http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080529/ap_on_sc/sci_stonehenge

I actually have a scale model of Stonehenge (as it was, not as it is now) sitting on my desk.

So, what should I have appear in the middle of it?

Stoneunhinged, of course.

Bill

A coca cola neon sign

Actually, they've just released the results of some new archaeological excavations, and it seems that Stonehenge was built on the site of an even more ancient cemetery!

Now, if that doesn't give you bizzarists some ideas, I don't know what will.

http://news.cnet.com/2300-1008_3-6240627-1.html

What I find fascinating is that this was going on at roughly the same time as the pyramid-building in the Old Kingdom... and that there are theories that the pyramids (especially the Great Pyramid) were aligned so they could serve as observatories. What was it with those ancient people, building all that stuff out of huge stone blocks?

George, they had to use stone blocks, Legos had not been invented yet.

It really was the first time that there were lasting structures on earth. No animal before had ever done it. It occurred to man - "How will they know I was here? How will they know I was different? How will they know I lived an incredible life and learned marvelous secrets?"

We have certainly continued the tradition with our buildings and skyscrapers.

In the case of Stonehenge and the other stone rings found in the UK, they were originally groves of tall trees, but trees die and fall down. The wood structures that replaced them attract termites and can burn down (they likes big bonfires in those days). So the stone was a more permanent solution to keep your solar observatory in alignment over the centuries. Gradually the trees got used up for ship building, so today the stones stand pretty much alone out in bare fields.

I got all that from the research Jim Gerrish did for his mystery novel "Master of Ceremonies", which, by the way, is available on my site. The final scene takes place in a modern day urban stone circle.

Actually, the latest theory (and some archaeological dating tests) places the time of the wooden circles and the stone circles as roughly the same period. While the earliest wooden circles may have been groves of trees, there is very strong evidence that Stonehenge and a wooden circle roughly a day's walk from it up the Avon were linked ceremonially.

Dr. Michael Parker-Pearson has found that by reconstructing the old woodhenge up the river from Stonehenge, the solstice sunrises and settings correspond to one another. So, when they had the ceremony of distributing the ashes of the dead in the river, the ceremony would start at one circle and end in the other. There was an excellent program on NGO about this a week ago.

Also fairly well squashed the theory that the stones came from Wales. The sarsens actually came from about 25 miles away, so even though it was a mammoth task, the circle was built far more rapidly than had been thought.

The name of the special is "Stonehenge Decoded." Watch for it on your local cable channels. It is definitely a keeper.