Excavations at Stonehenge May Answer Questions 160
Smivs writes "The BBC are getting set to fund a dig at
Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England. The two-week dig will try to establish, once and for all,
some precise dating for the creation of the monument. An article from the BBC news website explains how the dig will investigate the significance of the smaller bluestones that stand inside the giant sarsen pillars. 'Researchers believe these rocks, brought all the way from Wales, hold the secret to the real purpose of Stonehenge as a place of healing. The researchers leading the project are two of the UK's leading Stonehenge experts — Professor Tim Darvill, of the University of Bournemouth, and Professor Geoff Wainwright, of the Society of Antiquaries. They are convinced that the dominating feature on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire was akin to a "Neolithic Lourdes" — a place where people went on a pilgrimage to get cured. Modern techniques have established that many of these people had clearly traveled huge distances to get to south-west England, suggesting they were seeking supernatural help for their ills.'"
The BBC andTimewatch are running this bigtime (Score:4, Informative)
Re:An alternate interpretation (Score:5, Informative)
Re:An alternate interpretation (Score:4, Informative)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trephining [wikipedia.org].
Advanced medical procedures do not = advanced knowledge.
Maybe they drilled the holes to let out the evil spirits affecting the patient...who really knows for sure?
Re:An alternate interpretation (Score:3, Informative)
Even in ancient times there are records of people living to 100 and it wasn't that uncommon for many to live into their 50's, 60's and even 70's. It's just that for everyone who lived to 70, several would also die at an age of only 6 months or so.
Re:An alternate interpretation (Score:3, Informative)
(Dark-skinned humans would have suffered vitamin C deficits in colder, darker europe, leading to an evolutionary pressure in favor of light-skinned persons who absorbed more light through their skin & survived longer.)
Re:An alternate interpretation (Score:3, Informative)
Dark-skinned humans would have suffered vitamin C deficits in colder, darker europe
It's actually Vitamin D, (the body can't make vitamin C), but otherwise you're completely correct.
Re:Just saw... (Score:3, Informative)
as such it is refered to by the private eye [private-eye.co.uk] rather amusingly as "the Grauniad".
In case you are unfamilar with the eye, it is a satirical magazine, at one time owned by Peter Cook, that is best known in the UK for being sued for libel when printing things that later turn out to be completely true about certain politicians
Re:It's even worse (Score:3, Informative)
It's a "little known" fact, but nazis wanted to exterminate Slavic people along with the Jews. For example, in Belarus alone about 3 million people were killed by nazis.