Ancient Wonders
A look at some of the most amazing monuments and structures made by ancient humans.
Newgrange
Newgrange ( Irish : Sí an Bhrú [1] ) is a prehistoric monument in County Meath in Ireland, located on a rise overlooking the River Boyne , 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) west of Drogheda . [2] It is an exceptionally grand passage tomb built during the Neolithic Period , around 3200 BC , making it older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids . It is aligned on the winter solstice sunrise. Newgrange is the main monument in the Brú na Bóinne complex, a World Heritage Site that also includes the passage tombs of Knowth and Dowth , as well as other henges , burial mounds and standing stones. [3]
Newgrange consists of a large circular mound with an inner stone passageway and cruciform chamber. Burnt and unburnt human bones, and possible grave goods or votive offerings , were found in this chamber. The mound has a retaining wall at the front, made mostly of white quartz cobblestones, and it is ringed by engraved kerbstones. Many of the larger stones of Newgrange are covered in megalithic art . The mound is also ringed by a stone circle . Some of the material that makes up the monument came from as far as the Mournes and Wicklow Mountains . There is no agreement about its purpose, but it is believed it had religious significance. It is aligned so that the rising sun on the winter solstice shines through a ' roofbox ' above the entrance and floods the inner chamber. Several other passage tombs in Ireland are aligned with solstices and equinoxes, and Cairn G at Carrowkeel has a similar 'roofbox'. [4] [5] Newgrange shares similarities with some other Neolithic monuments in Western Europe; especially Gavrinis in Brittany, which has a similar preserved facing and large carved stones, [6] Maeshowe in Orkney, with its large corbelled chamber, [7] and Bryn Celli Ddu in Wales.
Its initial period of use lasted about 1,000 years. Newgrange then gradually became a ruin, although the area continued to be a site of ritual activity. It featured in Irish mythology and folklore , in which it is said to be a dwelling of the deities , particularly The Dagda and his son Aengus . Antiquarians first began its study in the seventeenth century, and archaeological excavations began in the twentieth century. Archaeologist Michael J. O'Kelly led the most extensive of these from 1962 to 1975 and also reconstructed the front of the monument, a reconstruction that is controversial and disputed. [8] This included an inward-curving dark stone wall to ease visitor access. Newgrange is a popular tourist site and, according to archaeologist Colin Renfrew , is "unhesitatingly regarded by the prehistorian as the great national monument of Ireland" and as one of the most important megalithic structures in Europe.
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire , England, two miles (3 km) west of Amesbury . It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones , each around 13 feet (4.0 m) high, seven feet (2.1 m) wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connecting horizontal lintel stones. Inside is a ring of smaller bluestones . Inside these are free-standing trilithons , two bulkier vertical sarsens joined by one lintel. The whole monument, now ruinous, is aligned towards the sunrise on the summer solstice . The stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the densest complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred tumuli (burial mounds). [2]
Archaeologists believe that Stonehenge was constructed from around 3000 BC to 2000 BC. The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the first bluestones were raised between 2400 and 2200 BC, [3] although they may have been at the site as early as 3000 BC. [4] [5] [6]
One of the most famous landmarks in the United Kingdom, Stonehenge is regarded as a British cultural icon. [7] It has been a legally protected scheduled monument since 1882, [1] when legislation to protect historic monuments was first successfully introduced in Britain. The site and its surroundings were added to UNESCO 's list of World Heritage Sites in 1986. Stonehenge is owned by the Crown and managed by English Heritage ; the surrounding land is owned by the National Trust . [8] [9]
Stonehenge could have been a burial ground from its earliest beginnings. [10] Deposits containing human bone date from as early as 3000 BC, when the ditch and bank were first dug, and continued for at least another 500 years.
