On 23 Nov 2002 02:37:35 GMT, (Iris Cohen) wrote:

In the meantime, wouldn't a heavily forested area like England have had a
'Stonehenge' made first of big oak trees cut and fashioned to fit, long before
making a monument out of stone?
Not necessarily. We know the Druids believed that oak trees were holy. They
probably considered them as containing "mana" (the forerunner of the Holy
Spirit or Shechinah). Many ancient people believed that certain stones
contained mana. If the Druids (or whoever built Stonehenge) believed that
stones contained the mana that was necessary for Stonehenge to perform its
function, I don't think they would have built it of something else first.


Late Neolithic people were constructing henges of timber by 2000BC.
There are 3 others I know about in the county of Wiltshire alone
(where Stonehenge is); one (imaginatively named Woodhenge) is just a
few miles from Stonehenge and is a visitable monument. For obvious
reasons they don't last as well above ground as stone jobs.

--
Martin (off-duty)
Chandlers Ford, Hampshire