Stonehenge

The secrets of Stonehenge continue to be revealed. Latest archeological discoveries suggest that for some two thousand years the sacred bluestones at Stonehenge were considered to have healing properties. Pieces of bluestone were used as curative charms. People came to the sacred site to be healed. Archeology also suggests that the site had a great ruling family - exactly as foretold in Rutherfurd's SARUM!!

The first earth circle at Stonehenge is thought to be about five thousand years old. A thousand years later, first a circle of Welsh bluestones, then the famous sarsens were erected. Rutherfurd's research led him to conclude that from its very beginning the site was a burial area for kings, and that the stone circles were designed to record the motions of the sun, the moon and the stars. The priests of the sacred bluestone circle would have regulated seedtime and harvest, and invoked the gods to provide good weather, fertility and cures for disease. He suggests how, and at what precise season, the stones were brought to the site - the bluestones by water from Wales, and the huge sarsens across the great spaces of Salisbury Plain - and how they were erected. We also learn about the temple's parallels to the architecture of ancient Greece, and about an unexpected mistake that can be detected in its construction.

Rutherfurd's story tells how Dluc, the High Priest of the circle of bluestones, tries to cure the sickness of Krona, ruler of the Henge, while rebuilding the temple with the mighty sarsens we know best today. At the same time, he watches over Nooma the stonemason, whose love life culminates in a tale of murder, and human sacrifice.

The story of the building is told in the 'Henge' chapter of SARUM. Stonehenge also appears many times elsewhere in the book.