How Old Is Stonehenge?

In a laboratory at the University of Chicago, a pinch of powdered carbon was placed in a radiation counter. Chemistry Professor Willard F. Libby carefully measured its faint radioactivity,* made his calculation and gave his verdict: the charred oak from which the carbon came was 3,800 years old--give or take about 275 years.

The charcoal sample that was thus dated came from an excavated pit at Stonehenge, the great "megalithic cromlech" on

England's Salisbury Plain that has mystified scientists since Roman times. Antiquarians, archeologists and astronomers have speculated for years about Stonehenge's double circle of rough stone blocks. They have never been able to pin it on any one race or culture, because they could never agree about how old it is.

Buddhas & Serpents. Stonehenge has been credited, at one time or another, to the Phoenicians, Celts, Romans, Sumerians, Druids and early Christians. It has been called a solar calendar, a Buddhist shrine, a temple of snake worshipers, an altar where defeated leaders were sacrificed to the god Woden.

Most modern authorities agree that Stonehenge was built by sun worshipers. Within the twin stone circles are two horseshoes of heavy rock and a vast sandstone altar. Some 80 yards away stands a marking stone known as the "Friar's Heel." At dawn on Midsummer Day (June 24), the rising sun casts a shadow of the Friar's Heel on the great altar. Astronomer Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer has calculated that on Midsummer Day, 1680 B.C., the sun rose directly over the special marking notch that can still be seen on the Heel. Libby's measurements tend to confirm Sir Joseph's guess: that Stonehenge was built about 3,800 years ago.

Megaliths & Beakers. Today it seems certain that megalithic men of the New Stone Age migrated to Britain around the time Stonehenge was built. They may well have brought part of their Stone Circle with them from earlier settlements in Wales, erecting it as a sacramental act to take possession of the Promised Land.

Later they were joined by the "Beaker Folk" from the Rhineland. The two races mingled peacefully at Stonehenge.

When scientists try to explain the weatherworn, lichen-covered slabs, the activities of past diggers are as much hindrance as help. Inquisitive Roman legionaries made some confusing excavations. One of the larger stones, or Trilithons, is said to have fallen in 1620 when the Duke of Buckingham dug for buried gold. For years a Salisbury hotel kept a heavy hammer for the use of guests who were amateur relic hunters.

The latest dig was made in 1950 by Stuart Piggott, professor of prehistoric history at the University of Edinburgh. In untouched areas he uncovered the bits of charcoal that were sent to Professor Libby in Chicago.

* From carbon 14, which is formed in the atmosphere by cosmic rays and is taken up by living plants. It loses half its strength in some 5,600 years, and so indicates the date when organic matter, such as wood, was formed.

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