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Aubrey Holes
The Aubrey holes are a ring of fifty-six (56) chalk pits at Stonehenge, named after the seventeenth-century antiquarian John Aubrey. They date to the earliest phases of Stonehenge in the late fourth and early third millennium BC. Despite decades of argument and analysis, their purpose is still unknown, although an astronomical role has often been suggested. Whilst visiting the monument in 1666, Aubrey noticed five circular cavities in the ground and noted them in his records. These features were ignored or not seen by the later antiquarians to investigate the site, and it was not until the 1920s during the work carried out by Colonel William Hawley that Hawley's assistant Robert Newall identified a ring of pits he named in honour of Aubrey and his early survey. The depressions seen by Aubrey himself are more likely to have been different features from those that now bear his name. Mike Pitts in a 1981 article in ''Nature'' pointed out that the holes had been backfilled thousa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Standard Deviation
In statistics, the standard deviation is a measure of the amount of variation or dispersion of a set of values. A low standard deviation indicates that the values tend to be close to the mean (also called the expected value) of the set, while a high standard deviation indicates that the values are spread out over a wider range. Standard deviation may be abbreviated SD, and is most commonly represented in mathematical texts and equations by the lower case Greek letter σ (sigma), for the population standard deviation, or the Latin letter '' s'', for the sample standard deviation. The standard deviation of a random variable, sample, statistical population, data set, or probability distribution is the square root of its variance. It is algebraically simpler, though in practice less robust, than the average absolute deviation. A useful property of the standard deviation is that, unlike the variance, it is expressed in the same unit as the data. The standard deviation of a popu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bluestone
Bluestone is a cultural or commercial name for a number of dimension or building stone varieties, including: * basalt in Victoria, Australia, and in New Zealand * dolerites in Tasmania, Australia; and in Britain (including Stonehenge) * feldspathic sandstone in the US and Canada * limestone in the Shenandoah Valley in the US, from the Hainaut quarries in Soignies, Belgium, and from quarries in County Carlow, County Galway and County Kilkenny in Ireland * slate in South Australia Stonehenge The term "bluestone" in Britain is used in a loose sense to cover all of the "foreign," not intrinsic, stones and rock debris at Stonehenge. It is a "convenience" label rather than a geological term, since at least 46 different rock types are represented. One of the most common rocks in the assemblage is known as Preseli Spotted Dolerite—a chemically altered igneous rock containing spots or clusters of secondary minerals replacing plagioclase feldspar. It is a medium grained dark and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julian C
Julian may refer to: People * Julian (emperor) (331–363), Roman emperor from 361 to 363 * Julian (Rome), referring to the Roman gens Julia, with imperial dynasty offshoots * Saint Julian (other), several Christian saints * Julian (given name), people with the given name Julian * Julian (surname), people with the surname Julian * Julian (singer), Russian pop singer Places * Julian, California, a census-designated place in San Diego County * Julian, Kansas, an unincorporated community in Stanton County * Julian, Nebraska, a village in Nemaha County * Julian, North Carolina, a census-designated place in Guilford County * Julian, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Centre County * Julian, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in Boone County Other uses * ''Julian'' (album), a 1976 album by Pepper Adams * ''Julian'' (novel), a 1964 novel by Gore Vidal about the emperor * Julian (geology), a substage of the Carnian stage of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Parker Pearson
Michael Parker Pearson, (born 26 June 1957) is an English archaeologist specialising in the study of the Neolithic British Isles, Madagascar and the archaeology of death and burial. A professor at the UCL Institute of Archaeology, he previously worked for 25 years as a professor at the University of Sheffield in England, and was the director of the Stonehenge Riverside Project. A prolific author, he has also written a variety of books on the subject. A media personality, Parker Pearson has appeared several times in the Channel 4 show ''Time Team'' in particular in one looking at the excavation of Durrington Walls in Wiltshire. He also appeared in the National Geographic Channel documentary ''Stonehenge Decoded'', along with the PBS programme ''Nova: Secrets of Stonehenge''. Early life and education Parker Pearson was born in 1957. He would later inform interviewers that he first took an interest in the past when searching for fossils in his father's driveway gravel aged 4, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stonehenge In Its Landscape
