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<< News >> Full laser scan for Stonehenge

Submitted by Andy B on Wednesday, 10 October 2012  Page Views: 13982

StonehengeCountry: England County: Wiltshire Type: Henge

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Stonehenge.
Stonehenge. submitted by Andy B : Luminance lens image of Stone 4 at Stonehenge showing previously unseen axehead rock art. Luminance lensing was a creative idea developed independently in-house specifically for analysis of the Stonehenge sub-millimetre meshes. The technique combines the est features of the real-time mesh visualisation and greyscale plane shading which are explained in the interim scan report. Image copyright... (Vote or comment on this photo)
Stonehenge has been fully scanned using laser technology to search for hidden clues about how and why it was built. All visible faces of the standing and fallen stones, many of which are obscured by lichen, have been surveyed.

[Of course many of us remember the previous laser scan 'High-tech lasers have been used to unlock the secrets of Stonehenge' in 2003. The following section is an archive from 2011, see further down the page for the latest news and links. There are more photos of the scans in our Stonehenge gallery - MegP Ed]

Some ancient carvings have previously been found on the stones, including a famous Neolithic "dagger". The survey is already in progress and is expected to finish by the end of March.

"The surfaces of the stones of Stonehenge hold fascinating clues to the past," said English Heritage archaeologist Dave Batchelor.

The team will be looking for ancient "rock art", but also for more modern graffiti, in a comprehensive survey of the site.

Among those who have left their mark in the stones is "Wren" - thought to be Sir Christopher Wren, the architect who designed London's St Paul's Cathedral.

Wren's family had a home nearby, where he is known to have spent time, adding credibility to the claim.

The new survey will be the most accurate digital model ever for the world famous prehistoric monument, measuring details and irregularities on the stone surfaces to a resolution of 0.5mm.

The previous survey in 1993 was photographic, and only measured to an accuracy of about 2cm.

"This new survey will capture a lot more information on the subtleties of the monument and its surrounding landscape," said Paul Bryan, head of geospatial surveys at English Heritage.
Wren graffiti Graffiti on one of the stones is thought to have been made by Sir Christopher Wren

Laser scanning is also being used to map the earthworks immediately around the stone circle, and the surrounding landscape, as part of a wider project.

Source: BBC and see the press release with images, and still no mention of the previous laser scan.

Note: New axehead carvings identified and more evidence for the solstice function at Stonehenge. Professor Clive Ruggles: "This not only confirms the importance of the solstitial alignment at Stonehenge, but also shows unequivocally that the formal approach was always intended to be from the north-east, up the Avenue towards the direction of midwinter sunset."

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"Full laser scan for Stonehenge" | Login/Create an Account | 27 News and Comments
  
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Re: Full laser scan for Stonehenge by Anonymous on Wednesday, 20 March 2013
Only seen a few laser images. Some of the markings look like evidence of the stones being soft. Like many sites in Peru. Where is a full archive of all the images. Please email me.
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Re: Full laser scan for Stonehenge by Anonymous on Sunday, 14 October 2012
Greetings Guys, Stonehenge stone 4 is one the pair of columns denoting the Harvest Festival month, Llew or Lugnasad, third in the ancient sixteen month Sun calendar. Summer is month one. The E-H laser image has a considerable number of the tee shaped petroglyphs, perhaps in excess of twenty, although my interpretation of the number of laser images on Portal News may not do justice to the original laser scan. It depends upon the quality provided by E-H to the News. It is hard to know if one is imagining another tee impression.
I strongly resist the use of the word "axehead". That term is highly likely to cause a totally wrong impression and become set in stone, wrongly perpetuated into the future. In my view the portrayed articles are much more likely to be associated with harvesting, perhaps double sided hook sickles with flint microliths embedded along the left and right inner pull edges and with a long handle. The actual number of tee petroglyphs may represent a team of harvesters cutting cereals.
The individual images do not represent an axe, rather a tee with tangs decreasing towards the tip each side. Axes have a long cutting edge, not a point.