The Oxford English Dictionary cites Ælfric 's tenth-century glossary, in which henge-cliff is given the meaning "precipice", or stone; thus, the stanenges or Stanheng "not far from Salisbury " recorded by eleventh-century writers are "stones supported in the air". In 1740, William Stukeley notes: "Pendulous rocks are now called henges in Yorkshire ... I doubt not, Stonehenge in Saxon signifies the hanging stones." [12] Christopher Chippindale 's Stonehenge Complete gives the derivation of the name Stonehenge as coming from the Old English words stān meaning "stone", and either hencg meaning " hinge " (because the stone lintels hinge on the upright stones) or hen(c)en meaning " to hang " or " gallows " or "instrument of torture" (though elsewhere in his book, Chippindale cites the "suspended stones" etymology). [13]
The "henge" portion has given its name to a class of monuments known as henges . [12] Archaeologists define henges as earthworks consisting of a circular banked enclosure with an internal ditch. [14] As often happens in archaeological terminology, this is a holdover from antiquarian use.
Despite being contemporary with true Neolithic henges and stone circles , Stonehenge is in many ways atypical – for example, at more than 24 feet (7.3 m) tall, its extant trilithons' lintels, held in place with mortise and tenon joints, make it unique. [15] [16]
Early history
Mike Parker Pearson , leader of the Stonehenge Riverside Project based around Durrington Walls , noted that Stonehenge appears to have been associated with burial from the earliest period of its existence:
Stonehenge evolved in several construction phases spanning at least 1500 years. There is evidence of large-scale construction on and around the monument that perhaps extends the landscape's time frame to 6500 years. Dating and understanding the various phases of activity are complicated by disturbance of the natural chalk by periglacial effects and animal burrowing, poor quality early excavation records, and a lack of accurate, scientifically verified dates. The modern phasing most generally agreed to by archaeologists is detailed below. Features mentioned in the text are numbered and shown on the plan, right.
Before the monument (from 8000 BC)
Archaeologists have found four, or possibly five, large Mesolithic postholes (one may have been a natural tree throw ), which date to around 8000 BC, beneath the nearby old tourist car-park in use until 2013. These held pine posts around two feet six inches (0.75 m) in diameter, which were erected and eventually rotted in situ. Three of the posts (and possibly four) were in an east–west alignment which may have had ritual significance. [17] Another Mesolithic astronomical site in Britain is the Warren Field site in Aberdeenshire , which is considered the world's oldest lunar calendar , corrected yearly by observing the midwinter solstice . [18] Similar but later sites have been found in Scandinavia . [19] A settlement that may have been contemporaneous with the posts has been found at Blick Mead , a reliable year-round spring one mile (1.6 km) from Stonehenge. [20] [21]
Salisbury Plain was then still wooded, but 4,000 years later, during the earlier Neolithic, people built a causewayed enclosure at Robin Hood's Ball , and long barrow tombs in the surrounding landscape. In approximately 3500 BC, a Stonehenge Cursus was built 2,300 feet (700 m) north of the site as the first farmers began to clear the trees and develop the area. Other previously overlooked stone or wooden structures and burial mounds may date as far back as 4000 BC. [22] [23] Charcoal from the ‘Blick Mead’ camp 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from Stonehenge (near the Vespasian's Camp site) has been dated to 4000 BC. [24] The University of Buckingham 's Humanities Research Institute believes that the community who built Stonehenge lived here over a period of several millennia, making it potentially "one of the pivotal places in the history of the Stonehenge landscape." [25]
Pyramids of Giza
The Giza pyramid complex ( Arabic : مجمع أهرامات الجيزة), also called the Giza necropolis, is the site on the Giza Plateau in Greater Cairo , Egypt that includes the Great Pyramid of Giza , the Pyramid of Khafre , and the Pyramid of Menkaure , along with their associated pyramid complexes and the Great Sphinx of Giza . All were built during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt , between 2600 and 2500 BC. The site also includes several cemeteries and the remains of a workers' village.
