The hunt and the voting are on for the new Seven Wonders of the World. A total of 77 landmark sites, including the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower, were initially chosen by the New7Wonder Panel of Experts, chaired by the former head of UNESCO, Prof. Dr Federico Mayor, to be short-listed following a panel inspection and public vote. Out of the 21 that made the cut, the seven winners will be announced on July 7, 2007 in Lisbon, Portugal.
The only British site to have made the last 21 is Stonehenge which dates back to somewhere between 3000 BC and 1600 BC. The monument seen today is about half the size of the original. Some of the stones have fallen down, others have been carried away to be used for building and over the centuries visitors have added their damage, too.
The name Stonehenge originates from the Anglo-Saxon period –– the old English word ‘henge’ meaning hanging thus giving us hanging stones. The area was owned by a local man, Sir Cecil Chubb, before giving it away to the nation in 1918 and is now managed by English Heritage on behalf of the government.
The structure of Stonehenge was built in three separate phases. It started off as a circle of timbers surrounded by a ditch and bank. Through excavations of the ditch, scientists have recovered antlers left behind and by testing their age through radio carbon-dating it was discovered that the first ‘henge’ was built around 3000 BC.
Then about 2500 BC Stonehenge was rebuilt. This time, however, stones were used. These stones travelled 245 miles from the Prescelli Mountains in Pembroke, South Wales and were dragged down to the sea, floated on huge rafts, brought up the River Avon, and finally to where they are today. Before the completion of the second phase, work was abandoned for about 200 years before the third phase finally delivered the Stonehenge that we see today.
This final phase saw the stones being dug up and rearranged while bigger stones were brought in from the Marlborough Downs which was 20 miles away. These giant sandstones were hammered to size and were heaved upright and linked on the top by the lintels. It required sheer muscle power and hundreds of lifters to move one of these stones, the heaviest of them weighing about 45 tons. This was all cleverly designed on the alignment of the rising of the midsummer sun.
A mysterious site such as Stonehenge gives birth to random theories. There have been odd occurrences, like the Hale-Bopp comet passing directly over this site at the turn of the millennium to support these theories. Some people claim to have seen UFOs in the area thus labelling Stonehenge as an extraterrestrial landing site. It is known that on the longest day of the year, the summer solstice, the sun shines directly through the centre of the structure, which given many of the cultural attitudes of sun worship that were rampant at the time, seems to indicate a religious purpose
By the beginning of the 20th century, a number of the stones had fallen or were leaning precariously, probably due to the increase in curious visitors clambering on them during the 19th century. Three phases of conservation work were undertaken which righted some unstable or fallen stones and carefully replaced them in their original positions using information from antiquarian drawings.
Stonehenge attracts a huge number of visitors on daily basis. There have been claims of mismanagement of the site which could seriously hamper its chances of being selected as one of the seven new wonders of the world. Stonehenge has been savaged by the National Geographic Traveller quoting the site as ‘a mess’, ‘over-loved’ and lacking in magic. The researchers said Stonehenge had massive numbers of tourists ‘making for a crowded, noisy environment’. Local people appeared not to benefit from the site, and its artistic qualities were compromised by the existing road layout and nearby development. It is now up to the panellists to decide whether the problems facing Stonehenge are strong enough to hinder its progress and become one of the new Seven Wonders of the World.
© Faras Ghani 2006
Published in The Review (Dawn) 7th Dec 2006
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