ANST - [celtic-hist] Skeleton recovered from Stonehenge

[Celestria LeDragon]

Greetings,
I thought I would pass this on.

In Service,
Celestria

A skeleton recovered from a shallow grave at
Stonehenge
   shows the site was used for executions long after
it was
  thought to have been abandoned. History will have to
be
            rewritten, says Anjana Ahuja

                                          ©
    Mike Pitts describes his find as the British
equivalent
of the
Dead
Sea Scrolls


           An ugly secret

                     Links
  The serene expression worn by the disembodied head
  belies the terror that marked his final moments. He
met
his
  end at Stonehenge, beheaded in one clean, brutal
slice,
  probably in an execution carried out to satisfy
royal whim

  or religious fervour.

  This nameless man, whose skeleton was uncovered from
  a shallow grave at the edge of the stone circle in
1923,
is
  about to rewrite the history of this ancient site.
Scientists
  have narrowed the execution date to around AD650, a
  full two millennia after the stones were thought to
have
  been abandoned as a site of importance. The
skeleton,
  known as 4.10.4 after the catalogue number assigned
to
  him by the Natural History Museum in London, could
  have been a victim of any number of grisly
scenarios.

  The date coincides with the emergence of a new
  Anglo-Saxon order - the beginnings of both a
judicial
  system and Christianity - where bloody retribution,
  including decapitation, was meted out to criminals
and
  pagans. It was a time of petty rivalries between
kingdoms
  across the island, with sword-wielding assassins
being
  sent to settle tax and land disputes.

  Whatever his transgression, 4.10.4 testifies to a
time
when
  Stonehenge was synonymous with fear and vengeance.
  Mike Pitts, a British archaeologist who came across
the
  skeleton last year in the basement of the Natural
History
  Museum, describes it as the British equivalent of
finding
  the Dead Sea Scrolls.

  "This momentous discovery will change the way
  everybody thinks about Stonehenge," says Pitts, who
has
  spent years studying the stones and has written
  Hengeworld, a book about the site.

  "We all thought that until 1600BC it was an active
place
  and then it just went dead. Now we know that at one
  point at least in the vacuum between then and now
  Stonehenge was very much alive."

  Archaeologists knew that a skeleton had been
unearthed
  at the Wiltshire site. Its finder, Lt-Col William
Hawley,
  sent it along with many other bones to his anatomist
  friends at the Royal College of Surgeons in London.

  In 1941, the college took three direct hits during a
  bombing raid, and the bones, presumed destroyed,
were
  afterwards thought to exist only in archaeological
myth.
In
  fact, the haul had been split up and ferried by
American
  ambulance crews to various country houses outside
  London for safekeeping and, after the war,
reassembled
  and sent to the Natural History Museum.

  Little of this rescue mission was documented. But
last
  year, Pitts, 46, spotted a letter in some
archaeology
  archives revealing the bones' whereabouts.

  Pitts, former curator of the museum at the Avebury
  stones, 20 miles north of Stonehenge, travelled from
his
  Wiltshire home to the Natural History Museum to
peruse
  a catalogue of skeletons in its collection. It read
like a

  treasure trove of archaeological artefacts.

  "My eyes just fell out of their sockets," he
recalls. "I
saw
  pages and pages of information about human remains
that
  had been excavated in Britain between the wars, and
had
  been transferred from the Royal College of Surgeons.
  They were listed with their dates, locations and the
names

  of their finders. It was absolutely amazing."

  In the midst of it all was an entry numbered 4.10.4,
  alongside the name Hawley, dated 1923. In a plain
box in
  the basement, lay a skull, the spine, and some leg
bones.
  The rest of the skeleton is missing - probably still
in a
box
  in a country attic, unbeknown to its owner.

  Pitts, who studied archaeology at London University,
is
  not formally connected with any university or museum
but
  he is a respected figure in the close-knit world of
  archaeology and was allowed to study them.

  After English Heritage, Stonehenge's owner, agreed
to
  foot the bill, Pitts and Jacqueline McKinley, an
expert in

  human remains, began to piece together the story of
  4.10.4.

  "He was about 5ft 5in, and aged between 30 and 40
  when he died," says Pitts. "He had a pronounced
overbite
  so his front teeth would have stuck out. He was
  reasonably healthy and could have been expected to
live a
  few more years."

  It was not to be. Analysis of the spine showed that
he had

  been decapitated from behind, probably while
kneeling
  with his head aloft. It bore the hallmarks of
execution
  rather than sacrifice.

  The story features in a Channel 4 documentary to be
  screened next week. As part of the programme,
scientists
  at University College London used the skull to
generate a
  computer reconstruction of the man's face. The
executed
  man had close-set eyes, a wide mouth and a firm jaw.
  "Jackie calls it a Gillette jaw because he looks
like a
man
  from a shaving advert," says Pitts. "I suppose he
wasn't
  bad-looking."

  The real shock came from radiocarbon-dating the
  skeleton. Instead of dating back to 2300BC, when the
  first stones arrived, 4.10.4 died in AD650.

  Pitts looks intently at an eerie print-out of the
man's
face
  and tries to paint a picture of the world he
inhabited.
"We
  know from documentation that beheading was taking
  place in warfare. Also, people were beginning to
develop
  concepts of right and wrong and punishment. Among
the
  many punishments were beheading and mutilation.