The site is at the edges of the Western Desert , approximately 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) west of the Nile River in the city of Giza , and about 13 kilometres (8 mi) southwest of the city centre of Cairo . Along with nearby Memphis , the site was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979. [1]
The Great Pyramid and the Pyramid of Khafre are the largest pyramids built in ancient Egypt , and they have historically been common as emblems of Ancient Egypt in the Western imagination . [2] [3] They were popularised in Hellenistic times, when the Great Pyramid was listed by Antipater of Sidon as one of the Seven Wonders of the World . It is by far the oldest of the Ancient Wonders and the only one still in existence.
The Sphinx
The Great Sphinx of Giza is a limestone statue of a reclining sphinx , a mythical creature with the head of a human, and the body of a lion. [1] Facing directly from west to east, it stands on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile in Giza , Egypt . The face of the Sphinx appears to represent the pharaoh Khafre . [2]
The original shape of the Sphinx was cut from the bedrock , and has since been restored with layers of limestone blocks . [3] It measures 73 m (240 ft) long from paw to tail, 20 m (66 ft) high from the base to the top of the head and 19 m (62 ft) wide at its rear haunches. [4] Its nose was broken off for unknown reasons between the 3rd and 10th centuries AD.
The Sphinx is the oldest known monumental sculpture in Egypt and one of the most recognisable statues in the world. The archaeological evidence suggests that it was created by ancient Egyptians of the Old Kingdom during the reign of Khafre (c. 2558–2532 BC)
Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza was a large pre-Columbian city built by the Maya people of the Terminal Classic period. The archeological site is located in Tinúm Municipality , Yucatán State , Mexico . [1]
Chichen Itza was a major focal point in the Northern Maya Lowlands from the Late Classic (c. AD 600–900) through the Terminal Classic (c. AD 800–900) and into the early portion of the Postclassic period (c. AD 900–1200). The site exhibits a multitude of architectural styles, reminiscent of styles seen in central Mexico and of the Puuc and Chenes styles of the Northern Maya lowlands. The presence of central Mexican styles was once thought to have been representative of direct migration or even conquest from central Mexico, but most contemporary interpretations view the presence of these non-Maya styles more as the result of cultural diffusion .
Chichen Itza was one of the largest Maya cities and it was likely to have been one of the mythical great cities, or Tollans , referred to in later Mesoamerican literature. [2] The city may have had the most diverse population in the Maya world, a factor that could have contributed to the variety of architectural styles at the site. [3]
The ruins of Chichen Itza are federal property, and the site's stewardship is maintained by Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (National Institute of Anthropology and History). The land under the monuments had been privately owned until 29 March 2010, when it was purchased by the state of Yucatán. [nb 2]
Chichen Itza is one of the most visited archeological sites in Mexico with over 2.6 million tourists in 2017.
3200 B.C.
Newgrange
2550 - 2500 B.C.
Pyramid of Giza
2500 B.C.
Sphinx
2500 B.C.
Stonehenge
600 - 900 A.D.
Chichen Itza
Newgrange
Newgrange is located in Donore, Co. Meath
Winter Solstice Illumination of Newgrange Chamber
Newgrange is best known for the illumination of its passage and chamber by the rising sun at the Winter Solstice . Above the entrance to the passage of the mound there is a opening called a roof-box. On mornings around the winter solstice a beam of light penetrates the roof-box and travels up the 19 meter passage and into the chamber. As the sun rises higher, the beam widens so that the whole chamber is dramatically illuminated. Access to the chamber on the Solstice mornings is decided by a lottery that takes place at the end of September each year. All are welcome to gather outside the entrance to the Newgrange mound on each of the mornings from December 19th to December 23rd inclusive, sunrise is at 8.58am. Access via the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre or directly to the actual Newgrange monument.
The Winter Solstice is an astronomical phenomenon that marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year. In the Northern Hemisphere, the Winter Solstice occurs on 21 or 22 December, when the sun shines directly over the tropic of Capricorn. At sunrise on the shortest day of the year, for 17 minutes, direct sunlight can enter the Newgrange monument, not through the doorway, but through the specially contrived small opening above the entrance known as the ‘roof box’, to illuminate the Chamber.
