Stonehenge: Neolithic Man and the Cosmos

Stonehenge: Neolithic Man and the Cosmos
John North

‘The clearest and most detailed account of Stonehenge for a generation.’ Mail on SundayJohn North’s extraordinary book finally solves the riddle of Stonehenge.How? By carefully reassessing the archaeological evidence and reconstructing the heavens as they would have appeared thousands of years ago.As well as considering Stonehenge, John North draws evidence from prehistoric remains throughout Britain and northern Europe – the stone circles at Avebury, the White Horse at Uffington, the Long Man of Wilmington in Sussex and the long barrows which are dotted over southern England.He shows how all these pieces fit together to establish the function of the stones themselves and what we can know of the religion that caused them to be erected in the first place.

COPYRIGHT (#ulink_f8ba318e-ffc7-52c2-aac3-b175959e41ce)

William Collins

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First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 1996

Copyright © John North 1996

John North asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9780002558501

Ebook Edition © JUNE 2016 ISBN: 9780008192167

Version: 2016-10-06

PRAISE (#ulink_c024d295-8eee-58cb-a67c-3b9172b6cebf)

Further praise for Stonehenge:

‘North has many ingenious new proposals … the leading title for scientists who take an interest in archaeology.’

CHRISTOPHER CHIPPENDALE, New Scientist

‘Professor North is a distinguished historian of science teaching in the Netherlands, and therefore also a historian of past ideas and beliefs … He is the right kind of person to be involved in these immensely taxing enquiries and can alone offer fresh understandings of what may have driven and coloured Neolithic activity … The book’s length partly reflects the author’s successful intent to provide explanations in near-plain language. Occasionally the prose seems quite lyrical … I suspect we shall never know what certain phases of Stonehenge were really designed for, and the same goes for some of the less intricate monuments in that region, but I also now suspect that John North is nudging us with considerable skill in the only credible direction.’

CHARLES THOMAS, Literary Review

‘Stonehenge covers years of study by an eminent historian of science, and pays meticulous attention to archaeological surveys, ancient knowledge of the heavens and other prehistoric remains in Britain and northern Europe.’

Hampstead and Highgate Express

DEDICATION (#ulink_ad2b3f61-9514-5fb5-b9ec-d4f6a63d1930)

TO

MARION

CONTENTS

COVER (#u1fb5b172-965f-511c-ba13-1d9aaf56b24b)

TITLE PAGE (#u3a88fedf-8395-5157-a75c-212dc4d6607b)

COPYRIGHT (#ulink_d42cb4c5-2e4f-5750-9d6b-6e0de084be42)

PRAISE (#ulink_8b671ec2-fd9e-5015-9de2-7ac09ff9a909)

DEDICATION (#ulink_085e4e56-420f-5f17-9f11-43f6c8f4a613)

LIST OF FIGURES (#ulink_9200d1d5-3d72-5202-8751-c85eee0a7167)

GLOSSARY (#ulink_22822e32-8ac4-50ea-98e5-d44df3559d10)

PREFACE (#ulink_62d75534-7a5d-5ca8-a320-1fee62f2cc8c)

CHRONOLOGY (#ulink_092cf6eb-a0c3-5302-8efa-337c1f1ffb56)

1 INTRODUCTION (#ulink_f6518a58-0a71-5168-8a3b-ee8ad4fc14d0)

The People (#ulink_769a5d19-f74d-5f06-aea2-aa7fb02d9b02)

Alignments and Orientations (#ulink_9d7453f3-6263-5e8e-bd6d-f71a1f9d8d25)

2 THE LONG BARROWS (#ulink_4b551cd4-d126-560c-bc06-a940676abf3b)

Neolithic Chamber-Tombs—an Introduction (#ulink_10a4ed91-c3ce-5861-a2b4-24cc668fe640)

Orientation of the Body (#ulink_71c21b27-e999-5ffc-b481-0afb651428de)

Inconstant Stars (#ulink_38966d71-8c60-5daa-8a65-a6404d6adab9)

First Thoughts on the Taper of Long Barrows (#ulink_dc97a5a1-e61a-51f6-b039-d905e99a55fc)

The Orientation of Long Barrows (#ulink_47f95f60-2f0b-54ce-bc32-37f204284b66)

Fussell’s Lodge (#ulink_50bc9dcf-020d-5018-bb7b-e12c4369535c)

Wayland’s Smithy I (#ulink_17c5db45-357b-525e-a979-a4fe3d4879c8)

Wayland’s Smithy II (#ulink_6b50eff0-8d36-5b6e-9687-1539ff534b97)