The World of Stonehenge Exhibition British Museum London

PREVIEW VIDEO

Who have been the individuals of Stonehenge? Curators Jennifer Wexler and Neil Wilkin take you on a tour of their British Museum exhibition The world of Stonehenge, to introduce you to some unimaginable those that constructed and lived across the time of the monument.

ENTER THE WORLD OF STONEHENGE

THE WORLD OF STONEHENGE – WHAT TO EXPECT?

Stonehenge was constructed someplace between 5000 and 3500 years in the past as a particular place the place individuals got here collectively. Lately, the construction helps us to study extra concerning the historical past of this area, in addition to perceive extra concerning the lives of the individuals who lived and visited right here.

We all know that Stonehenge was one among many necessary ceremonial monuments constructed throughout Britain, Eire and continental Europe throughout prehistory. Within the exhibition, you discover narratives of connectivity, change, mobility and migration, by way of tales and objects that present the elemental modifications in peoples’ relationships with the sky, nature and each other by way of the ages.

The exhibition is supported by bp and organised with the State Museum of Prehistory, Halle/Saale, Germany and contains 430 artefacts from throughout Europe, many by no means seen within the UK earlier than, brief video illustrations (with textual content on display screen), atmospheric music, and plenty of data based mostly on current archaeological and scientific work.

THE REASON FOR MY VISIT

One of many primary causes that made me determine to go to this exhibition was the show of the blue- and bronze Nebra Sky Disk, to this point the oldest illustration of our cosmos, made about 3600 years in the past.

A couple of years in the past, I visited the Nebra Sky Disk Museum within the small city of Wangen (within the Saxony-Anhalt area of Germany) and discovered extra concerning the story of this necessary archaeological discover.

The precise disk wasn’t on show on the data centre, so you possibly can think about how excited I used to be to get this opportunity to lastly see it up and shut in London!

Extra concerning the disk later on this article, first again to the start. Actually.

WALK-THROUGH THE WORLD OF STONEHENGE EXHIBITION BRITISH MUSEUM

PART I – A CHANGING RELATIONSHIP

The exhibition is split into themed sections, following a timeline from about 6000 to 2800 years in the past that tells the story of Stonehenge and the individuals interacting with the sacred monument.

You begin on the part referred to as “Working with nature” (about 6000 years in the past), the place you possibly can see how communities in Britain redefined their relationship with nature going from searching and gathering to a farming way of life of migrant communities from the continent.

Amongst all of the modifications, monuments have been raised to point out possession of land and declare particular locations, for the primary time. Stone, wooden and clay objects have been each instruments and symbols of this new relationship between individuals and nature.

The centre of the idea system that constructed Stonehenge was the solar and in one of many first stars (pun meant) of the present – a wonderful standing stone from Italy – you possibly can see it depicted in a scratching.

The iconography and symbols of solar worship come again in varied gadgets additional within the exhibition.

PART II – CONNECTIONS THROUGH ART

Within the subsequent part, referred to as “Sermons in stone” (round 5000 years in the past), you possibly can find out how communities throughout Britain and Eire created long-distance connections by way of a brand new type of artwork.

Spirals, circles and geometric patterns have been utilized to tombs, home interiors, open-air rocks and objects. This new artwork type coincided with a flourishing of monument constructing at areas throughout Britain and Eire.

The structure and imagery drew collectively giant numbers of individuals in works of collaboration and creativity.

VIDEO – Impressed by Stonehenge and its World

Stonehenge’s construction and temper have impressed the good artists of British Romanticism. Discover how and why Stonehenge and its world have stimulated creative and literary responses, as much as right now.

PART III – THE STORY OF STONEHENGE

The story of Stonehenge additionally begins round this time. The monument’s builders marked out the sacred floor by digging a ditch and throwing up rubble to type the outer encircling financial institution of the henge. Inside, they raised a circle of big noticed dolerite ‘bluestone’ boulders, moved 350 kilometres from the Preseli Hills in Wales.

