The Southern Station Stone points the way to Old Sarum near Salisbury. Although it is famous for being the site of the original Salisbury Cathedral, archaeologists have also found evidence here of flint tools that date back to 3000 BCE. We believe that there is a clear indication that Old Sarum was first used in the Mesolithic Period, when it was an island above the raised groundwater line, and that (as in many cases) later sites were built upon the site of this original construction. We look in-depth at this site later in this section.
The most interesting of all the original markers at Stonehenge must be the Heel Stone. The Heel Stone is slightly right of centre in the Avenue and, like two of the Station Stones, it has its own moat. If we line ourselves up with the Heel Stone from the centre of Stonehenge, it aligns with Durrington Walls and Woodhenge. Clearly, these three places would have been not only the most important neighbouring sites to Stonehenge, but a gateway to other sites and trading places in the ancient world. Next to each of the moated Station Stones, there was a gap left in the moat to allow people to cross by the stone in the direction it indicated. This no doubt led the walker along a path, now lost to us 5,000 years later, via a system of barrows, to the desired location.
The Cursus
If you draw a line from the Preseli mountain region in South Wales to Stonehenge, you will find that your line not only points to the horizon where the midsummer moon rises, but also passes a dozen ancient long barrows on the way. It leads over the far Western edge of the Cursus, past a point believed to contain yet another crescent Bluestone circle facing North West, which was first suspected by Atkinson but which has yet to be located. Now, if you do the same exercise with the direction of the summer solstice sunrise, drawing a line from the centre of Stonehenge through the Heel Stone, you will see on the horizon another long barrow which, though it has now been ploughed out, marks the other end of the Cursus.
So we have an alignment from the centre of Stonehenge to the Preseli Mountains that cuts over the Western end of the Cursus, and an alignment over the Eastern end of the Cursus to Woodhenge. If you examine the profile of this area, the Cursus cut across a valley that we have now proved was full of groundwater in the Mesolithic Period. This would have given the monument the appearance of two islands separated by a RIVER!
Proof of Hypothesis No. 31
The Cursus was created as a representation of the journey between life and the after world – on one side was a long barrow, on the other an island to represent their world, and in the middle the water. The line of the sunrise and moonset cuts through the centre of Stonehenge.
This being the case, it does not take much imagination to see that when the groundwater receded during the Neolithic Period, to maintain the water connection between the two end sites of the Cursus, they dug a ditch that encapsulated the entire region. What we see in the Cursus is a giant model of the world as our ancestors perceived it. On the Eastern side was a long barrow representing death, where the bones were stored. In between lay the water and the final journey to the afterlife. On the Western bank of the Cursus was an island, probably marked with a large standing stone, where the ancestors arrived after death, no doubt to be reborn again. What we see at the Cursus is the first sculptural artwork in the history of mankind, and the size and magnitude of this artwork gives us a clear indication of the resourcefulness and dominance of this great civilisation.
Palisade
We should not forget that Stonehenge is incredibly old, and some of its features would have been changed to adapt to the new landscape. Therefore, when the groundwater table dropped at the area of the site that is now the car park, the palisade would have failed in its function as a barrier against animals. There is clear evidence that, the palisade was extended to the elbow of the Avenue. The evidence indicates that although the number of excarnations at the site began to fall, the desire to separate the peninsula from the mainland may have continued.
PHASE III Construction – 3500 BCE to 2500 BCE
At the end of the Neolithic Period, the groundwater had subsided to almost their present levels. The large river that had existed at Stonehenge for 5,000 years, since the great Ice Age melt, was gone. The groundwater that once covered the land had moved to the surrounding seas and channels, flooding the island once called Doggerland and leaving it 30 metres under the sea. At Stonehenge, the moat had dried up and was dug out for the last time for ceremonial purposes. The tools used were left where they broke in the ditch. Archaeologists now take these tools as the basis for their incorrect dating of the site, not to when the monument was at the height of its power, but to the time when it was last used as a sacred site.
The Avenue
Once the groundwater had gone from Stonehenge Bottom, and the Avenue had become a path to nowhere, the builders clearly decided it was time for a complete makeover. They added to the original walkway a path to the River Avon, which would then have been only a few metres higher than today. The path almost turns back on itself, showing clearly that it was not all constructed at the same time, otherwise the builders would have taken a more direct route. Why they bent the path around to the South, rather than carrying on Eastwards to the River Avon much nearer Woodhenge, is again unknown and we can only speculate. If their ceremonies were still connected to boat travel, it would take a longer trip to and from Woodhenge to fulfil their need. Perhaps they had found a site for their bluestones which had a direct source of clean water.
Bluehenge
Professor Mike Parker-Pearson found, in 2008, the outline of a stone circle by the banks of the Avon next to the extended Avenue causeway. It was reported in the Daily Mail that:
“The monument has been tentatively dated to between about 3000 and 2400 BCE.”