Newgrange
Stonehenge
Stonehenge has long been the subject of historical speculation , and ideas about the meaning and significance of the structure continued to develop in the 21st century. English antiquarian John Aubrey in the 17th century and his compatriot archaeologist William Stukeley in the 18th century both believed the structure to be a Druid temple. This idea has been rejected by more-recent scholars, however, as Stonehenge is now understood to have predated by some 2,000 years the Druids recorded by Julius Caesar .
In 1963 American astronomer Gerald Hawkins proposed that Stonehenge had been constructed as a “computer” to predict lunar and solar eclipses; other scientists also attributed astronomical capabilities to the monument. Most of these speculations, too, have been rejected by experts. In 1973 English archaeologist Colin Renfrew hypothesized that Stonehenge was the centre of a confederation of Bronze Age chiefdoms. Other archaeologists, however, have since come to view this part of Salisbury Plain as a point of intersection between adjacent prehistoric territories, serving as a seasonal gathering place during the 4th and 3rd millennia BCE for groups living in the lowlands to the east and west. In 1998 Malagasy archaeologist Ramilisonina proposed that Stonehenge was built as a monument to the ancestral dead, the permanence of its stones representing the eternal afterlife.
Stonehenge is possibly the most famous megalithic site in the British Isles
Construction took place over 6 different time periods, increasing the scale and complexity
The heaviest stones weigh as much as 30 tons and is still unclear how or why the stones were moved into this arrangement.
The Pyramids and Sphinx of Giza
It is estimated that the stones used to build the King's Chamber were not quarried near the site at Giza but were shipped by boat the 870 miles along the River Nile. The journey is shown below and spans nearly the length of Egypt. These granite blocks weighed as much as 80 tons.
Route from Aswan to Giza along the Nile for transporting large granite blocks for the King's Chamber.
The Sphinx
The Sphinx was not assembled piece by piece but was carved from a single mass of limestone exposed when workers dug a horseshoe-shaped quarry in the Giza plateau. Approximately 66 feet tall and 240 feet long, it is one of the largest and oldest monolithic statues in the world. Nobody knows its original name. Sphinx is the human-headed lion in ancient Greek mythology; the term likely came into use some 2,000 years after the statue was built. There are hundreds of tombs at Giza with hieroglyphic inscriptions dating back some 4,500 years, but not one mentions the statue. “The Egyptians didn’t write history,” says James Allen, an Egyptologist at Brown University, “so we have no solid evidence for what its builders thought the Sphinx was....Certainly something divine, presumably the image of a king, but beyond that is anyone’s guess.” Likewise, the statue’s symbolism is unclear, though inscriptions from the era refer to Ruti, a double lion god that sat at the entrance to the underworld and guarded the horizon where the sun rose and set.
An artist's interpretation of what Giza may have looked like 2500 B.C.
The face, though better preserved than most of the statue, has been battered by centuries of weathering and vandalism. In 1402, an Arab historian reported that a Sufi zealot had disfigured it “to remedy some religious errors.” Yet there are clues to what the face looked like in its prime. Archaeological excavations in the early 19th century found pieces of its carved stone beard and a royal cobra emblem from its headdress. Residues of red pigment are still visible on the face, leading researchers to conclude that at some point, the Sphinx’s entire visage was painted red. Traces of blue and yellow paint elsewhere suggest to Lehner that the Sphinx was once decked out in gaudy comic book colors.
For thousands of years, sand buried the colossus up to its shoulders, creating a vast disembodied head atop the eastern edge of the Sahara. Then, in 1817, a Genoese adventurer, Capt. Giovanni Battista Caviglia, led 160 men in the first modern attempt to dig out the Sphinx. They could not hold back the sand, which poured into their excavation pits nearly as fast as they could dig it out. The Egyptian archaeologist Selim Hassan finally freed the statue from the sand in the late 1930s. “The Sphinx has thus emerged into the landscape out of shadows of what seemed to be an impenetrable oblivion,” the New York Times declared.