At The Time of the Roman Invasion, Was Stonhenge Still In Use?

[Dr.Drake]

@Xema

Again, is there any actual evidence for this? It’s fully possible to know about astronomy and to look at Stonehenge without noticing subtleties of its alignment.

Indeed, is there any evidence that Druids took any notice of Stonehenge at all? Suppose I claim they probably knew nothing of it - can this be disproved?

No, it can’t (barring common sense). (And why is everyone capitalizing “druids”?) The earliest unambiguous reference to it is Norman, Geoffrey of Monmouth, which calls it Chorea Gigantum (Giants’ (Ring-)Dance), probably alluding to a groups of giants turned to stone for Sabbath-breaking. I say “probably” because all such narratives postdate Geoffrey by a few hundred years, and are about other stone circles, but Geoffrey’s name is suggestive. That story, obviously, is Christian. Geoffrey’s fanciful account is no use for understanding practices a thousand years before his time.

I know of no evidence that any of these circles anywhere were used for rituals. Irish prehistoric monuments had strong supernatural associations and a place in the mythology, and it’s reasonable to assume that Stonehenge was the same, but evidence for ritual is sorely lacking.

[coremelt]

I am guessing the archeological finds at Stonehenge from the period 300BC-300AD or so could answer this question definitively. I tried searching on that but I can’t find anything mentioned but I can’t say whether thats because there is nothing or just because the Bronze age finds are more interesting so are the ones that get reported.

Guess we need an actual expert on Wiltshire archeology or someone to actually go to the Stonehenge museum and ask some questions. Any UK dopers live in that area?

[DocCathode]

@MrDibble

No. AFAIK, all the well-studied English bog bodies are from Oop North. And only the Lindow men would be of the right time period anyway, and there’s contention as to whether Lindow man was sacrificed (and definitely not royally dressed - he was naked. And his last meal was burned bread, hardly a royal feast.).

Anyway, Stonehenge is on the well-drained chalk downland, not the kind of landscape that makes for peat bogs.

Oh. Umm, never mind then.

[Bridget_Burke]

@Dr.Drake

No, it can’t (barring common sense). (And why is everyone capitalizing “druids”?) The earliest unambiguous reference to it is Norman, Geoffrey of Monmouth, which calls it Chorea Gigantum (Giants’ (Ring-)Dance), probably alluding to a groups of giants turned to stone for Sabbath-breaking. I say “probably” because all such narratives postdate Geoffrey by a few hundred years, and are about other stone circles, but Geoffrey’s name is suggestive. That story, obviously, is Christian. Geoffrey’s fanciful account is no use for understanding practices a thousand years before his time.

I know of no evidence that any of these circles anywhere were used for rituals. Irish prehistoric monuments had strong supernatural associations and a place in the mythology, and it’s reasonable to assume that Stonehenge was the same, but evidence for ritual is sorely lacking.

The Oxford online dictionary (not the Unabridged) capitalizes Druid.

From my favorite, the Online Etymology Dictionary entry for Druid:

1560s, from French druide, from Latin druidae (plural), from Gaulish Druides, from Celtic compound **dru-wid-*, probably representing Old Celtic *derwos “true”/PIE *dru- “tree” (especially oak; see tree (n.)) + *wid- “to know” (see vision). Hence, literally, perhaps, “they who know the oak” (perhaps in allusion to divination from mistletoe). Anglo-Saxon, too, used identical words to mean “tree” and “truth” (treow).

The English form comes via Latin, not immediately from Celtic. The Old Irish form was drui (dative and accusative druid; plural druad); Modern Irish and Gaelic draoi, genitive* druadh* “magician, sorcerer.” Not to be confused with United Ancient Order of Druids, secret benefit society founded in London 1781.

Perhaps some earlier group, with as much of a link to the builders of Stonehenge as the United Ancient Order of Druids had to the Druids, made use of the impressive old pile. Interesting subject. There’s probably lots of debris at the site from later eras… (hash pipes, etc.)

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

They would have cleaned up all that stuff when they fenced it off in the 1970s or 80s (not sure exactly when it happened, but when my brother was a kid you go could right up to it and scratch your name on a sarsen but when I was a kid you couldn’t).

[Hypno-Toad]

(All of the following is what I remember from studying the subject. Accuracy may suffer.) The thing about Stonehenge is that it was rebuilt several times and used for different astronomical purposes. The earliest structures on the site are associated with the Long Barrow culture and were used to track the 17-year cycle of moon rises on the horizon. And the structures were not the big, 18" tall trilithons*. Just post holes that may have contained stone or wooden posts. A later culture associated with the round barrows changed the site to track sunrises. In fact, the site has been changed several times since then. The last building activity on the site was from 1600 BC and long predates the Romans. It’s not known if the site was in use during the Roman Britain period.