Excavation revealed several stone settings that are thought to have been erected around 3000 BCE. It is estimated that there may have been as many as 27 stones in a circle 33 feet (10 m) wide. The name “Bluestone henge” is derived from the discovery of small stone chips in some of the stone settings. These bluestones are also found in Stonehenge and consist of a wide range of rock types originally from Pembrokeshire West Wales, some 150 miles (240 km) away. Archaeologists suspect that bluestones in the circle may have been removed around 2500 BCE and incorporated into Stonehenge, which underwent major rebuilding work at about this time.
The stone circle settings were surrounded by a henge, comprising an 82 feet (25 m) wide ditch and outer bank which appear to date from approximately 2400 BCE. Unlike Stonehenge, there do not appear to be any significant solar or lunar orientations within the monument.” There are two very relevant and interesting points about this find. Firstly, it proves our hypothesis about the use of the bluestones with water, and consequently the necessity of locating them next to the Avon. Moreover, using our hypothesis, we can date this sequence more accurately, as we know that at the time of the construction of Phase I and II of Stonehenge, the Bluehenge location was under about 30 metres of groundwater. The Bluehenge circle must, therefore, be later than Stonehenge in date. What Bluehenge clearly indicates is that the Stonehenge area continued to be used as a centre for healing the sick even into the Iron Age, but provided its healing treatments at an associated location connected by the Avenue.
Round Barrow Alignments
As we have already stated, the archaeologist Alfred Watkins noticed that some ancient sites and barrows were in alignment with one another. We have noticed that Stonehenge’s three moated stones are aligned to three of the most important sites in the area: Avebury, Old Sarum, and Durrington Walls and Woodhenge. Further investigation has led us to believe that more alignments occur with round barrows over land. This would have been the only sensible way for prehistoric man to navigate over land, as maps had yet to be discovered, and we know that all ancient civilisations used points on the horizon as reference points. This would also explain why not all barrows contain skeletal remains.
PHASE IV Construction – 2500 BCE to 1500 BCE
Bluehenge
Even after moving the bluestones down the valley to the Avon, it seems that Bluehenge was abandoned not long after its construction. Perhaps the waters of the Avon flooded the location, or the knowledge of how the stones cured the sick was lost or superseded. It is likely that the stones were either returned to Stonehenge, or broken up and used for building during the Roman or Medieval period.
Heel Stone Alignment
During the later part of Stonehenge’s prehistory, it lost its initial function as a mortuary, as our ancestors beliefs changed and burial practices altered from excarnation to burial. They still, however, needed a monument to reflect the voyage to the afterlife. At some time in the Iron Age, or after the groundwater had dried up, the Heel Stone that once indicated the passage to the old rebirth site at Woodhenge was moved to align with the sunrise. It was deliberately tilted slightly over the course of time, to match the changes in sunrise direction caused by the very slow movement of the Earth’s axis, so that the midsummer sun rose from behind the stone.
Chapter 14 - Old Sarum - the missing link (Case Study no.2)
If we use the Southern Station Stone as a direction marker from Stonehenge, it points South by South East. If we then follow the line on a map of our Mesolithic landscape, showing the raised groundwater tables, we find that it points to an amazing site just 10 km away from Stonehenge: an island in the middle of a very large waterway. This island would be found quite easily by boat. But even so, we have found that barrows and sites serve as markers on the shoreline, to allow boats to navigate to this island from Stonehenge even at night or in bad weather.
The positioning of this site is most interesting, as it lies very close to the Channel which would have taken boats off to the continent. It is quite possible that this was Britain’s first sea port, as it seems to be the last known occupied Mesolithic island. If so, it would have been one of the most important sites not only in Britain but in what we call Europe, as it would have been involved in nearly all Mesolithic imports and exports to and from France, Spain and the Mediterranean countries.
Mesolithic Old Sarum showing it was an island
The island of Sarum would have been a magnificent site, sitting in a huge river as wide as the eye could see. At the time of Phase I of Stonehenge’s construction, the groundwater around Sarum would have reached higher than the outer ditches we see at Old Sarum today. This gives us our first clue as to when the ditches were constructed, as it would be an impossible task to dig ditches if the area flooded twice daily. It also explains one of the anomalies at Old Sarum, a large deep ditch in the South of the site that serves no defensive purpose and was originally believed to be an old landslide.
When our Mesolithic groundwater is introduced, this feature is flooded and becomes an ideal mooring station for boats. The hollow is huge, and could have harboured 40 to 50 small boats or a couple of 20 metre ships! There seems to be another similar, somewhat smaller, feature to the North West of the island. The lack of detailed excavations of this site prevents us from offering further archaeological proof of our hypothesis. Current theories on this site speculate that the central moat was dug for the motte-and-bailey castle that stands there today, but without firm evidence this is just guesswork.
Proof of Hypothesis No. 32
The depressions to the North and South of Old Sarum show that, in Mesolithic times, these features were used as harbours on the island that was Old Sarum.
