Ned Potter is the science correspondent for ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson." He has reported on such topics as space exploration, the human genome and climate change.
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On Salisbury Plain
January 30, 2007 8:12 PM
If you've ever been to Stonehenge, you may recognize the feeling. I remember driving up the road toward Salisbury Plain, the sky as ominous as the feeling of expected mystery, and then coming over a ridge--and having to stop because the scene ahead was so preposterous. 
There, on the horizon, was a pile of rocks -- surrounded on every side by tour buses.
If you want to be moved, go to Independence Hall, or Dealey Plaza, or find your own ancestors' home. Stonehenge has been overrun.
But there's more to Stonehenge, and I spent the day on it today. A group of archeologists says it was not built in isolation. Two miles away, there was another henge, or ceremonial circle--this one made of wood, most signs of it long gone after 4,500 years. The lead archeologist, Mike Parker Pearson, says it may well be that the wooden circle was a celebration of life, while Stonehenge was a celebration of the afterlife.
And today, through National Geographic, one of their major sponsors, they announced they've uncovered evidence of a large village--large by the standards of the Neolithic period--that might have housed more than a hundred people.
What might it all mean? More HERE, from some of my colleagues in our London bureau. And video of the piece we put together at World News' request is HERE.
January 30, 2007 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (1)
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Fascinating story, Ned, and many thanks for the additional links! I completely understand the feelings you describe approaching Stonehenge, since I've had the same feelings when I first visited the pyramids of Teotihuacan outside Mexico City: the sense of wonder, awe, and mystery is somehow shattered by all the modern intrusions on the scene.
Posted by: chuck | Jan 31, 2007 8:42:35 AM
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