Study: Stonehenge Built As Dance Arena For Prehistoric "Samba-Style" Raves

MSNBC:

Stonehenge was built as a dance arena for prehistoric "samba-style" raves, according to a study of the acoustics of the 5,000-year-old stone circle.

Read the whole story: MSNBC

Comments

[wm1066]

03:55 PM on 01/09/2009

This kind of study has been done at the ruins in Central America and they too had accustic vibrations. Clapping your hands in the central court at Chitzen Itza makes great echo reverberations.

[Cinnamonape]

03:25 PM on 01/08/2009

On a less serious note:

Now we know why "Spinal Tap" needed the little Stonehenge on stage...they were used as monitors.

[Freesia2]

09:48 AM on 01/10/2009

lol

[Cinnamonape]

03:24 PM on 01/08/2009

Dubious study...given that there is good evidence that the site was preceded by a structure in wood, and that the stones were added at different times....hundreds of years apart. Plus the fact that they used cement, with different acoustical properties than raw stone, would leave me more than a bit doubtful. Any set of stones would reflect back sound to some degree, and so it would amplify the sounds produced within that space. But the authors don't actually establish that the precise form of the Stonehenge was "the best" for doing this, nor that the it was built "for" that purpose. One could do ones "raves" in the quarry where the stones were taken from and get similar reflectances.

Stonehenge "evolved", and it had particular designs that changed over generations. They may have sung and used tabor-like drums there, but likely the rtaul functions it served long preceded the placement of the standing stones. And the placement of these stones likely had very little to do with "improving acoustics". How would they have known where to place these stone in such positions in the first place? Did they move them around to get the "best sound"? There's not a smidgen of archaeology to support such interpretations.

[hortonhearsawho2]

08:50 AM on 01/08/2009

( Who ) played stonehenge?... damn they are old...

[wm1066]

03:49 PM on 01/09/2009

Well....it had to have been the Stones!

[Palemoon]

05:08 AM on 01/08/2009

Curious about the headline, both the one here and at MSNBC. The researcher merely stated that the tempo of beat could reach upwards of 160 beats per minute, which musically put it in the genres of techno/rave and samba styles music. He was using those as examples, he wasn't saying that people held samba raves there at all. And besides, this is all speculation and theory. Nobody that I know of, knows what exactly Stonehenge was built for. Interestingly, France has more and ever diverse stone circles than the UK does by far. But those are little reported on, curiously. I've read alot about druids, druidism, celtic life, and I have no idea what these were used for, lol.

Reminds me of the mystery of some of the stone areas way out in the boonies near a friends land plot here in Georgia. His land borders along a wildlife management area, and during weekends I'd sometimes stay out there and we'd go for walks out in the wildnerness. Curiously, we'd often stumble across stone circles and stone mounds apparently left behind by Native Americans. We could only surmise that the stone mounds, about 4 feet high, were probably burial locations of someone important. No idea really, and there's not much concern about them being there, or what they are. But it's definitely interesting to see in the wilderness, stones that are not from that area, all neatly stacked in a big mound.

[terragazelle60]

03:05 PM on 01/10/2009

The builders of Stonehenge and the other ancient sacred sites built with the view of symbols. They believed in the Earth Mother and Sky Father. The people studying these sites see them as temples to the Earth Mother...and by the shape of Stonehenge you can understand why.This is because the monument is heavy with feminine symbolism. Above all, the several concentric circles and the U-settings appear to represent the womb of the Earth Mother while the middle trilithon arch in the outer circle is her vulva .Next, the axis of the monument is directed at the rising sun on midsummer's day. It is only on midsummer morning that the rising sun penetrates the middle-arch of the womb to illuminate the internal Goddess Stone.. Watchers would see the stone sparkling in the reflected light of the Sky God, serving here in his role of the Sun. This constituted a dramatic spectacle in which the actual Marriage and Consummation of the Gods was witnessed. That is the reason for Stonehenge and the other sacred sites...the fertility of the Earth. Stonehenge shortly after sunrise a second effect took place --- in fact, it still does. The phallic shadow cast by the Heel Stone (a stone which is arguably the Sky Father's lithic personification on earth) also enters the vulvar arch to encounter the female cult object --- the Womb Stone or Cult Stone.

[Halter]

03:35 AM on 01/08/2009

Considering they built a highway practically through the middle of Stonehenge, I think we get a lot more excited by the place than the Brits do.

[goodog]

02:32 AM on 01/08/2009

He recreated the sound of someone clapping at Stonehenge.

Seriously... someone seriously reported on this so-called science?

I tried, really, but began laughing halfway though and couldn't finish it.

The relative rigor of college stoners setting up their audio equipment at a model of Stonehenge is forgivable, but for a journalist to report on it with a straight face is not.

We should at least read about this in the Entertainment or Style section. World News is pushing it.

[ErnestineBass]

01:50 AM on 01/08/2009

Ever seen Nebraska's "Carhenge"? Hilarious and ripe with symbolism.

[peterfromcanada]

09:36 PM on 01/07/2009

i'll believe it when they find traces of ecstasy......

[irtrad17]

09:33 PM on 01/07/2009

I was always led to believe that Stonehenge was a celestial clock for timing the solstice. Is that theory no more?

[themodernleader]

08:15 PM on 01/07/2009

This conclusion tells us more about the hedonism and self-centeredness of certain citizens of our own era than it relates to any behavior of an unknown people of the distant past.

[hilby]

10:11 PM on 01/07/2009

Raves are about abandoning self-centeredness in order to bond with others in a non-aggressive way and just enjoying yourself on the weekend, then going back to being a self-centered corporate slave on Monday.

[lizziekw]

12:22 AM on 01/08/2009

Lighten up, Frances.

[Kiba]

06:14 PM on 01/07/2009

I WANNA ROCK!

[ErnestineBass]

01:45 AM on 01/08/2009

LOL!