Looking at this island in Mesolithic times, the raised groundwater tables would have filled the original inner ditch, which is some 7 metres deep, in the same way as the moat that surrounded Stonehenge in Phase I of its construction. We therefore suggest that the moat was first dug in the Mesolithic Period. The Romans, and then the Normans, would have used the existing moat or enhanced it for their own requirements. The current archaeological belief that the Romans or the Normans dug the ditch does not stand up to scrutiny, as the outer ditch already existed at the site during their occupation, and it would have been simpler and cheaper for them to use the existing structure than to ignore it and make another.
The site at Old Sarum is much bigger than Stonehenge, and is of a similar size to Avebury. One can only guess at what would have been in the centre of the Mesolithic island. From the amount of reused Sarsen stone found in the remains of the Norman castle and the original cathedral, we can infer that a megalithic structure like Stonehenge or Avebury stood at Sarum during prehistoric times. If you extend a line from the centre of the motte-and-bailey at Old Sarum through the centre of the church (the original Salisbury Cathedral), it points to Stonehenge.
Churches built on prehistoric sites are not uncommon. There are many instances of pagan religions crushed by Christianity taking over their sacred sites and using the stone circles as building material for their churches. So, we believe that in prehistory three stone circles existed at Sarum: one large outer circle and two smaller inner circles, indicating the way to Stonehenge. Later, as the groundwater fell, our ancestors built Sarum’s outer banks to keep their sacred site an island. At Avebury, a similar configuration can be seen, with two smaller stone rings inside the large ring that borders the outer moat.
Boat route from Stonehnge to Old Sarum - showing shoreline barrows
In the Neolithic Period, the groundwater table dropped by about 10 m, and the island of Sarum was joined to the mainland by a peninsula. Our ancestors therefore built giant ditches 12 m deep, to keep the site surrounded by groundwater. The Southern and Northern mooring-points could no longer be used, as the groundwater had receded too far, so the Neolithic people created a new landing point to the West. They left a gap in the huge ditch, so that people and goods could enter the island; this would have looked very much like a bridge across the water.
At the end of this footpath, they built another mooring station that protruded from the edge of the moat like a peninsula, so that boats could be moored safely around the feature. For some bizarre reason known only to early archaeologists, the platform is shown on some maps as a Roman road connected to a road some 200 metres away on the West side of the island. Unfortunately, for that theory to be correct would take a leap of faith and nature. The landing platform, which is shown as a lumpy protrusion on maps, has a 1:2 slope, with a vertical drop of over 30 metres. I would suggest that a Roman horse and cart would not be an advisable means of transport for this terrain unless they were equipped with ABS brakes and a parachute!
Proof of Hypothesis No. 33
The inner ditch at Old Sarum is of a size and depth that would only fill with water if the water table were 30 m higher than today. This height matches the shoreline of our hypothesis.
The historical record does give us some clues to Old Sarum’s deeper past and the ways in which the groundwater that surrounded the island dictated its history. The original Salisbury Cathedral was built here, only to be moved down to the valley a few hundred years later. Can you guess the reason for the move? That’s right, the lack of water! It seems that even over the cathedral’s brief history at Old Sarum, the groundwater continued to subside. As this story is well known, why did no-one wonder how deep the rivers might have been thousands of years ago?
The Maths
Currently, the groundwater table around Old Sarum is 56.5 m above sea level. The well in the Norman fort is 70 m deep from an altitude of 130 m, which shows that the groundwater is today 3.5 m below the Norman well. Therefore, the groundwater table in 1000 AD - when the well was first constructed - must have been at least 60 m, so in 1,000 years the groundwater has fallen 3.5 m. If we multiply this thousand-year drop in groundwater table by 9, then add 56.5 m to account for the existing groundwater table, we can estimate the groundwater table 9,000 years ago, i.e. in 7000 BCE. That would make the groundwater table (9 x 3.5 m) + 56.5 m = 88 m.
The outer banks of Old Sarum are 89 m above sea level – close enough, I think!
Proof of Hypothesis No. 34
The history of Old Sarum shows that the water table dictates the uses and fun
ctions of the prehistoric island. If we look at the receding water levels at Old Sarum when Salisbury Cathedral was abandoned, we can reverse engineer the water levels during the Mesolithic Period – they match our hypothesis.
Chapter 15 - Avebury - the oldest of them all (Case Study No.3)
The Northern Station Stone of Stonehenge is in direct alignment between the centre of the Circle and Avebury.
Avebury lies in an area of chalkland in the Upper Kennet Valley, at the Western end of the Berkshire Downs, which forms the catchment for the River Kennet and supports local springs and seasonal watercourses. The monument stands slightly above the local landscape, sitting on a low chalk ridge 160 m (520 ft) above sea level; to the East are the Marlborough Downs, an area of lowland hills. Archaeologists freely admit that the history of Avebury before the construction of the henge is uncertain, because little datable evidence has emerged from modern excavations. But stray finds of flints at Avebury, dated between 7000 and 4000 BCE, indicate that the site was visited in the late Mesolithic Period.
The Stonehenge Enigma (Prehistoric Britain Book 1) Page 14
