parker Pearson's hypothesis demolishes previous theories about Stonehenge's significance, and he debunks once and for all the myths about Stonehenge's 'druidic' identity.

During seven years of work the Stonehenge Riverside Project team explored the enigmatic timber and earthen monuments that surround Stonehenge and for the first time revealed details of the lives of the Neolithic people who built the monuments. Through a combination of years of excavation, cutting-edge technology and sophisticated analysis, Parker Pearson's team has retold the story of Stonehenge, and this book will change forever the way we think about Britain's most iconic and enduring prehistoric monument.

Dettagli dell?edizione

• Editore: Simon & Schuster Ltd
• Data di pubblicazione: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0857207318
• ISBN 13: 9780857207319
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Lingua: Inglese
• Numero di pagine: 384