Mysteries of the Megaliths

Impressive megaliths and stone circles such as Stonehenge have always held a fascination for the visitor to Britain. But as you conjure up images of the pagan rituals that used to take place there, you might find be disappointed to find you’re not the only one making the pilgrimage to this, the most famous and best preserved example of all. Jostling with others to pick up your multilingual audio guide, you follow orders given by authoritative signs to “stay behind the ropes.” Maybe the magic of Stonehenge is a little lost for the visitor in the 21^st century. You’ll be relieved to learn there’s an alternative.

Recently, overnighting in the tranquility of the Welsh borders, I stumbled upon a rather weathered and bent public footpath sign on the edge of the village. Faded, but still just legible, it was pointing vaguely over the wall to “The Stones.” Sure enough, across a field and over a stile there was a huddle of Neolithic standing stones. There were no ropes, no tour groups; in fact, no one at all. It was a most private meeting. Just the wind on my face, the stones and me.

A quick look later on a map and sure enough, they were marked. In fact, there are lots of stone circles and burial chambers all over Great Britain, Ireland and Brittany in France. Many sites, such as the one in Wales, are simply unknown to the tourist and ignored by the locals. Fortunately, there are very many of them, ranging in size and significance.

When you are on your travels in Britain, pick up an “Ordnance Survey” map of the region you’re in. Once you understand the key, you will soon be leading yourself to exciting discoveries. A huddle of standing stones on a hillside, a stone circle hidden in a farmer’s field or a burial chamber through a gate on a country lane – who knows what awaits you.

In my youth, out for a stroll with my father, I remember coming across a stone circle in the Brontë Country of Yorkshire. It was no Stonehenge, in fact it was hardly visible. But it was there on the map. It felt like we were discovering the stones for the first time. Well, certainly the first time since the Victorian mapmakers had noted precisely whereabouts in the middle of nowhere they were. Pulling back grass here and parting the flowering heather over there, we uncovered our very own stone circle in no time. On this occasion we did have company. A few sheep were observing us thoughtfully and chewing.

Okay, many such sites aren’t as preserved and complete as Stonehenge, but there is definitely a magic that you don’t get with people and information panels intruding on the experience. In fact, if recent research is to believed, there is even more magic and mystery to megalithic monuments than you may have imagined.

Recent discoveries suggest that Britain’s ancient stone circles and burial mounds, many over 5,000 years old, may have been designed to act as giant loudspeakers to amplify drums being played during rituals.

While moving around inside a Neolithic stone circle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, Aaron Watson of Reading University noticed a curious changing echo. Audio equipment tests were carried out and revealed that the large, flat-sided stones were arranged so as to reflect sound towards the center of the stone circle – similar to a stage and the surrounding set in a theater.

Stone circles such as Stonehenge would have formed an enclosed arena where rituals could take place. It is thought that the stones were arranged to create an acoustic phenomenon called Helmholtz resonance – the same type of sound created by blowing across the top of an empty bottle. Amazingly, the effects of the sounds would not have been detectable to anyone outside the standing stone circle. This implies that they were only meant to be heard by people actually participating within – maybe an early form of social division. But why go to this effort?

Passage graves yielded even stranger insights into Megalithic acoustics. Passage graves themselves are usually cramped and are entered by crawling through a long and claustrophobic passageway. Imagine entering into the stale air and strange smells of the darkened chamber after crawling past the remains of the dead. This alone would be an experience for most of us. With noises such as drums or even voices creating  a phenomenon known as “standing waves”, Neolithic man was in for a sensory experience!

With interference, sound waves reflecting from walls in an enclosed space become cancelled or reinforced. The sound resonates, with its volume and intensity increased. The researchers found significant, sudden variations in volume as they moved only very marginally. In some cases they had the uncomfortable sensation of a sound appearing to emerge from inside the head or body. Researchers realized that this effect that might ultimately induce altered states of consciousness or give some sort of “high.”

This new research adds to what we know about the visual aspects of sites like stone circles and megalithic tombs, and how they were used in the past. In Stonehenge’s case the monument was also connected with sun and moon observation.  The stones are arranged in such a way as to mark the spot on the horizon where the sun and moon rise and set on certain days, including the solstices. It seems to be a gigantic liturgical calendar in stone.

Primitive man relied on keen powers of observation (keener than ours, since we use machines to do our "observing:" cameras, telescopes, computers). These people saw things we barely notice and the year’s longest day, the moon’s phases and even leap years were taken into account in placing the stones. Life, all that sustains it and death were very important for them.

How were giant standing stones put in place? We have evidence that holes were first dug and then the stones propped into them. Just like pushing a pencil off the edge of a desk, a stone would have tipped upright when pushed halfway over the edge of a deep hole. (Some stones at Stonehenge go down eight feet into the ground.) Once each stone was pulled upright, the task was to fill in the hole. We have evidence that the workers were fearful the stone would fall down, since they threw everything they could lay their hands on into the pits -- even their own tools! Archaeologists have found many stone hammers in these holes, some of them weighing 60 pounds.

Probably by building large wooden ramps around the upright stones, the horizontal stones were placed on top. The stones were notched so that they would fit together snugly, with no slippage. Although the theories are reasonably well founded about stone circle construction, less explainable is the usage of “Bluestones” that make up the inner circle at Stonehenge. It is known that they came from some 240 miles away!

You can understand why so many rightly feel that Stonehenge is an incredible place. So, please don’t misunderstand my sentiments at the start. If you’re looking for an altogether more personal megalithic experience, however, you don’t even need to travel 240 miles away from Stonehenge yourself. Get off the beaten track and leave the guidebook behind!