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The Underground Secrets of Stonehenge

hey let the Druids in once a year to celebrate thee Solstice and they let Obama in last week.
 
FromBelgiumWithLove said:
Thanks for that. I haven't even watched all of it yet, but it's highly amusing so far. One of the things that makes me laugh is that the scientists who are supposed to be merely sitting at computers are dressed up in white lab coats. Why? And the recreations of Stonehenge look about as realistic as what I tried to make myself out of styrofoam, glue, and paint, to accompany my Playmobil stone age people. (I gave up on the project mostly for lack of storage space. The box with the two different Playmo Stone Age tribes, the sabre-tooth tigers, the cave bears, the mammoths, etc., was already pretty much full.)
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If the PCs are in a lab that dictates wearing lab coats, gloves, glasses, etc. because others in the labs are handling raw samples or toxic chemicals, the fair does.

They don't try to make the images in detail because there's little evidence to estimate the civil engineering involved above-ground .
 
My siblings and I were taken there one summer holiday (early 1950s) and we could wander around at will. If I remember correctly, we sat on the altar stone to have our picnic! I heard an archaeologist on radio (BBC Five Live) during the night who was talking about a series of stones about 3 metres long deep underground. As the land is chalk, I wonder how the land has been able to layer chalk on top. Does anyone have a link I could follow to learn more?
 
If we're going to reconstruct when Stonehenge was closed off to public - I visited it the first time in 1976, and then you could walk freely around the stones. When I visited the second time in 1990, the circle was closed off.
 
ddt said:
If we're going to reconstruct when Stonehenge was closed off to public - I visited it the first time in 1976, and then you could walk freely around the stones. When I visited the second time in 1990, the circle was closed off.
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From Wikipedia:
When Stonehenge was first opened to the public it was possible to walk among and even climb on the stones, but the stones were roped off in 1977 as a result of serious erosion. Visitors are no longer permitted to touch the stones, but are able to walk around the monument from a short distance away. English Heritage does, however, permit access during the summer and winter solstice, and the spring and autumn equinox. Additionally, visitors can make special bookings to access the stones throughout the year.
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I just watched the second part of 'Operation Stonehenge', and it was just as good as the first. By telling the story of the area, the programme gives the archaeological discoveries a context that makes them even more impressive. I won't spoil the episode for those who haven't seen it yet, but I have to share a quote (probably slightly paraphrased. Sorry) about the people who designed and built Stonehenge itself:-

"They displayed a deep knowledge and understanding of geometry, two millenia before the Greeks defined the word 'Mathematics' "

Truly marvellous stuff.
 
I watched the first episode on iPlayer last night while Mrs Don was off am-dramming. It was fascinating. I hope she has another rehearsal before the second episode disappears from iPlayer.
 
The Don said:
I watched the first episode on iPlayer last night while Mrs Don was off am-dramming. It was fascinating. I hope she has another rehearsal before the second episode disappears from iPlayer.
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Don't know if I'm telling you something you already know, but if you download it (e.g. to iPad or phone) you get it for 30 days - once you start watching you've then got 7 days to finish it before it expires
 
DrDave said:
Don't know if I'm telling you something you already know, but if you download it (e.g. to iPad or phone) you get it for 30 days - once you start watching you've then got 7 days to finish it before it expires
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Thank you, yes I knew that but I prefer to watch it on the TV using the Youview box. I slacked off from work this afternoon and watched the second installment, glad I did.
 
The second programme was on BBC 2 yesterday evening - very interesting. The artist, willard something or other said that it must have been children who did the very fine work, but I remember reading something ages ago that it could have been short-sighted people. Myopia must have had some evolutionary survival value I think.
 
SusanB-M1 said:
My siblings and I were taken there one summer holiday (early 1950s) and we could wander around at will. If I remember correctly, we sat on the altar stone to have our picnic! I heard an archaeologist on radio (BBC Five Live) during the night who was talking about a series of stones about 3 metres long deep underground. As the land is chalk, I wonder how the land has been able to layer chalk on top. Does anyone have a link I could follow to learn more?
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how lucky were you? did you have the sense of being somewhere amazing?
 
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Renmarkable said:
how lucky were you? did you have the sense of being somewhere amazing?
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Oh yes; just to think I was looking at stones which had been there for about 4,000 years was amazing. In a similar way, in 1963 I was standing in the King's Chamber of the Great Pyramid and, for a few minutes, was alone. On both occasions, I hasten to add, I did not suffer any delusions about spooky, ghostly spirits or anything!
 
Smithsonian Channel has a two hour program (tagged 2014) starting in a few minutes. Can't find any details. Dueling research projects? :p

It's repeated tomorrow at least so I'll either watch or record it.
 
azzthom said:
I just watched the second part of 'Operation Stonehenge', and it was just as good as the first. By telling the story of the area, the programme gives the archaeological discoveries a context that makes them even more impressive. I won't spoil the episode for those who haven't seen it yet, but I have to share a quote (probably slightly paraphrased. Sorry) about the people who designed and built Stonehenge itself:-

"They displayed a deep knowledge and understanding of geometry, two millenia before the Greeks defined the word 'Mathematics' "

Truly marvellous stuff.
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You got the quote right or at least damn close, the Smithsonian program had that exact quote.

I'll guess for now, they licensed the BBC content and put a famous American narrator over it (I recognize the voice but don't know the name... not Richard Kiley :p).

A tremendous amount of new info to flesh out the history of the area.

Two superficial things stood out... the craftsmanship of the gold artifacts found in one of the late burial mounds and the beautiful CGI representation of how Stonehenge itself would have appeared when new, completed and gleaming white. :)
 
You will find that BBC progs like this are made to fit in with US ad schedules. You don't get any less than us. They used to run for an hour but now they run for 45 - 50 mins on UK TV.
What has happened with some of the Wildlife shows is tey stick a short 10 minute prog on the end in the UK showing how they did some of the filming or somesuch to make up the time
 
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