STONEHENGE II

On a ranch between Hunt and Mo Ranch, on FM 1340, stands a creation that began in the fertile minds of the late Al Shepperd and Doug Hill: STONEHENGE II is a replica of the original located on the Salisbury Plain in England.

The purpose of the original Stonehenge is unknown and perhaps unknowable, according to Shepperd, but is thought to have been built more than 3000 years ago.  Also at the site are replicas of the giant statues located on Easter Island.  As with Stonehenge, these Easter Island statues remain an enigma.

The Original Stonehenge

Stonehenge, prehistoric ritual monument, situated on Salisbury Plain, north of Salisbury, England, dates from the late Stone Age and early Bronze Age (circa 3000-1000 BC).  It is the most celebrated of the megalithic monuments of England.  Stonehenge is surrounded by a circular ditch, 340 ft. in diameter and 5 ft. deep.  Within this circle id a bank and ring of fifty-six pits known as Aubrey Holes, after their discoverer, the British antiquarian John Aubrey.  At the northeast end a break in the ditch affords access to a ditch-bordered avenue that extends in a generally northeast direction to the Avon River.

The monument itself consists of four concentric ranges of stones.  The outermost range is a circle 100 ft. in diameter of large linteled sandstone blocks called sarcen stones.  Within this circle is a circle of smaller blue stones, consisting mainly of spotted diorite, with four specimens each of rhyolite and volcanic ash.  The latter circle encloses a horseshoe-shaped arrangement of five pairs of large sarcen stones.  Within this arrangement is a smaller horseshoe-shaped range of blue stones enclosing a slab of micaceous sandstone known as the Altar Stone.  Near the entrance is the so-called Slaughter Stone, a sarcen stone that may have originally stood upright.

Grouped within the main structure are a number of barrows, some of which contain chips of blue sandstone similar to that found in the concentric rings.  The blue stones are from the north flank of the Prescelly mountains in Wales.  The Altar Stone is believed to have come from the region near Milford haven, Pembrokeshire.

Stonehenge was desecrated sometime between 55 BC and AD 410 by the Romans, who tore down a number of the upright stones.  Over time, other stones also fell.  In 1958 the fallen stones were raised, giving the monument the approximate appearance it had during the Roman occupation.  On some of the fallen stones shallow carvings were found depicting bronze ax heads of a type used in Britain between 1600 and 1400 BC and a hilted dagger of a type used in Mycenae, Greece, between 1600 and 1500 BC.

The outer bank, the ditch and the Aubrey holes date probably from the late Stone Age or early Bronze Age (c. 2000 BC).  The main structure is dated between the early Bronze Age and the end of the Iron Age. 

Parts of Stonehenge were built by a people who had widespread European trade connections and who established their principal settlements in the area between 1600 and 1300 BC.  Although Stonehenge is related basically to the circular stone or wooden temples that were constructed in Britain during the Bronze Age, it is structurally unique among European prehistoric monuments.

The function of Stonehenge has ling been a matter of conjecture.  In 1964 the American astronomer Gerald S. Hawkins reported findings obtained by supplying a computer with measurements taken at Stonehenge together with astronomical information based on celestial positions in 1500 BC when Stonehenge was in use.  According to him, the Stonehenge complex could have been used to predict the summer and winter solstices, the vernal and autumnal equinoxes and eclipses of both the sun and the moon.  A variety of other information pertaining to the sun and moon could also be predicted with remarkable accuracy.  Hawkins concluded that Stonehenge was a means of predicting the positions of the sun and moon relative to the earth, and thereby the seasons and as a daily calendar.

STONEHENGE II

The Texas versions of ancient Stonehenge and Easter island statues were built by artist Doug Hill and landowner Al Shepperd.  They first made a scale replica of Stonehenge and later added the Easter Island statues. 

Visitors can walk among these amazing works by taking FM 1340 west from Hunt.  There is parking along the road and public access during daylight hours.