Neil L Thomas
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    Re: Full laser scan for Stonehenge by Anonymous on Wednesday, 20 March 2013
    T glph is more suitable. They are blade up if indeed they are axes.
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Re: Full laser scan for Stonehenge by AngieLake on Saturday, 13 October 2012
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There's quite a good report [12th Oct 2012] on this website with some useful photos, and it also includes earlier news of the two pits in the Cursus with animation of the proposed ritual route taken between them.
I don't think we had this before?
http://news.discovery.com/history/stonehenge-two-explanations-121012.html
Rosella Lorenzi sums up all the recent findings.
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Re: Full laser scan for Stonehenge by sem on Friday, 12 October 2012
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Thanks for this Andy. I've downloaded the PDF and have been working my way through it.
Most members on MegP will be aware of my "adopted" Welshness and my interest in the Bluestones/Presesli link. One thing that struck me during a few private access visits (ie paying extra to get inside SH), was the difference between the surviving BS at SH and those abounding at Carn Meini. Those at SH have been worked and reworked ad infinitum.
This means there is a big problem with the laser scan - it only shows the last working (human or otherwise) on any section of any particular stone. Sorry to be "negative" (as my boss would say), but it is a fact and stands in the way of further investigation.
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Re: Full laser scan for Stonehenge by Anonymous on Friday, 12 October 2012
Well very good post about the history..

Alex
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Life-sized Neolithic homes to be built outside Stonehenge visitor centre by Andy B on Thursday, 11 October 2012
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In other news:

A contract to build three life-sized Neolithic homes at Stonehenge in Wiltshire has been put out to tender.

English Heritage is inviting contractors to bid for the £60,000 project, which is part of a £27m scheme to improve the setting of the monument

Using authentic materials, the prehistoric homes will be based on those excavated at Durrington Walls.

English Heritage said the buildings will provide a "real and tangible link for visitors to the distant past".

The £27m scheme to build a new visitor centre and close the road alongside the ancient monument, was begun in July.

But a "key aim" for the new centre is to create "a sense of prehistoric people using, working and living in the landscape", an English Heritage spokesperson said.

More at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-19797815

Moving the Stonehenge Bluestones: At last a successful method is demonstrated!

Without a single archaeologist in sight, a couple of boat builders...

Read the rest of this post...
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Re: Full laser scan for Stonehenge by neolithique02 on Wednesday, 10 October 2012
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Interesting to see that n the period 1800-1500 BC, many individual monumental tombs were carved with axe-heads and daggers and may signify some sort of expansion or change in the great stone circle’s religious function.

In Indo-European tradition axe-heads were often associated with storm deities – and some surviving European folklore beliefs suggest that upwards-facing axe blades were used as magical talismans to protect crops, people and property against lightning and storm damage. It’s potentially significant that every single one of the Stonehenge axe-head images have their blades pointing skywards, while the daggers point downwards. The axe-heads – the vast majority of the images – may therefore have been engraved as votive offerings to placate a storm deity and thus protect crops.

Remember the magic jadeite axe-head from the 4900-3800 BC period...

See more here :
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/revealed-early-bronze-age-carvings-suggest-stoneheng...

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Re: Full laser scan for Stonehenge by Feanor on Wednesday, 10 October 2012
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So I wake up this morning and birds were singing as the sun burst forth in great Autumnal Majesty.
I greet the day with my usual pot of coffee and about 18 cigarettes as I wait for the computer to boot.

Ah! There in the Mail I detect a notice from one of my UK Archeo friends! Within I find a 71-page PDF that concerns itself in great detail with the Laser & Photogrammetry Scans of all the Stones at my Beloved Henge, conducted over the summer months. (For which I have been patiently waiting.)

I devour this paper hungrily, savoring the delicate flavor of every word, gleaning all subtle information as fast as my synapses can fire!

I pause briefly in my musing to ponder how my poor, neglected comrades at the Megalithic Portal will be faring, rudderless and drifting through their deep sea of Stonehenge Ignorance.
Naturally it will become My Responsibility to bring Light to their pitifully dim lives. (I attend this august responsibility with certain gravity.)

I compose my thoug...

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    Re: Full laser scan for Stonehenge by AngieLake on Wednesday, 10 October 2012
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    Hi Feanor

    Thanks for those kind words. I thought of YOU too....!
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Stonehenge Laser Scan: Archaeological Analysis Report by Andy B on Tuesday, 09 October 2012
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The 71 page interim report on the findings can be downloaded here (PDF)
http://services.english-heritage.org.uk/ResearchReportsPdfs/032_2012web.pdf

STONEHENGE LASER SCAN: ARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS REPORT
by Marcus Abbott and Hugo Anderson-Whymark, with contributions from Dave Aspden,
Anna Badcock, Tudur Davies, Mags Felter, Rob Ixer, Mike Parker Pearson and Colin Richards

From May to August 2012, ArcHeritage, in collaboration with Dr Hugo Anderson-Whymark,
undertook the archaeological analysis of laser scan data of Stonehenge, collected by the
Greenhatch Group in March 2011.

