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A Brief History Of Stonehenge by Aubrey Burl
01/10/2007 . Source: Ken Taylor 
pub: Constable Robinson. 368 page illustrated enlarged paperback. Price: £ 8.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-84529-591-2. Buy A Brief History Of Stonehenge in the USA - or Buy A Brief History Of Stonehenge in the UK  check out website: www.constablerobinson.com
'Myths have a permanence that facts cannot always efface.' (p 27)
For Aubrey Burl this is a lament, and one reiterated throughout this book, but for lovers of fiction it is testimony to the magic of good storytelling.
Innumerable tales have been woven around the ancient monument of Stonehenge. Like the Sphinx, it is possessed of a mystery that positively invites us to pit our wits against its inscrutable silence. But there is truth in Burl's gentle rebuke and there are authors who would have done well to study their subject before allowing unfettered imagination to populate their fiction with fancies that are grossly out of touch with reality.
As Burl observes, 'Despite escapists who wilfully ignore facts, there was no Golden Age of tranquillity in prehistory.' (p 144)
Despite its grip on realism, this is no dry academic work all facts, figures and follow the leader. Instead, the style of writing is lively and engaging, even self-consciously poetical in places, 'Long barrows rest like indolent whales in an ocean of grass, with crowds of round barrows resembling oversized, green beach balls floating around them.' (p 7)
He does allow some rôle for the free-thinking dreamer in interpreting the relics of the past, although he is clearly pessimistic about their ultimate success. 'The arcane beliefs and spiritual values of prehistoric societies will always be incomprehensible to our scientifically conditioned minds.' (p 148)
However, his complaint against flights of fancy is not so much levelled at the writer of fiction, but against his own predecessors in the archaeological community. They, it seems, have been almost congenitally prone to raising elaborate ideas on flimsy foundations, thereby producing the popular misconceptions about Stonehenge that Burl strives constantly to exorcise. In his reluctance to fall into that self-same trap, Burl offers very little informed opinion on the purpose and meaning of the monument for the reader which, ironically, leaves the field open for the reader to make up his or her own mind.
The first quarter of the text is devoted to the history of the surveys and excavations of Stonehenge, while the remaining ten chapters each takes a slice through time, in chronological order, starting with the most ancient, focusing on the main phases that make up the site. Many, if not most of these include an element of archaeoastronomy (the study of ancient astronomy), for which Stonehenge is pre-eminently famous. Midsummer solstice sunrise may be celebrated here by neo-pagans, but that is not the only celestial alignment. Neither was it always the most important. The cycle of the Moon's motions was the subject of much early activity.
Unfortunately, although this book offers a great deal of information on the structure of Stonehenge, it provides scant insight into the lives of the people that built it. The book does not attempt to reconstruct the environmental conditions that ebbed and flowed through the millennia during which Stonehenge itself was built, deconstructed and raised again and again. In this respect, it rather fails as a guide to the site itself, because we are presented with a wealth of detailed information, yet we lack the broader perspective with which to frame this carefully drawn picture.
Perhaps, though, that criticism is a bit unfair because Burl is always scrupulous in pointing out parallels between Stonehenge and other monuments, particularly those in Brittany, so the dedicated researcher will have no difficulty in sourcing other publications to fill in the gaps. As we all know, there are simply never enough pages in a book to explore every avenue of interest.
In ample demonstration of Burl's commitment to furthering the studies of his readers, we may note the eighteen-page index, and the impressive nine pages of bibliography and there are many more references in the endnotes. All in all, this book forms an excellent introduction to this fascinating and still profoundly mysterious part of Britain's heritage.
Ken Taylor
www.wavewrights.com
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