This Stonehenge was a cemetery for the cremated stays of between 150 and 200 individuals. Chemical evaluation means that a number of lived and died in west Wales earlier than their stays have been interred throughout the monument.

Other than this website, the broader panorama was used for non secular devotion by farming communities. Observations of the solar performed a job even at this early stage. A monument generally known as a cursus was constructed with glistening white chalk sides stretching for 3 kilometres east to west, enshrining processions and the solar’s passage.

PART IV – ORKNEY

Round 5500 years in the past, Orkney (Scotland) grew to become a centre of cultural innovation. Its excellent tomb and settlement structure are among the many most spectacular in historical Europe.

Communities in Orkney constructed henges and developed a brand new kind of pottery referred to as “Grooved Ware”, utilized in ceremonial feasts. Each concepts, and the non secular ethos they represented, have been adopted by teams all through Britain and Eire.

A number of the groundbreaking discoveries made throughout Orkney are proven on the exhibition for the primary time!

PART V – SEAHENGE

Have you ever ever heard of “Seahenge”? This wooden monument was erected by the shore in Norfolk in 2049 BC, round 500 years after the principle building of Stonehenge.

The picket circle consisting of 55 oak posts and an upturned tree trunk within the centre was lined in sand and peat till it re-emerged on a seaside in Norfolk in 1998.

On the exhibition, you possibly can rise up and shut with a few of the posts and see an nearly holographic show of the tree trunk. It’s also possible to hear recordings made on the north Norfork coast, composed by sound artist Rob St. John in collaboration with artist and archaeologist Rose Ferraby.

That is the primary time Seahenge has ever gone on mortgage (from the Lynn Museum in King’s Lynn, Norfolk).

PART VI – STONEHENGE & LIFESTYLE

As you may know, Stonehenge and different monuments within the British panorama are precisely aligned to the dawn on the winter solstice. Many individuals would (and nonetheless do) collect there on the daybreak of the shortest day to propitiate the solar to resume their crops.

About 4600 years in the past, the communities who worshipped at Stonehenge settled at Durrington Partitions, an enormous monument encompassing two timber circles and many homes. From right here, pilgrims launched into a choreographed route, by boat alongside the River Avon after which by foot, to reach at Stonehenge. The timber circles at Durrington Partitions and close by Woodhenge have been alined on the summer time and winter solstices.

The distinction between these monuments and Stonehenge could mirror contrasting symbolic domains – perishable wooden for the dwelling and everlasting stone for the ancestors.

VIDEO – Historic DNA within the time of Stonehenge

What can historical DNA inform us about how individuals lived within the time of Stonehenge? From weight loss program to migration, the research of historical DNA is offering new details about the lives of these within the Stonehenge panorama and past.

PART VII – PRECIOUS METALS

We’re at about 4500 years in the past now, within the part referred to as “Making metallic”.

You possibly can most likely think about how the transformation of stone right into a molten metallic that may very well be solid into new types was a dramatic, and even magical, occasion for individuals presently in historical past.

In addition to magic, it additionally enabled crucial improvements in carpentry, joinery and boat constructing, since metallic may very well be recycled and reshaped into gadgets reminiscent of copper and bronze axes.

Stonehenge took its well-known type round this time. Greater than 80 large sarsen stones, every requiring a minimum of 1000 individuals to move, have been introduced 25 kilometres from their supply. This effort required unprecedented communal labour, persistence and planning. It took generations to finish.

The constructing of the processional routeway, the Avenue, about 4400 years in the past confirmed Stonehenge’s sacred standing.

Stonehenge continued to be a spot the place the solar’s course was noticed and celebrated for a whole lot of years. Nonetheless, few monuments with photo voltaic significance have been constructed within the centuries that adopted. over time, symbolism, and even solstice positions have been inscribed on transportable metallic objects.

