STONEHENGE: REPORT ON THE LATEST DISCOVERIES
A DEEP-RELIEF, MAN-MADE CARVING OF
A HUMAN FACE
STONEHENGE: REPORT ON THE LATEST DISCOVERIES
A DEEP-RELIEF, MAN-MADE CARVING OF
A HUMAN FACE
At Stonehenge there is a carving cut in deep relief which
had gone unnoticed until recently. It is on the narrow, outer side
of trilithon stone 54 and faces west. The carving was accomplished
by abrading away up to 75 mm of the stone's vertical surface and must surely
date from antiquity. It shows a forward-facing, grave, distinguished
face having prominent eyebrows, a long straight nose and well-formed upper
lips. Although the sculpture can be studied in close-up at any time
of day, it is easily seen from afar only when highlighted by oblique
sunshine, and for this 13.50 to 14.40 BST (12.50 to 13.40 GMT) is optimum.
This short time interval, together with the need for sunshine, accounts
for the carving going unnoticed until now. The same applied
to the axe and dagger carvings on trilithon stone 53 which were discovered
46 years ago. They had gone unnoticed until the middle of the 20th
century, and yet when the sunshine is right they can be seen from 30 metres
away.
Similar carved heads have been reported for major megaliths
at Avebury.
Further information is given on these pages, or may be
obtained by request from: terence.meaden@stonehenge-avebury.net
This discovery was the subject of a BBC news announcement:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_474000/474977.stm
