Preeminent(preeminente,
sobresaliente)
among megalithic monuments in the British Isles, it is similar to an older
and larger monument at Avebury.
The great prehistoric structure is enclosed(encerrado)
within(dentro de)
a circular ditch(zanja,
foso)
300 ft (91 m) in diameter, with a bank(loma,
terraplén) on the inner side, and is approached(alcanzado)
by a broad roadway(calzada)
called the Avenue. Within the circular trench(trinchera,
zanja)
the stones are arranged(ordenadas)
in four series: The outermost(más
exterior)
is a circle of sandstones(piedras
de arenisca)
about 13.5 ft (4.1 m) high connected by lintels(dinteles);
the second is a circle of bluestone menhirs; the third is horseshoe
shaped(forma de
herradura); the innermost(mas
interior), ovoid. Within the ovoid lies the Altar Stone.
The Heelstone(piedra
de acero)
is a great upright(posición
vertical)
stone in the Avenue, northeast of the circle. It was at one time widely
believed(creencia
muy extendida)
that Stonehenge was a druid temple, but this is contradicted by the fact
that the druids probably did not arrive in Britain until c.250 BC In 1963
the American astronomer Gerald Hawkins theorized that Stonehenge was used as
a huge(enorme)
astronomical instrument that could accurately(con
precisión)
measure solar and lunar movements as well as(tanto
como)
eclipses. Hawkins used a computer to test his calculations and found
definite correlations between his figures and the solar and lunar positions
in 1500 BC (However(sin
embargo), as a result of the development of calibration curves
for radiocarbon dates, the main structure at the site, Stonehenge III, is
now believed to have been built(se
cree que fue construida en)
c.2000 BC)
Some archaeologists object(se
oponen)
to Hawkins's theory on the basis that(basándose
en que)
the eclipse prediction system he proposed was much too(demasiado)
complex for the Early Bronze Age society of England. Most archaeologists
agree, however, that Stonehenge was used to observe the motions(movimientos)
of the moon as well as the sun. Research(investigaciones)
by the archaeologist Alexander Thom, based on the careful(cuidadoso)
mapping of hundreds of megalithic sites, indicates that the megalithic
ritual circles were built with a high degree(se
grado)
of accuracy(precisión),
requiring considerable mathematical and geometric sophistication.
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