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Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 123: May-Jun 1999 |
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Out-Henging Stonehenge
Stonehenge may be more sophisticated in terms of astronomical alignments, but it is dwarfed by the newly discovered henge surrounding Ireland's hill of Tara. (A "henge" is simply a circular ditch and embankment.) The henge's ditch at Tara is 3 meters wide with a curious series of pits on either side. Its diameter is about 1 kilometer (5/8 mile) compared to Stonehenge's diminutive 100 meters. Tara had long been considered an Iron Age site, but the presence of the giant henge pushes its use as a ceremonial site back to Neolithic times -- say, to 2,500 B.C.
(Anonymous; NEARA Transit, 11:14, Spring equinox 1999.)
Question. Are those pits analogous to the mysterious Aubrey holes at Stonehenge?