The results of the project were beyond all expectations. The investigation identified traces
of stone-working on virtually every stone, revealing significant new evidence for how
Stonehenge was built. In addition, all of the known prehistoric carvings were identified and examined, and numerous new carvings of axe-heads and a possible dagger were revealed.

The number of prehistoric axe-head...

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Stonehenge - New Evidence for its Solstitial Function - approach from NE important by Andy B on Tuesday, 09 October 2012
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Using the latest 3D laser scanning technology, an English Heritage analysis of Stonehenge has found new evidence of the importance of the two solstices to its creators, including that of the midwinter sunset.

The laser scan has revealed significant differences in the way the stones were shaped and worked. These differences show that Stonehenge was not only aligned with the solstices, but that the view of the monument from the Avenue, its ancient processional way to the north east, was particularly important. To approach and view the stone circle from this direction means that the midwinter sunset had special meaning to prehistoric people, and that they made deliberate efforts to create a dramatic spectacle for those approaching the monument from the north east.

A detailed analysis of the first comprehensive laser survey of Stonehenge reveals that those stones on the outer sarsen circle visible when approaching from the north east have been completely pick dressed - that is, the...

Read the rest of this post...
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Re: Full laser scan for Stonehenge by AngieLake on Tuesday, 09 October 2012
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The results of the recent 3D laser scanning of Stonehenge are beginning to emerge.
Several newspapers are reporting on the findings today:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2012/oct/09/stonehenge-digital-laser-3d-survey?newsfeed=true

and

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/revealed-early-bronze-age-carvings-suggest-stonehenge-was-a-huge-prehistoric-art-gallery-8202812.html

and the Mail has one of the more illustrated reports:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2214882/Laser-scan-uncovers-secrets-Stonehenge-3D-technology-reveals-importance-midwinter-sunset-ancient-creators.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

I can't wait to see if they've proved the importance of Stone 16 in the SW of the sarsen circle, which I've been banging on about now for six years, since seeing the inverted 'V' shape on the inner face in photos taken at dawn on 6th Dec 2006, and noticing the other features of this stone.. namely the 'spine' effect on the outer face, and...

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    The importance of stone 16 by Andy B on Tuesday, 09 October 2012
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    Angie - some extracts from the report:

    The SE side of Stone 16 is also exceptionally straight and well dressed, potentially indicating (in the absence of the NW face of Stone 15) that this too formed a regular rectangular sightline through the main NE-SW axis of the monument.

    Grinding to a high polish. Small areas (<0.30m across) ground to a high polish were
    observed in facets of the fine transverse tooling on the base of the SW side of Stone 52
    and the fine longitudinal tooling on the NW side of Stone 16. It is unclear if these areas represent a distinct style of dressing, or if they indicate that the stones were used as polisoirs before they were erected.

    The absence of working on the exterior faces of Stones 14-16, and coarse finishes on the backs of Stones 10 and 11 is significant as these further demonstrate a significant contrast between the NE and SW sides of the monument, as well as indicating interior/exterior difference.

    It should also be noted that the tenon on the NW side of Stone 16 is anomalous, as it is
    an elongated oval rather than a circular domed form. It has been argued above that this
    may represent a deliberate attempt to replicate the oval tenon on Stone 56, but equally it
    may represent the site of an unformed tenon, i.e. the ridge would be reduced to a circular
    tenon once the precise location of the mortise had been determined. If this is the case
    then this ridge may indicate that a lintel was not positioned on one side of this stone.

    You should see if you can get hold of some of the hi-res views of stone 16...
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    Re: Full laser scan for Stonehenge by sem on Tuesday, 09 October 2012
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    Hi Angie
    Glad you could bring this up again.
    The "old master" taught me a lot, but mainly that there are so many facets to Stonehenge that we are not going to learn them all.
    It's fun trying though!
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      Re: Full laser scan for Stonehenge by AngieLake on Tuesday, 09 October 2012
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      Thank you Sem. He did mean such a lot to us, didn't he?
      He was such an inspiration with his endless enthusiasm.
      I'd never have seen any of this if he hadn't asked me along to Private Access to help him.

      I wonder what he's up to now? :-)
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    Re: The importance of stone 16 by AngieLake on Tuesday, 09 October 2012
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    Thanks for summarising what they said about Stone 16, Andy.
    I think you are right... I shall have to apply to them for a copy of their scan.
    (I did have a quick look through the report, but thre's such a lot to take in. Shall have to try to read it properly tomorrow.)

