This was from early years messing about in the Kindergarten sandpit trying to replicate the structures with wooden building blocks, in Junior grade there was learning about how and why it was built by our distant ancestors.
At Secondary level it was more watching of TV programmes on the school channel and as a Senior reading an endless succession of books and articles in the classroom or as part of the dreaded homework.
Stonehenge assumed in this way a great mystical and fantastical personality, if dressed stones can be given humanesque characteristics and I could only hope that one day I would actually get to see the circle of standing stones for myself.
Although only a few hundred miles away from my childhood home it was well into my teenage years before a road trip as part of our family holiday passed within visiting range of Stonehenge.
My excitement and anticipation at the prospect of seeing Stonehenge was unbearable but was immediately defused and deflated by the rather small and quite underwhelming arrangement of pillars and lintels in the squinty near distance.
Yes, it is a monument unlike any other in the known world.
Yes, those who erected it showed skill and determination as well as a bit of cosmic know-how in its alignment to the sunrise of the summer solstice and the sunset at the same period in the winter.
I spite of this crushing disappointment I have continued to have an interest in all things ancient and historical into my adult years.
With the wisdom of age I have become altogether more cynical and analytical of what I took for granted in my formative years. That can be a good thing especially in the culture of fake news and misinformation that we find ourselves exposed to now but at the same time a bit demoralising as long held beliefs and understandings are shown to be less than the genuine truth.
It is however a measure of our own intelligence and rationality that things can be re-visited and seen for what they are.
For example, in context the construction of Stonehenge from around 2500 BC was at the same time as the building of the Great Pyramid of Giza, the formation of some of the great cities of the ancient world, the rise of major Civilisations and the development of crude but life changing (for the peoples of that time)technology and practices in agriculture, learning and culture.
Dragging some of the Stonehenge monoliths from the depths of Wales was a major feat but don't you think it pales into insignificance when put alongside what was going on in other parts of the known world?
I now able to comprehend that this effort says quite a bit about our predecessors in their outlook and ambitions.
We cannot appreciate their mindset which was one of trying to survive in a wild and hostile environment.
Matters will have been further complicated by superstitions, and practices that to our own sensibilities were barbaric, cruel and terrifying.
Their own territory was defined by and confined to a single valley or hillside.
It was a case of subsistence living, hunter gathering and foraging.
Life expectancy was at best into the 20's and that would require more luck than good fortune in such a dangerous existence where a minor accident or innocuous injury could often as not prove fatal
It is hard for us to imagine the fear and trepidation from natural events such as an eclipse or the sight of a shooting star or comet across a dark night sky.
Having reflected on all of this I can see that Stonehenge was actually a big deal.
In terms of materials and methods of that era it represented the equivalent of a Moon Landing.
If I'm passing that bit of Wiltshire any time in the coming years I might just go and have another look at Stonehenge and put aside my prejudices and ignorance.
No comments:
Post a Comment