Stonehenge II?

If you drive for roughly two hours west of London.....you will eventually reach Durrington....a small town with only one significant feature....Stonehenge.

I made the trip twenty-odd years ago.  You come over the top of some hill....and you look down to the right of the road, on a very low-grade slope, and you can see the stone monument off in the distance.  But you typically think of....at least in my case.....it's all a big cow-field.  Just open farm land with grass growing.

My little group spent about 90 minutes at Stonehenge.....walking the circle.  Once you've been there....you realize there's no reason much to return.

Well, this week....some researchers noted that they've found more to the whole Stonehenge thing.....except a much bigger site.

Around two miles from the current site....is this mostly buried site, with around ninety big stones (all buried, of course). They note the depth of the stones to be at least three feet under surface.

So, there are some basic facts, and then a lot of mystery.

They calculate that this was Stonehenge II (to have occurred after the original smaller episode).  They also calculate that this all occurred around 4,500 years ago (2500BC).  They also calculate that some of the buried stones are fifteen feet tall.

Purpose?  Unknown.

What folks have come to say is that Stonehenge I (the smaller site) was developed as a mystic ritual site and people were told far and wide that if you made a walk (like the Catholic Saint James Way from the center of Europe to the far west end of Portugal)....that some higher power would help in your life, cure ills, bring good luck, and and lift your outcome in life.

It's believed that a large assortment of people in Europe would find their way to Stonehenge.....bringing sick relatives with them, and believed that the mystic charm of the site would do something.

Why was Stonehenge II (the new site) buried?  No one is sure if it was buried intentionally (three feet of dirt is a lot).  There's no flood area there, and there's no possibility of landslides to disrupt site.  There's no possibility of a volcano being involved (as in Crete's case).  So you are left with the idea that some guys put a lot of effort into burying the site.

I would take a humble guess that some event occurred....of a pretty harsh and negative nature.  Enough people were standing there and believed that the Stonehenge II site was 'cursed', and they decided that it was best to bury it and never walk those grounds again.  A disease?  A plague?  Who knows?  The fact that thousands made the journey from Europe to Stonehenge I....meant hundreds probably had a disease and passed it along via the trail to Stonehenge. It was only a period of time before a large segment of visitors would arrive and be seriously ill while visiting the original site.

So, I'd suggest to the research guys.....broaden the search pattern slightly and look for a burial ground within a couple of miles of the second and newer site.  Once you find a large assortment of burials....look for clues.