  "Criminals would be put on hills, near boundaries
between
  kingdoms, as if they were being cast out. Bodies
would be
  left hanging on gallows, or near burial mounds,
where
  people could see the bodies.

  "But this was different. It was a one-off event at a
unique
  location - he was not just a petty thief. The grave
also
had
  holes for wooden posts at each end. There was
something
  special about this person or what he did. It was
either a
  political or religious execution. The people who did
this
  wanted to banish him to beyond even a burial mound,
to a
  place of intense evil and fear. Stonehenge is close
to a
  boundary between kingdoms, and remote from any
  settlement."

  As a sinister footnote, Pitts explains that
Stonehenge is
  early English for stone gallows and the monument's
  distinctive trilithons - where one stone lies
horizontally
on
  top of two vertical ones - mirror the shape of a
wooden
  medieval gallows. Stonehenge probably resembled a
  circle of huge gallows, says Pitts. "I think it must
have
  been scary. Perhaps the people who took the man out
  there were frightened and wanted to get away as fast
as
  they could, hence the shallow grave."

  In another twist, it emerged that the skeleton had
also
  been "discovered" by a Welsh dentist named Wystan
  Peach. This ardent amateur, to his credit, was the
only
  person apart from Pitts who tracked 4.10.4 down to
the
  Natural History Museum (the museum still has his
letters).

  In 1976 Peach paid £300 to have a tiny sample
  carbon-dated, but was unhappy with the date he
received
  - about AD700. Peach died in 1980, aged 71.

  "He was upset at the result because it did not fit
his
  theory," says Peach's son, Penrhyn, who has kept his
  father's Stonehenge paraphernalia. "He thought the
  skeleton might have been sacrificed, and maybe was a
  leading character in the establishment of
Stonehenge. So
  he was looking for a date around 2000BC. He thought
  the date was wrong.

  "He was upset because he thought he had not been
  allowed by the museum to take a big enough sample.
He
  also felt he was the subject of jealousy from
professional

  archaeologists - he once wrote a pamphlet on
Stonehenge
  but people refused to sell it at the monument. But
he let
it
  drop because by that time he had had a minor stroke
and
  retired.

  "My father was a bit obsessive and could bore you
rigid
  on the subject. But I am excited the skeleton has
been
  rediscovered, and I think my father would be too."

  Pitts, perhaps conscious of how much of his own work
  has relied on the goodwill of others, wishes that
Peach
  could have been treated with greater respect.

  The first sign of Stonehenge, which is around 100
metres
  in diameter, dates back 5,000 years. In its first
incarnation
  there was a circular bank surrounded by 56 holes,
called
  Aubrey holes, probably the sites of oak posts. The
  excavation of human bones suggests the location was
a
  burial site for a short while.

  Over the next 1,500 years the stones, some weighing
35
  tons, arrived from Wales and the Marlborough Downs
  and were rearranged five times. Around 1600BC - the
  last detected sign of activity at Stonehenge - two
  concentric rings around the stones were dug. These
pits
  were probably meant to be graves, but remained
empty.

  A few miles from Stonehenge lies the remnants of
  Woodhenge, a monument made with wooden blocks.
  Madagascar has similar monoliths - wood for the
recently
  dead; stone for long dead ancestors. It is likely,
says
Pitts,
  that Stonehenge and Woodhenge fulfilled the same
  purpose of commemorating the afterlife.

  He does not subscribe to the idea of the stones
  representing an astrological temple. Alignment of
planets,

  stars and the moon with the stones and Aubrey holes
are
  inevitable, he says. Neither does he agree that
faces are
  hidden in the carved megaliths.

  Over the past century, four complete skeletons have
been
  found there, including 4.10.4. One was an archer,
shot to
  death at about the time the stones were raised. The
other
  two are missing, either destroyed in the Blitz or
still in
a
  country residence. With the 7th century execution of
  4.10.4, Stonehenge springs to life again. "It is
more
likely
  that Stonehenge did have some role in people's lives
more
  recently than we thought," says Pitts.

  "It would have been a complex religious or political
role
-
  not a picnic site. And that is a radically different
way
at
  looking at it. It also allows us to say that what
happens
  today at Stonehenge with Druids is as meaningful and
  valid as what was happening there when it was built.

  "Every generation is reinventing the monument.
  Stonehenge has always been there and people have
  always been there - maybe the two interacted from
  1500BC onwards. Further excavations might shed light
on
  this."

  Pitts used to visit the stones at Stonehenge and
Avebury
  to meditate, to think and to clear his mind. He
loves
their
  "physical presence", he says.

  Now his visits are different. "It is impossible to
go
there
  without thinking of that man, without seeing an
image of
  someone being beheaded," says Pitts. "He would have
  been terrified. He was surrounded by armed men, he
had
  probably been tortured. He probably knew what was
  going to happen. It is not uncommon for people in
the last

  minutes to give up struggling.

  "I suspect a time comes when the sheer terror and
horror
  of the event just cuts off a normal human response.
When
  I look at his face, I know I am looking at someone
really
  remarkable."


=====
I beleive that imagination is stronger than Knowledge
That myth is more potent than history.
I believe that dreams are more powerful than facts
That hope always triumphs over experience
That laughter is the only cure for grief.
And I believe that love is stronger than death.

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