Stonehenge Glossary
Stonehenge Glossary
10 Stonehenge terms
The dictionary is intended for students who are studying the topic of Stonehenge
- Ancestry
- The origin or background of something
- Example: "the book traces the ancestry of women's poetry"
- en: Происхождение
- Antiquarian
- A person who studies or collects old and valuable or rare objects
- Example: Ranke had the passion and commitment of a sixteenth-century ANTIQUARIAN, but these individuals were more 'scientific' in their expansive definition of an historical source.
- en: Владелец антиквара/Антиквар
- Aubrey holes
- Ring of 56 pits placed just within the ditch and bank at Stonehenge, dating from the earliest phase of the monument
- Example: That the Station Stones stood on top of the earlier AUBREY HOLES meant that many of Hawkins' alignments between the two features were illusory
- en: Лунки Обри
- Bluestone
- Igneous rocks that are foreign to the chalk geology of Salisbury Plain.
Bluestone is not a geological term but a convenient label for all the smaller stones at Stonehenge, which are not sarsen stones.
- en: Голубой камень
- Ditch
- A narrow channel dug at the side of a road or field, to hold or carry away water.
- Example: Cutting back on the bramble species that line the track will open up the DITCH and allow access for maintenance.
- en: Ров/канава
- Druid
- A priest of a religion followed in Britain, Ireland, and France, especially in ancient times
- Example: The village drink a magic potion brewed by their DRUID Getafix.
- en: Друид
- Equinox
- Either of the two occasions in the year when the centre of the sun is directly above the Equator, and day and night are approximately equal in length
- Example: The orientation of many of these doorways have been shown to correspond with solar alignments resulting in the majority of Iron age houses lining up with the direction of sunrise on either the EQUINOX or midwinter solstice
- en: Равноденствие
- Henge
- A Neolithic earthwork enclosure, usually circular, defined by a bank with a ditch inside it.
Henges can enclose a variety of other features: timber or stone circles (as at Woodhenge and Stonehenge)
- Example: Smith (1965) suggested the size of Avebury HENGE indicated the population of the area and a pooling of manpower during the construction of the HENGE and avenues, possibly facilitated by the direction of a priestly hierarchy
- en: Хендж
- Neolithic
- Period when humans used tools and weapons made of stone and had just developed farming:
- Example: "inside the fort is a fine Neolithic long barrow"
- en: Неолитический
- Solstice
- An astronomical event which happens twice a year, when the apparent position of the sun in the sky reaches its most northerly or southerly extremes.
- Example: The orientation of many of these doorways have been shown to correspond with solar alignments resulting in the majority of Iron age houses lining up with the direction of sunrise on either the equinox or midwinter SOLSTICE and, others aligning with the midsummer sunrise and sunset on the equinoxes
- en: Солнцестояние