''Stonehenge in its landscape: Twentieth century excavations'' by Rosamund M. J. Cleal, Karen E. Walker and Rebecca Montague is an archaeological report on Stonehenge published in 1995. It presented the results of a two-year intensive study of all the known records of the various excavations at Stonehenge in the twentieth century, including a rephasing of the development of the monument. Unlike popular books on the subject, ''Stonehenge in its landscape'' details the complex archaeological stratigraphy of the site. It has been described as "an essential reference work for the specialist". Origins In 1993, both the setting and the presentation of Stonehenge was described as "a national disgrace" by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee. The criticisms were several: two major roads ran close to the monument, one of which cut the processional Avenue; a large car park lay nearby; the pedestrian access to the monument was via a shabby underpass, and the visitor facilities w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that it uses these properties to "bring the story of England to life for over 10 million people each year". Within its portfolio are Stonehenge, Dover Castle, Tintagel Castle and the best preserved parts of Hadrian's Wall. English Heritage also manages the London Blue Plaque scheme, which links influential historical figures to particular buildings. When originally formed in 1983, English Heritage was the operating name of an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government, officially titled the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England, that ran the national system of heritage protection and managed a range of historic properties. It was created to combine the roles of existing bodies that had emerged from a long ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Postpipe
A postpipe or post pipe is the remains of an upright timber placed in a posthole. Given the right conditions, timbers may survive over long periods of time and a recovered postpipe can be of solid wood. Under less preservative conditions, only a dark circular stain of organic material may be left in the fill of the posthole observable in plan and section. This differs in consistency from the less organic backfill of the posthole and can be identified through this change in makeup. The size and depth and of the postpipe can provide information as to any reuse of the posthole especially if several different postpipes can be identified. They can also indicate the species of wood used and help suggest the nature of the structure that the timber once supported. See also *Excavation (archaeology) In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woodhenge
Woodhenge is a Neolithic Class II henge and timber circle monument within the Stonehenge World Heritage Site in Wiltshire, England. It is north-east of Stonehenge, in Durrington parish, just north of the town of Amesbury. Discovery Woodhenge was believed to be identified from an aerial photograph taken by Squadron Leader (later group captain) Gilbert Insall, VC, in 1926, during the same period that an aerial archaeology survey of Wessex by Alexander Keiller and OGS Crawford (Archaeology Officer for the Ordnance Survey) was being undertaken. Although some sources attribute the identification of the henge to Crawford, Che credits the discovery to Insall. In fact, the site had been previously found in the early 19th century, when it was described as an earthwork and thought to be a disc barrow. It was originally called "Dough Cover". A professional excavation of the site was undertaken between 1926 and 1929 by Maud Cunnington and B.H. Cunnington. They confirmed that it was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Timber Circle
In archaeology, timber circles are rings of upright wooden posts, built mainly by ancient peoples in the British Isles and North America. They survive only as gapped rings of post-holes, with no evidence they formed walls, making them distinct from palisades. Like stone circles, it is believed their purpose was ritual, ceremonial, and/or astronomical. British Isles Timber circles in the British Isles date to the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. The posts themselves have long since disappeared and the sites are identified from the rings of postholes that they stood in. Aerial photography and geophysical survey have led to the discovery of increasing numbers of the features. Often a postpipe survives in the posthole fill aiding diagnosis. They are usually more than , and up to , in diameter and the posts that constituted them were generally more than wide. Often they consist of at least two rings or ovals of timber posts, although some consist of only one ring. Wider gaps bet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Posthole
In archaeology a posthole or post-hole is a cut feature used to hold a surface timber or stone. They are usually much deeper than they are wide; however, truncation may not make this apparent. Although the remains of the timber may survive, most postholes are mainly recognisable as circular patches of darker earth when viewed in plan. Archaeologists can use their presence to plot the layout of former structures, as the holes may define its corners and sides. Construction using postholes is known as earthfast or post in ground construction. Parts of a posthole Although a very common structure, and one of the most basic found in archaeology, correct interpretation relies on being able to tell the often subtle differences that distinguish the parts of the posthole. The components of an archaeological posthole are listed in order of creation and, in ideal circumstances, the reverse order of their excavation. ;Posthole cut This is the cut that formed the hole. It is cut from the ground ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heelstone
The Heel Stone is a single large block of sarsen stone standing within the Avenue outside the entrance of the Stonehenge earthwork in Wiltshire, England. In section it is sub-rectangular, with a minimum thickness of , rising to a tapered top about high. Excavation has shown that a further is buried in the ground. It is from the centre of Stonehenge circle. It leans towards the southwest nearly 27 degrees from the vertical. The stone has an overall girth of and weighs about 35 tons. It is surrounded by the Heelstone Ditch. Myths and legends of the Devil striking a "Friar's Heel" with a stone resulted in its eccentric name, ''Heel Stone''. Some claim "Friar's Heel" is a corruption of "Freyja's He-ol" or "Freyja Sul", from the Nordic goddess Freyja and (allegedly) the Welsh words for "way" and "Sunday" respectively. It is doubtful whether any prehistoric standing stone has experienced as many name changes and interpretations. Only in the past three decades have scientists ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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