It’s kinda amazing the things you think you know, but like you don’t actually know.
Do you know what I am talking about? No?
Well, here it goes.
So, the other day Mika, Aiden, and I were watching this comedian online. Aiden thought I would like her because she has a lot of jokes about history; and yeah, he was not wrong, she was great.
But one joke stuck with me; and not because it was hilarious.
The comedian was talking about Stonehenge and how ‘great’ it was, and the only reason no one has built a henge as amazing as Stonehenge is because no one know can figure out what a henge is.
At first, I laughed at the joke with my friends, and didn’t think too much of it. Until over dinner it hit me: Do I know what a henge is? I mean I thought I did. But if a teacher asked me to give a definition, could I? I know about Stonehenge, Seahenge, Avebury Henge, ect. But do I know why they are called henges.
No.
So, I called Grandpa T and asked him. What is a henge?
And in the way he always does, he turned the question on me. “What do you think a henge is.”
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I told him, I thought it was a collection of stone or wood pillars put into the ground in a circle.
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He told me: “Well, scholars believe the word ‘henge’ comes from the Old English word meaning Hanging or Suspended. That is why Stonehenge was called Stonehenge. The big lintels suspended in the air were so unique that they literally might have called the place The Hanging Stones.”
So, I was right; I thought. Until… Avebury does not have stone lintels.
“Nope.” Grandpa T confirmed. “Words change their meaning over time. And I will add to your confusion,” he promised me, smiling through the phone like the tease he is, “Seahenge, isn’t a henge.”
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What? Then what is it? I begged him to explain, but he just told me: “Do your research.”
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Why does he do this to me? I wanted to know right away. And it was bedtime, so I could not start the research until the next day. But I knew Grandpa T, and I was not going to get any more answers from him. So after my parent’s went to bed, I snuck out of mine and started to look it up.
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Here is what I found out.
Henges are a unique type of Neolithic ceremonial circle enclosure bound by a bank, with a ditch inside of it. The really fancy henges can have multiple banks and ditches.
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There are two classes of henges:
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Class 1 has a one entrance into the enclosure.
Class 2 has two entrances that are opposite to each other. Some rare ones can have four entrances, but they are also just Class 2. Why they are not their own category is a mystery, but apparently they they only wanted to Classes.
Most henges are between 20 meters and 100 meters wide. There are some that are bigger, and they are called Superhenges.
It started to make sense what Grandpa T said over the phone. Seahenge was not really a henge, because there is no bank nor ditch around it. Without that it can not be classified as a henge.
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But my research uncovered an even greater surprise.
Stonehenge is not a henge either; It is a proto-henge. Why? Because the ditch is outside of the bank and not inside of it.
So, people in the past found this ancient site they called The Hanging Stones because of the unique way these massive stone lintels here suspended in the air. The name of the place stuck and it became a national treasure. Then archaeologist found other sites that kinda looked like it and used the word henge to describe them; because they looked like Stonehenge. But then they realized that they all had this unique property of banks and ditches. So, that became the definition of these Neolithic sites. But because Stonehenge was different, it lost its identification as a henge.
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The thing that gave us the word henge, got kicked out of the henge club.
How does that make sense?
Archaeologists are weird… and I can’t wait to become one!!!!
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Sources
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Hicks, Ronald. "Stone and Other Henges" Expedition Magazine 15.2 (1973): n. pag. Expedition Magazine. Penn Museum, 1973 Web. 01 Apr 2022
<https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/stone-and-other-henges/>
Historic England. Prehistoric Henges and Circles: Introductions to Heritage Assets.
Swindon. Historic England. 2018
<https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/iha-prehistoric-henges-circles/heag218-prehistoric-henges-circles/>
Ochota, Mary-Ann. What is a Henge? Some of the most iconic Neolithic sites in England are henges, but what actually is a henge. English Heritage Website.
<https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/inspire-me/what-is-a-henge/>
Renfrew, Colin and Paul Bahn. Archaeology Essentials: Second Edition. Thames & Hudson Ltd, London. 2007
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