Talk:Theories about Stonehenge

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I would like to ask about what the astronomical meaning of stonehenge is. There are to be many beliefs about why they built it, but i would like to know what you think.

What I think is irrelevant - what Alexander Thom thinks probably is relevant. This page is for discussing how to improve the article; it's not a webforum or anything like that, sorry. Totnesmartin 20:21, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Geoffrey of Monmouth

Geoffrey of Monmouth's account (theory) is outlined in further detail at the main Stonehenge page than it is here. 72.8.96.166 09:00, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Mike Parker Pearson's work with Ramilisonina

Need citations for Mike Parker Pearson's work with Ramilisonina - They are one of the few who made the connection with nearby Woodhenge, and the symbolism of stone/timber with dead/living. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Fuqueue (talk • contribs) 05:02, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

Have you seen this article by Mike Pitts? http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/Ant/077/0172/Ant0770172.pdf ? I don't have access to this one, but it looks like what you want: http://mcu.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/11/1-2/227

On his staff web page [1] Parker-Pearson writes "In 1998 my Malagasy colleague Ramilisonina and I visited Stonehenge and Avebury and developed a new theory about the purpose of these and other stone circles in Britain. Our story is told in Mike Pitts' book Hengeworld (Arrow Books 2000) and Francis Pryor's book Britain BC (Harper Collins 2003). The theory has a number of implications which can be investigated through fieldwork; one of these is that Stonehenge was linked via 'avenues' and the River Avon to a Neolithic monument with timber circles at Durrington Walls (and Woodhenge) as part of a larger complex in which the passage from wood to stone acted as a metaphor for the conduct of funerary rites and ancestor ceremonies along the axis of the river."

And there is this: http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/Ant/081/0617/ant0810617.pdf Apologies if the Antiquity links don't work for you, I may be signed in but some of their stuff is free and at the moment I can't tell which is which.Doug Weller (talk) 08:34, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Secular Calendar Theory

The Secular Calendar Theory in the main article appears to contain elements of impractical conjecture and it needs, either, more detailed explanation to maintain it's credibility, or a note highlighting it's limitations as a theory. Broadly, the theory fails to explain why precise calendar dates would be needed for the purposes stated - in the context of time and place. ( In the case of agriculture, which was given as one example - picture a neolithic farmer contemplating his frozen field on an unseasonally frigid March day. A messenger arrives from Stonehenge with instructions from the priests that it is now time to begin planting. It wouldn't require much imagination to guess what the farmer's answer would be!)

There is archaeological evidence which points to the fact that southern England continued to have a thriving agricultural economy, long after Stonehenge and related structures had fallen into disarray. The secular calendar theory fails to account for this. sgn J. Fowler —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.10.72.244 (talk) 13:27, 25 April 2008 (UTC)