    It's quite frustrating that they had nothing more to say about this stone. Even if that [inner face] fat inverted 'V' was natural you'd think they'd just mention it. It does resemble an antler pick, if nothing else, and is so noticeable.
    The top of the inner face of the stone has a squashed triangle, too, and other lines that resembled a pattern on a clay tablet found in a ritual pit close to Stonehenge, and also scratched on a stone found at Skara Brae in Orkney. (Terence Meaden described these patterns as 'goddess' symbolism, but they could also be nothing more than a pleasing symmetrical effect to the 'artist'.)
    The 'spine' effect on the outer face might be the result of darker lichen patches flanking it,...

    Read the rest of this post...
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      Re: The importance of stone 16 - 3D Laser study at Stonehenge by AngieLake on Thursday, 11 October 2012
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      An encouraging excerpt from the report:

      "Lastly, there are additional unidentified shapes and 'shadows' in the data sets which in future may prove to be of importance. We have had great success in revealing a number of new carvings, but there are still features which are very suggestive of prehistoric artwork and do not appear natural. These shapes may represent highly eroded carvings, but they were excluded from the feature list because we were unable to adequately define their limits and form. With further development of the techniques outlined in this project, it might be feasible to clarify the nature of the unidentified shapes noted in the data set."

      Could some of those relate to Stone 16, I wonder?

      (I've saved and downloaded most of the report now [apart from the technical stuff] and ring-bound it properly today. It makes it easier to browse through, and highlight the areas of interest.)
      [ Reply to This ]

Re: Full laser scan for Stonehenge by AngieLake on Wednesday, 26 October 2011
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Some technical data on the latest digital scanning of Stonehenge:
http://www.cadcamnews.in/2011/10/geomagic-3d-imaging-software-used-to.html
I used the link to the English Heritage website to see if the final results were shown, but they still display a brief 'fly-around' of the circle, and annoyingly for me (see comments below) omit Stone 16 as they zoom in!
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Re: Discovering Rock Art at Stonehenge Video by stugsie on Thursday, 17 March 2011
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Since other contributors are charging about on their hobby horses I'm going to mount mine and join the melee.
Another explanation is that these and similar sites such as the Egyptian pyramids, Mayan temples etc. are boondoggles. Financed by the local rulers to keep their subjects occupied so they don't ferment revolution. Generally the local oligarchy will have concocted some type of mumbo jumbo to justify their social position and then they finance public works to get as many people as possible complicit in maintaining the ideology which underpins the status quo.
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Re: Discovering Rock Art at Stonehenge Video by AngieLake on Saturday, 12 March 2011
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And not forgetting the 'spine' on SW sarsen circle Stone 16, which I've since believed might feature as a kind of 'marker' for the beginning of Winter Solstice celebrations, as it receives a shadow from a pre-existing post between it and the setting sun on Winter Solstice:
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=a312&file=index&do=showpic&pid=36079
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Re: Discovering Rock Art at Stonehenge Video by AngieLake on Saturday, 12 March 2011
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This is a sketch of what stands out on the photos of Stone 16.
Maybe the features show up more on days [or times of day] when the light is most beneficial, so perhaps those were the important dates or times to view them during rituals or ceremonies?
(i.e. the sunrise on 6 Dec for the V mark on the inner face, which would also compare to the angle of the sun on 5 or 6 January.)
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=a312&file=index&do=showpic&pid=38380
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Re: Discovering Rock Art at Stonehenge Video by AngieLake on Saturday, 12 March 2011
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I do hope someone will see this 'V' mark on SW circle sarsen Stone 16! It could be a feminine fertility mark or an antler-pick / axe image:

http://www.megalithic.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=a312&file=index&do=showpic&gid=4&pid=26301&orderby=dateD

... Or the 'spine' on its outer face that may have been highlighted by the shadow of a pre-existing post or stone between it and the setting sun on Winter Solstice?

Regulars know how long I've been 'banging on' about this feature, and there are several more of my photos and video stills on the Stonehenge site page illustrating the markings, though you'd need to open the link to the archive of photos at 'more than visible 25 shots' [that appear on first site page].
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Discovering Rock Art at Stonehenge Video by Andy B on Friday, 11 March 2011
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Re: Full laser scan for Stonehenge by PeteG on Friday, 11 March 2011
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Wiltshire Council are hoping this will finally prove once and for all wether planning permission was ever sought for this structure!
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