Assessing the monumental architecture of Neolithic Britain

November 8, 2011 1:53 PM

What's the meaning of Stonehenge? [SLYT]
posted by hydatius (36 comments total)

No-one knows who they were, or... what they were doing.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:56 PM on November 8, 2011 [17 favorites]

Wait, Spinal Tap got their facts wrong?
posted by El Sabor Asiatico at 1:58 PM on November 8, 2011

Is it where the cats meow?
posted by punkfloyd at 1:58 PM on November 8, 2011

Is it Ghostbusters 2?
posted by Samizdata at 1:59 PM on November 8, 2011 [2 favorites]

As long as the banshees have a place to live (and I do mean well), I'm happy.
posted by COBRA! at 2:00 PM on November 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

I still think it was a calendar/place of worship
posted by Renoroc at 2:05 PM on November 8, 2011

I was lucky enough to attend a stone levitation workshop at the henge last year. At the end of the workshop we were given a tour of the tunnels where we got to view some of the ancient technology and meet some of the Druids.
posted by run"monty at 2:07 PM on November 8, 2011 [3 favorites]

No, we're not going to fucking do Stonehenge.
posted by justkevin at 2:13 PM on November 8, 2011

Ha! Good stuff. Is that Paul Rudd's cousin?
posted by zardoz at 2:15 PM on November 8, 2011 [2 favorites]

I know its been referenced in only every single comment here so far, but it needs to be linked.
posted by Joey Michaels at 2:45 PM on November 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

Also, the actual FPP link is pretty fricken hilarious.
posted by Joey Michaels at 2:45 PM on November 8, 2011

What did I learn from Stonehenge? I learned that I drive a car I can trust!
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 2:45 PM on November 8, 2011

What's the meaning of Carhenge?
posted by not_on_display at 2:47 PM on November 8, 2011

Yeah, this is pretty good!
posted by HuronBob at 2:58 PM on November 8, 2011

What's the meaning of Carhenge?

Never mind the car, let's talk about the Henge!
posted by briank at 3:00 PM on November 8, 2011

I love this guy. Ylvis, spreader of beanplating joy.
posted by Edogy at 3:01 PM on November 8, 2011

Glad to see Paul Rudd is staying b—

Ha! Good stuff. Is that Paul Rudd's cousin?

DAMMIT.

Anyway, I was at the science museum yesterday and I saw this stuff and I laughed and laughed and laughed.
posted by cortex at 3:01 PM on November 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

And so they danced, the little children o'Stone'enge ...
posted by zomg at 3:09 PM on November 8, 2011

"It's the biggest henge that I have ever seen."

Psssht. Stonehenge is for tourists. All the henge snobs know the biggest is Avebury.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 3:09 PM on November 8, 2011 [4 favorites]

Wait, a rock star drives a Civic?
posted by sammyo at 3:51 PM on November 8, 2011

What's the meaning of Stonehenge?

It probably has to do with figuring out the Answer to the Question.
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:54 PM on November 8, 2011

I think it is likely that the sole purpose for the creation of Stonehenge was so that 5000 years later this song would be created. Prophecy fulfilled. World can end now.
posted by polywomp at 4:00 PM on November 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

That was great, though now I wonder...are youtube comments in Norwegian any better than the typical English-language comments on youtube?
posted by maxwelton at 4:42 PM on November 8, 2011

Never mind the car, let's talk about the Henge!

Oh, how I have longed for this opportunity to once again repeat on Metafilter one of my inexplicably favorite inconsequential facts! Here we go:

Interesting etymology: the word "henge" is a backformation from "Stonehenge", which itself is thought to mean something like "stone hang" - i.e. it's the place where stones hang in the air. However:

The word "henge" has nothing to do with stones, let alone hanging stones, despite the fact that it came from "Stonehenge". It means a particular type of earthworks - a large, flat, circular or oval area with a bank as its external boundary, and a ditch just inside the bank. Henges might have stone circles in them (and/or other things), but a stone circle is not a henge, nor is it what makes a henge a henge, nor is it even necessarily within a henge. Moreover:

Stonehenge itself is a large, flat, circular or oval area with a ditch as its external boundary, and a bank just inside the ditch. That is:

Stonehenge is not a henge. Despite the word "henge" coming from the word "Stonehenge".

(at least, according to Wikipedia)
posted by Flunkie at 5:12 PM on November 8, 2011 [4 favorites]

This is the best Stonehenge related rock video ever.
posted by Meatbomb at 5:22 PM on November 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

Wait, Spinal Tap got their facts wrong?

Although Spın̈al Tap claims that Stonehenge is "where the banshees live and they do live well," both claims appear to be inaccurate. Banshees are indigenous to Ireland and Scotland, hundreds of miles from Stonehenge. While some banshees have the means to afford silver combs, others are employed washing blood from grave clothes in steams, hardly the occupation of someone who "lives well."

Additionally, Spın̈al Tap implies that the Druids built Stonehenge, which is unlikely since most archaeologists date the construction of Stonehenge to 3000-2000 BCE and the Druids appeared hundreds of years later, during the British Iron Age. (An alternate interpretation is that Spın̈al Tap merely claims that the Druids' legacy is "hewn into the living rock," i.e., the Druids didn't erect the structure but merely carved their legacy into it. However, this raises another inaccurate Spın̈al Tapian claim that the rock is "living," whereas radiocarbon dating has established that it is not.)

Is it where the cats meow?

While cats may meow at Stonehenge currently (if brought there; no cats are native to the site), Spın̈al Tap's implication that they meowed there in ancient times is another inaccurate claim since most sources credit the Romans with introducing cats to England during their conquest that started in 43CE.
posted by kirkaracha at 5:43 PM on November 8, 2011 [8 favorites]

As usual, Woodhenge gets no love.
posted by kirkaracha at 5:44 PM on November 8, 2011

Stonehenge Theories with Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap
posted by kirkaracha at 5:46 PM on November 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

kirkaracha: we went to Woodhenge, not Stone Henge, because we are crowd phobic (and cheapskates who didn't want to pay for parking.) We enjoyed looking at Stone Henge from the road, though.

Also: I'm glad I have a policy of watching videos all the way through before sharing them. with children interested in ancient British history :/
posted by titanium_geek at 6:02 PM on November 8, 2011

Building a henge, are we?
posted by 0xdeadc0de at 6:35 PM on November 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

hey, I was just at FoamHenge a few weeks ago! Made of foam!
posted by tarantula at 6:51 PM on November 8, 2011

At first I thought it was just, you know, maybe he is Scandinavian or something.
posted by Xoebe at 9:26 PM on November 8, 2011

He rhymed high, technology, and today. That's hard to do.
posted by eye of newt at 9:40 PM on November 8, 2011 [3 favorites]

He rhymed high, technology, and today. That's hard to do.

It's easy, when he shows you how.
posted by straight at 9:53 PM on November 8, 2011

"He rhymed high, technology, and today. That's hard to do."

Julia Gillard could give it fair go.
posted by Kerasia at 10:53 PM on November 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

FoamHenge is (not quite literally) in my back yard, and I almost wrecked my bicycle the first time I passed it. A couple of hundred meters down the road my mind processed what it had seen and had a brief seize-up.
posted by Wolfdog at 11:50 AM on November 9, 2011