Congratulations. At last a comprehensive overview of this important dig and a rational elucidation of the findings. This is a considerable improvement on the previous and much criticised approach taken by the BBC with Stonehenge documentaries. However, while the continued casting of a murky line between conjecture and fact may facilitate the implementation of an exciting narrative, it unfortunately assumes the audience to be both wide-eyed and ill informed, which is clearly not the case.

The concluding revelations of the BBC documentary, that Stonehenge was a monument to the ancestors and that the Bluestones arrived at the site at its inception are extremely interesting. I would agree with the team’s analysis of the excavation of one of the Aubrey holes, that the Bluestones were indeed used to construct the first phase of Stonehenge. (Rather than arriving much later as unconvincingly stated in episode one)

I would also agree that there is some ground to suggest that Stonehenge may have functioned as a monument to the dead, although this is a far from substantiated claim, but it should be mentioned that these ideas are neither new, nor spawned by the Time Team archaeologists as the documentary purports.

On Page 15 of the A5 version of The Tome of Seus, the book reads:

“Take four score stones of Einim Mount, each as tall as the tallest man, and build a new temple at the place where the sun and moon align.”

For those who are not familiar with the book, it uses anagrams to encode the various allegories, in this case Einim being an anagram of Meini, the modern name for the source of the Bluestones. Not only are we informed here that the Bluestones were to be used for construction of the first phase of Stonehenge, but also that the builders were aware of the significance of the site’s now well documented, unique astro-geographical location, something that the Time Team seem to continually overlook.

The book goes on to inform us of the importance of the site as both a calendar and a memorial to important ancestors. Whether this is the first place that these ideas were floated I cannot be sure, but as The Tome of Seus was being freely exchanged on the Internet long before the first documentary was published, (in which the now discredited proclamation that the Bluestones arrived earlier than previously thought was made) it is hard to see how the Time Team can now lay any claim to the idea that the Bluestones were there from the start.

To my mind they have succeeded in confirming that the book was correct in its claim that Stonehenge essentially began with the arrival of the Bluestones, and provided support for the idea that the site was used, in part, as a monument to the dead.

I would like to mention here that it is often the painstaking and important research of unsupported amateurs, which provides the critical and periodic sparks that rekindle our interest in this fascinating story of rediscovery, yet the accolade is always placed within the fervent grasp of the professionals who have the facility to ‘prove’ and lay claim to any new ideas that they choose to pursue.

One such amateur, David Jones, has produced an admirable work that examines the evidence left by the Ancient Britons to leave his readers in no doubt that these people were key pioneers of science, education and advanced social concepts. His book takes a serious, long awaited and logical look at our forgotten past and can be found here: http://www.aptwebsite.toucansurf.com/

For anyone who would like to enter the debate, the forum at preselibluestone.com provides a suitable platform for discussion and exchange of ideas relating to Stonehenge. http://www.preselibluestone.com/cgi-bin/forum/cutecast.pl

All the best to Stoneheads everywhere,

The Stones are in Your Bones,

Blue Clark

BBC Timewatch Documentary I