h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Woodhenge, Durrington Walls Henge and Stonehenge Complex - A58219059
Author: BigAl. Keeper of the Glowing pickle and monobrows. Patron Saint of Left Handers - U723247

I've added an extra section to this, 'Bluehenge' to take account of the discovery of a new find at West Amesbury.

A

This is an update, yes? Can you please give the U number of the entry you are updating.

I meant A number.

, thought I had. I certainly copied it ready for pasting. A9568128.

A

Hi

I've just discovered this entry. I have a comment but it concerns the original entry, so plaese disregard if not appropriate:
"...This was discovered by aerial observation during 1925 by Squadron Leader GSM Insall*1*, a First World War pilot, while flying a Sopwith Snipe."

The corresponding footnote reads
"1 Insall, by this time a Wing Commander, also discovered Arminghall Henge from the air in 1928. ...."

It took me a minute to 'get' the footnote as 'by this time' seemed to refer to 1925. Would "Insall (promoted to Wing Commander by then) also discovered Arminghall Henge from the air in 1928. ...."

I know it's just a quibbily nitpick but I really enjoyed reading the rest of the entry so much! It's not a subject I'm familiar with so I found the text instructive as well as enjoyable (having 'got' all the rest)

nsbe . I'll bear that one in mind

Would <> make footnote 1 clearer?

Hi BA

Footnote 3 <> is a bit upside down.

According to the OED, the word 'henge' goes back at least to Saxon times and means something hanging or suspended. In modern archeological terms, this is met by the stone lintels of Stonehenge. By strict definition therefore, it is Woodhenge and Durrington Walls henge that are not really henges, rather then the other way round. The OED goes on to say (as you have in the footnote): 'The term 'henge' is applied [in modern archeological terms] to those monuments which enclose a circular or oval area by means of a bank and internal ditch and which possess one or two opposed entrances'

In response to post 7 :
For me certainly. In fact, to avoid too many commas, what about "In 1928, Insall (by now promoted to Wing Commander) also discovered Arminghall Henge from the air"

I'd googled Insall to see whether I could find out when he'd been promoted to Wing Commander (I couldn't) and discovered that he had been awarded a VC in WWI

hi h5r,

I think the key to my sentence is in the phrase 'used by modern archaeologists...', so in this sense my meaning is accurate

BTW I have changed the ['Wing Cdr' sentence a bit.

A

I've changed my footnote about the definition of 'henge'.

(Wonders why Thomas Kendrick (who later became Keeper of British Antiquities at the British Museum) had to be so bloody-minded in not making his definition of a 'henge' to fit Stonehenge iself )

A

sounds like Academia in all its pedantic-ness to me Al. To us, a word with meaning in the real world. To an academic, it is worth a doctorate or two to argue over.

I could never take it seriously enough.

Seemsas though there's been no objections to this suggested Update, so I guess the Update can 'go through'

You can't describe Stonehenge as a Neolithic megalith, because megalith means "big stone". There's more than one big stone in Stonehenge. It is megalithic because it is made out of megaliths.

Unlike Stonehenge, there was no central altar stone

There should be a space between the year and BC any time you use it.

between 3100 - 2400BC --> between 3100 and 2400 BC

However, The Avenue was --> However, the Avenue was

Bluehenge setion:

Change all curly apostrophes/quotes to straight ones:

'Stonehenge Riverside Project'
'Avenue'
Professor Parker Pearson's team - two places
'Bluehenge'

5000 years ago --> 5,000 years ago

A small tump in the centre -- can you provide a footnote saying what a tump is?

However. modern day archaeologists
-- change full stop to comma
-- put a hyphen in modern-day

Unlike Stonehenge there was no central altar stone

-- this seems to assume that the central stone in Stonehenge is an altar stone. It's called 'the Altar Stone', but current thinking seems to be that it was a vertical stone which has fallen over.

Right, I think I've caught all those, Gnomon. (I'm having trouble at the moment because Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer are not working for me (I think it's largely due to a worm alled W32. Hence I'm having to use Real Player as my web browser, and I can't do 'Search and Paste'- type operations ).

n.b. FYI Bob Staffords series of Entries on Burial Barrows don't have spacing between the years and 'BC'.
( I can't paste in the A number due to the problem explained above)

a17974722