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

Entry: Stonehenge - A8567850
Author: Gnomon - U151503

This is this entry's third time into Peer Review. It started out as a Challenge h2g2 topic, went on to be a Topic of the Week and then was made into an entry by Annie, who put it into Peer Review twice:

First time: F1790572?thread=1501476
Second time: F1790572?thread=1800053

I've rewritten it extensively and it is now ready for your approval.

Loved it except for one thing - it's length!

Is there any way it can be broken into smaller bits?
Stonehenge Today and Development of Stonehenge or something similar?

I found it to be an interesting read, but I reckon it's asking a lot for someone to read all of it in one go.

Just my

Cheers!
- Jimi X

I agree.
Good work there


Dancer

'Of greater interest still is how the Beaker People came to know that the stones were there in West Wales. The perfect lithology for the builders' purposes explain the logistical undertaking, but the political culture of Bronze Age Britain is not usually thought to be sophisticated enough to spread ideas over such distances'.

As I said to Annie in post 30 of the 2nd thread, the reason the Beaker People knew of the bluestones is that Carn Menyn is close to an ancient trackway, known as the 'Golden Road, which was a trade route for transporting gold from the Wicklow Hills in Ireland, to Wessex.

I have described this in my 'Pembrokeshire Entry at A8130908.

Looking good, think I said my piece on the other threads, but again it is a tad long.

Perhaps a two or even three part entry is called for (3 Entries on the Front Page in one day, would sit nicely having all three on Stonehenge seeing as it is such a huge part of - dare I say it - world iconography).

Or there is splitting it into a two part Entry and linking with Big Al's A7379265 for a comprehensive FP on 'Henging'...

Just a thought

MJ

Traveller in Time reading in one go
"Well, apparently it is not that long

>The perfect lithology for the builders' purposes explain the logistical undertaking, but the political culture of Bronze Age Britain is not usually thought to be sophisticated enough to spread ideas over such distances.

Is a bit long, many complex words, perhaps need some change. Hmm, is already proposed

I like the twists on the 'Fascinating Facts' nice rewording

I think it is not wise to keep the contact information and prices in the entry, do they have stable external sites ?

As well as there is still a little contradiction in saying
>It is not possible to make advance bookings to visit Stonehenge
and two lines below
>Specialist tour guides can be arranged by . . .

You can either have a tour arranged or it is not possible. Having both options is not logical. "

Ref:

'On the south side of this gap lies a fallen standing stone which traditionally is known as the slaughter stone, although there is no reason to believe it was ever used for slaughter.'


The Slaughter Stone is situated at the entrance to the earthwork and originally stood upright, together with a similar stone, now vanished which, together, formed part of the ceremonial doorway to the site.

So, neither the Altar Stone nor the Slaughter Stone has any role in human sacrifice.

I just read it at one sitting.

Not enough sarcasm by my lights, but good enough all the same.

Where do I start?

There are guide entries to inform and there are guide entries to educate.

B'Elana's first effort, Ebbelwei Express, written by a non-English-speaker, gives all the information necessary about the little tram ride through Germany. It fills me with pride because she's stepped over the line from Researcher to soon-to-be-edited, reminding me of how I was 5 years ago.

Then there's this kind of entry, which gives me hopes of what I will be like in 5 years time.

It's length doesn't worry me, because anyone wanting to find out about Stonehenge is going to type it into the search engine and get this, and it contains all they could possibly want to know, and they'll be blown away.

I'm proud of my part in this (and thank you for keeping my words, Gnomon)

Congratulations on a fabulous entry

Thanks for your comments, everyone. This entry is 4,800 words long, which is certainly longer than I like to write them. The editors normally recommend breaking them up when they're this long, but there have been a number of entries this long have got through into the guide in one piece.

I wouldn't have written it this long, but I inherited the piece and added the bits I thought it needed. I was reluctant to cut out other people's contributions, but I will if I have to! I don't remember who wrote what; so I won't hold onto a particular bit just because person X wrote it. It'll go in there on its merit.

I'll try and sort any illogical bits, TiT.

Big Al, I'll try and add your bit about the Gold road, but I don't see any need to add what you say about the slaughter stone. The two "portal stones" are only one possible interpretation. And I say the rest of it anyway.

Well, I thought that the 'portal stones' was now THE definitive interpretation

Isn't the usual titling convention for places something like 'Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, UK'?

... except that there is only one Stonehenge (which is more famous than Salisbury or its Plain).

Obviously it isn't an important point, but the precedent does seem to be that entries are titled in this way - even of famous places. For example:

'St Paul's Cathedral (from 1666AD), London, UK' (A4187568)

and,

C547

Well, in this case it should be the other way round, for e.g. Salisbury, Near Stonehenge, UK

BigAl, in your Pembrokeshire entry you mention the Golden Road as being an important trackway linking various Celtic sites. Is there any evidence that this trackway existed 1,500 years earlier at the time that Stonehenge II was constructed?

Well, this is what the Guardian Unlimited site says about it (neolithic, 5000 years old):

http://travel.guardian.co.uk/countries/story/0,7451,1110560,00.html

A great piece on a fascinating subject.Personally I don't find it too long.

Now I might have missed it in the text, but I feel that one of Stonehenge's enduring mysteries deserves a mention. There are a couple of representations/carvings in (I believe) one of the sarsens of a dagger and axe heads. I recall the finding of the dagger at the time which only shows under certain lighting conditions due to its almost complete erosion. It has been speculated that they were 'stone age graffiti' but I've always found it intriguing.

All the best
DK

If I recall correctly, the daqgger carving is (relatively) recent. I'll have a look in my books this evening.

I'll see what I can find on the dagger symbols.

I've added a sentence or two about the Golden Road.

I've discovered that you can transport big rocks using tree-trunk rollers after all. I've added that as a possible way of transporting the stones.