New Stonehenge Guide Book

close
VenerableBottyBurp V
VenerableBottyBurp Oct 21, 2005 12:48:28

There's a new one written by Julian Richards, large format 50 pages at £4.99. As might be expected this is a much better guide than any of the old ones with some great illustrations, and the cover has fold outs that can be used to mark your place. It really is put together and presented very well, but it has the same old shortcomings. The restoration isn't detailed so you know what's what, and it is a very narrow establishment viewpoint - having said that they actually have half a page titled The Druids - there's a first !

VBB

I Ishmael
Ishmael Oct 23, 2005 03:20:52
Replying to VenerableBottyBurp

There's a superb Stonehenge Panoramic tour on CD rom for PC's on its way for Xmas release.
All the latest from the Durrington dig, Foamhenge forgotten and the ongoing archaeoastronomy row.
...

1997: "…detailed reassessments of the ideas of ... Gerald Hawkins... have shown that there is no convincing evidence that, at any stage, constructions at Stonehenge deliberately incorporated a great many precise astronomical alignments, or that they served as any sort of computing device to predict eclipses…there is no reason whatsoever to suppose that at any stage the site functioned as an astronomical observatory. ( "Astronomy and Stonehenge," in Science and Stonehenge, 203)

2003: "Although concepts such as a full-on megalithic astronomy being behind the building and use of Stonehenge and other henge monuments in Britain have been debunked, there is still a strong case for some of the astronomical alignments."
(The Heavens Above: Archaeoastronomy, Space Heritage And SETI, Worldwide Archaeology Conference V, Washington, DC, June 2003