College of Environmental Design
Department of Architecture, UC Berkeley
Architecture Slide Library


Fall 1995 James Study Aid 1


Neolithic Architecture: Stonehenge

I. Issues surrounding study of prehistoric architecture. In the absense of written evidence the historian's dependence upon observation, excavation, and comparison, preferably with closely related sites.

II. Human tendency to make deliberate marks upon the landscape. Cave paintings at Chauvet and Stonehenge (Wiltshire, England) built? Ditch and banks (henge) c 3000 BCE, 56 Aubrey holes c 2700 BCE, double bluestone circle c 2200-2100 BCE, sarsen circle and trilithons c2000 BCE, inner bluestone circle and horseshoe c 1800 BCE.

IV. Where did the materials come from? Bluestones from Preseli Mountains, Wales; sarsens from Avebury.

IV. How was late stone age and early bronze age technology used to build Stonehenge and related monuments? Deer antlers were used as picks for excavation; stone and, late in the third millennium, some metal tools were used to smooth the stones. Stones were hauled by people using leather ropes and wooden rollers, in boats, and perhaps by oxen. Wooden cradles and poles were used to raise and help positions stones.

V.What other monuments (in England unless noted) cast light upon its appearence and purpose? Mount Pleasant, Dorset, c 2500; Houses, Skara Brae, Orkney Islands, Scotland, c 2500 BCE; Silbury Hill, c 2750 BCE; Great Cursus, c 3500 BCE, Henge, Knowlton Rings, c 2500 BCE; Image


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