PART IIX – GOLD LIKE THE SUN

As we transfer to the part “Underneath One Sky”, the significance (and wonder) of our Earth’s treasured metals turns into much more apparent. Gold ornaments had the power to mirror and maybe even harness the ability of the solar, making certain wellbeing throughout the seasons, or so individuals thought again then.

The introduction of metallic to Britain and Eire round 4300 years in the past enabled cosmological beliefs represented by Stonehenge and different monuments into a variety of transportable objects, a few of them on show on this part of the exhibition.

The affect of this was nice as earlier than there have been solely mounted monuments to look at and worship the solar at set instances of the 12 months – and now you may have your individual private connection to the heavens above by holding and even carrying its illustration in particular person.

PART IX – THE NEBRA SKY DISK

And there it lastly is: the Nebra Sky Disk in all her glory. On this beautiful map of the night time sky, you possibly can see the Pleiades (Seven Sisters) twinkle between the solar and a crescent moon – and the way stunning it’s!

You possibly can learn extra concerning the Sky Disk on our weblog “The House Tester”. For instance, discover out right here what the Nebra Sky Disc is strictly and why it’s so necessary, go to the Nebra Sky Disk Museum in Germany with me (+ a extra in-depth report of the Arche Nebra Himmelsscheibe Museum right here), discover extra data and pictures of the Nebra Sky Disk on the British Museum or learn how ESA’s Mission Cosmic Kiss met the Nebra Sky Disk Onboard the ISS.

I can extremely advocate studying up concerning the historical past of the Sky Disc as a result of the story about how the invention was made is sort of thrilling!

PART X – A SUN CULT

The looks of recent objects and symbols about 3500 years in the past reveals {that a} extra complicated mannequin of the cosmos was creating.

Throughout Scandinavia, the solar, horse and ship have been the themes of non secular imagery. In central Europe, two water birds related by a boat-shaped physique under a solar grew to become an necessary motif.

Gold discs grew to become symbols of a solar cult, marking out a believer or pilgrim coming back from websites like Stonehenge.

PART XI – BURIAL MOUNDS

Within the part “Elevating the useless”, I study that from about 4500 years in the past, burying individuals with valued objects on sacred land grew to become the dominant method of expressing cultural and non secular that means throughout Britain and Europe. At Stonehenge, a whole lot of burial mounds have been raised for the illustrious useless.

The objects that mourners chosen for the grave ready souls for all times past this world. They have been markers of private identification, ethnicity and success, however in addition they expressed hopes, needs, failed ambitions and long-distance pilgrimages.

New scientific research allow us to hint the tales, genetic relationships and actions of individuals by way of time, as they grew to become established lineages. Rows of burial mounds have been bodily manifestations of household timber.

PART X – SUCCESS AND POWER

Outstanding and unique objects have been positioned within the graves of well-connected leaders from southern England, northern France and Germany between about 4000 and 3600 years in the past. The journeys made by these individuals and their ambassadors have been marked by the change of items within the shadow of monuments like Stonehenge.

What was the premise of success and energy throughout this period? The grave items counsel cosmologically and spiritually-minded individuals who held positions bestowed upon them by their communities.

By about 3700 years in the past, Stonehenge fashioned the center of the densest focus of burial mounds in Britain, together with a few of the richest in Europe. The emphasis had shifted from constructing communal monuments to elevating mounds in cemeteries that staked claims to land, historical past and kinship.

The continental European custom of inserting metallic objects in hoards with out our bodies started in southern England round this time. The Stonehenge sarsens have been inscribed with carvings of those new, treasured, objects. This daring act could have bordered on iconoclasm.

PART XI – TO THE SEA

About 3500 years in the past, the affect of the Stonehenge area started to wane. Communities on the south coast of England regarded to social and political relationships in continental Europe, which was changing into an more and more necessary supply of helpful bronze.

As these continental connections elevated, European metallic and unique items started to stream throughout the North Sea and the English Channel.

