Stonehenge may have been pilgrimage site for sick

In this Monday March 31, 2008 file photo, archaeology students Steve Bush, right, and Sam Ferguson, left, sieve through earth amongst the stones at Stonehenge, England.

Archaeologists probing the secrets of Stonehenge, Britain's most famous prehistoric monument, said on Monday it may have been an ancient pilgrimage site for the sick who believed its stones had healing qualities.

It has always been a mystery why bluestones, the smaller stones that form part of the circle, were transported around 155 miles from Preseli Hills in Wales to Wiltshire in southern England.

Archaeologists from Bournemouth University, who carried out the dig in April -- the first at Stonehenge since 1964 -- believe the bluestones were revered as healing stones.

"It was the magical qualities of these stones which ... transformed the monument and made it a place of pilgrimage for the sick and injured of the Neolithic world," a statement from the archaeologist team said.

Geoffrey Wainwright, president of the Society of Antiquaries of London and one of the experts leading the work, told BBC radio that one reason which lead to the conclusion was because a number of the burials around Stonehenge showed signs of trauma and deformity.

The archaeologists said in the statement that radio-carbon dating put the construction of the circle of bluestones at between 2,400 B.C. and 2,200 B.C., a few centuries later than originally thought.

But they found fragments of charcoal dating from before 7,000 B.C., showing humans were active in the area much earlier than previously thought.

During the excavation at the World Heritage Site on Salisbury Plain, the researchers also found a beaker pottery fragment, Roman ceramics and ancient stone hammers.

"We now know, much to our surprise and delight, that Stonehenge was not just a prehistoric monument, it was a Roman and mediaeval monument," said Wainwright.

Another of the team leaders, Tim Darvill of Bournemouth University, said the bluestones appeared central to the purpose of Stonehenge although it may have had more than one function.

Other theories about Stonehenge are that it was a religious site or that it acted as a calendar.

考古學(xué)家們于本周一公布，英國最著名的史前遺址巨石陣可能是古代病人的朝圣地。據(jù)推測，巨石陣的石頭可能被史前人類當(dāng)作是具有治療功效的幸運(yùn)石。

長期以來，人們一直很困惑，為什么巨石陣?yán)锏囊环N藍(lán)色小石頭是從155英里以外的威爾士普利斯里山運(yùn)到英格蘭南部威爾特郡這里的。

伯恩茅斯大學(xué)的考古學(xué)家們推測，可能當(dāng)時(shí)的人們信奉這些藍(lán)色的石頭具有神奇療效。考古學(xué)家于今年4月對史前巨石陣進(jìn)行了自1964年以來的首次發(fā)掘。

該考古小組在一份聲明中說：“巨石陣曾經(jīng)可能只是個(gè)紀(jì)念碑，但這些具有魔力的石頭被搬來之后，這里就變成了新時(shí)器時(shí)代傷病者的朝圣地。”

倫敦古文物學(xué)會(huì)主席、考古小組專家杰弗里•韋恩萊特在接受BBC廣播的采訪時(shí)說，得出這一結(jié)論的其中一個(gè)根據(jù)就是，巨石陣附近埋葬了很多傷殘者。

考古學(xué)家在一份聲明中說，經(jīng)放射性碳測年法鑒定，環(huán)形巨石陣應(yīng)該建造于公元前2400年至公元前2200年之間，比之前的推測晚了幾百年。

但考古學(xué)家還在此發(fā)現(xiàn)了公元前七千年前的木炭碎片，這說明在更早的時(shí)期已有人類活躍在這一地帶。

考古人員還在發(fā)掘過程中發(fā)現(xiàn)了大口陶器杯的碎片、古羅馬陶器以及古石錘。位于索爾茲伯里平原的史前巨石陣已被列入世界文化遺址。

韋恩萊特說：“現(xiàn)在我們知道了，巨石陣不僅是史前的紀(jì)念碑，也是古羅馬和中世紀(jì)時(shí)期的祭壇，這個(gè)發(fā)現(xiàn)讓我們十分驚喜。”

考古小組的另一位專家、伯恩茅斯大學(xué)的蒂姆•達(dá)維爾說，巨石陣可能有多種功能，但藍(lán)色小石頭應(yīng)該是其功能的一個(gè)重要體現(xiàn)。

其它理論認(rèn)為，巨石陣曾是個(gè)宗教場所或是一個(gè)日歷等等。