Henge

A henge is a circular or sub-circular prehistoric enclosure defined by a raised circular bank, and a circularditch usually running inside the bank. Henges have one or more entrances leading into the enclosed open space. They are unique tothe British Isles .

They are classified as Class I henges which have a single entrance created from a gap in the bank; Class II henges, which havetwo entrances, opposite each other; and Class III henges which have four entrances, facing each other in pairs. Sub groups existfor these when two or three internal ditches are present rather than one. Henges are usually associated with the Late Neolithic,especially the Grooved Ware culture, the Peterborough culture and the Beaker people . Sites such as Stonehenge also provideevidence of activity from the later Bronze Age Wessex culture .

Henges often contain evidence of a variety of internal features including timber or stone circles, pits or burials . They should not be confused with the stone circles which are sometimes present within them. Similarly shaped, but larger enclosures are known as Henge enclosures whilst smaller ones with other types of enclosingfeatures are known as Hengiform monuments .

Although the word henge is a backformation from Stonehenge , the famousmonument in Wiltshire is not a true henge at all as its ditch runs outside itsbank.

Some of the finest and best-known henges include:

• Avebury Henge , about 20 miles N. of Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain ;
• Durrington Walls near Woodhenge also on Salisbury Plain;
• Maumbury Rings in Dorset (later reused as a Roman amphitheatre and then a Civil War fort).
• Mayborough in Cumbria
• The Ring O'Bookan in Orkney ;
• Thornborough Henge complex in Yorkshire ;
• The Great Circle at Stanton Drew in Wiltshire .

Burials have been recorded at only a few henges, mostly as a result of secondary reuse. At Avebury a at least two verydisturbed inhumations were found in the central area. At King Arthur's Round Table, Cumbria ,a cremation trench lay within the monument, while at Woodhenge a central burialof a child was interpreted by its excavators as a dedicatory offering. Phosphate surveys at Maxey henge suggested that burials may also have beenpresent within this monument.

Stone circles are also found within a few henges, with at least sixcases identified in England. At Arbor Low in Derbyshire , the stones do not seem to have been set up to judge from the fact that no stoneholes have beenfound. Elsewhere only the stone holes remain.

Theories about henges

Henges may have been used for rituals , or astronomical observation rather than being areas of day-to-day activity. The fact that their ditches are locatedinside their banks indicates that they would not have been used in a defensive function and that the barrier theearthworks provide is more likely to have been symbolic rather than functional. It has been conjectured that whatever took placeinside the enclosures was intended to be separate from the outside world and perhaps only known to select individuals orgroups.

The alignment of henges is a contentious issue. Popular belief is that their entrances point towards certain heavenly bodies.In fact, henge orientation is highly variable and may have been more determined by local topology rather than any desire forsymbolic orientation. A slight tendency for Class I henges having an entrance set in the north or north-east quarter has beenidentified following statistical analysis whilst Class II henges generally have their axes aligned approximately south east tonorth west or north east to south west.

It has been suggested that the stone and timber structures sometimes built inside henges were used as solar declinometers,used to measure the position of the rising or setting sun. These structures by no means appear in all henges and oftenconsiderably post-date the henges themselves. They therefore are not necessarily connected with the henge's original function. Ithas been conjectured that that they could have been used to synchronize a calendar to the solar cycle for purposes of plantingcrops or timing religious rituals. Some henges have poles, stones or entrances that would indicate the position of the rising orsetting sun during the equinoxes and solstices whilst others appear to frame certain constellations. Additionally, many are placed so that nearby hillseither mark or do not interfere with such observations. Finally, some henges appear to be placed at particular latitudes. Forexample, a number are placed at a latitude of 55 degrees north, where the same twomarkers can indicate the rising and setting sun for both the spring and autumn equinoxes. Henges are present from the extremenorth to the extreme south of Britain however and so their latitude could not have been of great importance.

Carhenge is either a modern parody orartistic tribute to the famous Stonehenge structure.

See also sundial , calendar , astronomy

External links

• http://www.themodernantiquarian.com
• http://www.henge.org.uk/