As new forms of objects emerged, so too did new concepts about providing treasured gadgets to repay or search safety from nature or ancestral spirits. This challenged older non secular beliefs and the function of monuments like Stonehenge.

PART XII – STONEHENGE UNSETTLED

The arrival of the Beaker-using individuals was a watershed second on the earth of Stonehenge. Though it’s doable that a few of the first newcomers assisted or impressed the good achievements in stone, additionally it is clear that that they had completely different priorities and beliefs.

Fragments of bluestone discovered on the website from round this time counsel that the monument was being reworked and even vandalised. Elsewhere, henges have been being damaged up and dismantled. Monument buildings slowed dramatically as dying and the afterlife grew to become dominant cultural considerations.

PART XIII – THE RISE OF WARFARE

Mounting pressures brought on by the enlargement of commerce networks and new land divisions gave rise to warfare throughout northwest Europe round 3300 years in the past. Skirmishes, raids and huge clashes of skilled warriors grew to become a grim truth of life.

The ceremonial roles that monuments and burials performed have been now partly transferred to new arenas of violence and the dramatic destruction of helpful possessions. Injury was wrought to each our bodies and objects, together with frequent ritual deposition of metalwork in watery areas, maybe as symbolic killings.

Atlantic sea routes linked the ocean-facing communities of Europe, offering a significant community by which individuals, applied sciences and objects may transfer.

Regardless of violence and uncertainty, elevated connectivity resulted in new social and cultural relations being solid 3000 years in the past.

Present-giving and feasting grew to become necessary, offering the perfect atmosphere for relationships between allies or feuding enemies to be settled or confirmed. Related by water, individuals continued to dwell dynamic and resilient lives regardless of the tumultuous and altering instances.

VIDEO – Dwelling on Water within the World of Stonehenge

Discover the idea of ‘dwelling on water’ all through the interval lined by The world of Stonehenge exhibition. Highlighting current excavations and analysis from throughout this sweep of time at a lot of key water’s edge websites, together with the internationally well-known settlements at Star Carr and Should Farm, a panel of consultants will take into account what made these areas enticing to individuals and what advantages they introduced.

PART XIV – THE LAST OF THE LIGHT

By 2800 years in the past, the world of Stonehenge had modified. The stone circles nonetheless utilized in components of Britain and Eire now not attracted giant gatherings. European commerce networks carrying ritually-charged objects and supplies broke down.

This decline occurred as climatic and environmental change undermined social and financial confidence. The consequence was the top of the period charted by this exhibition.

Stonehenge stands not for a panorama, area and even nation, however for the generations of people that have made that means from an everlasting place in a altering world.

VIDEO – New scientific discoveries: reinterpreting Stonehenge

Uncover the most recent analysis on the world-famous monument with main consultants on Stonehenge. Hear about fascinating discoveries from the previous few years, and the way excavations have revealed new particulars which have prompted reinterpretations of the ceremonial and non secular function the traditional stone circle has performed.

STONEHENGE EXHIBITION: PRACTICAL INFORMATION

PLANNING YOUR VISIT

Exhibition: The world of Stonehenge
Location: The British Museum, Nice Russell St, London WC1B 3DG, United Kingdom
Dates: 17 February – 17 July 2022
Entry Charge: 20 GBP (adults) / 18 GBP (scholar, 16-18 years, disabled) / Free (below 16 years, disabled particular person’s assistant)

Web site: britishmuseum.org

Exhibition Information: The World of Stonehenge E book from amazon.com or britishmuseumshoponline.org

VISIT STONEHENGE IN ENGLAND

Couldn’t see Stonehenge on the British Museum? Or excited to see it in particular person? Plan your journey to Stonehenge in Salisbury, England with assist of The Journey Tester!

Be certain that to learn our prolonged article on visiting Stonehenge from London. Right here you’ll discover all the pieces it is advisable to learn about transport choices, entry charges, opening instances and way more!