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The king of Stonehenge

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Gaethe
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« on: May 12, 2009, 03:04:30 am »

The king of Stonehenge: Were artefacts at ancient chief's burial site Britain's first Crown Jewels?
By Paul Harris


Last updated at 7:55 AM on 12th May 2009
Comments (0) Add to My Stories  An artist's impression of the 'King of Stonehange' who was buried at Bush Barrow 4,000 years ago
He was a giant of a man, a chieftain who ruled with a royal sceptre and a warrior's axe.
When they laid him to rest they dressed him in his finest regalia and placed his weapons at his side. Then they turned his face towards the setting sun and sealed him in a burial mound that would keep him safe for the next 4,000 years.
In his grave were some of the most exquisitely fashioned artefacts of the Bronze Age, intricately crafted to honour the status of a figure who bore them in life in death.
For this may have been the last resting place of the King of Stonehenge - and the treasures that are effectively Britain's first Crown Jewels.
Now the entire hoard, recovered from the richest and most important Bronze Age grave on Salisbury Plain, is set to go on permanent display.
But 21st-century Britain has thrown up a problem that never troubled ancient man. The artefacts are so rare that they have been kept in a bank vault for the past three decades because they are too precious to put on show without extensive security.
So today the Wiltshire Heritage Museum at Devizes is announcing a £500,000 appeal to fund a secure gallery. It will allow the treasures to be displayed alongside some of the many other wonders of Stonehenge, giving a fascinating glimpse of what life was like some 1,800 years BC.
The remains of 'Tall Stout Man' were uncovered two centuries ago by archaeologists trying to unravel the ancient stone circle's enduring secrets. In 1808 their attention turned to Bush Barrow, a huge burial mound that boasts the most commanding view of Stonehenge from nearby Normanton Down.
Clearly whoever lay here was important. Only when the chamber was excavated, however, did it become apparent just how important. Measurements taken from the skeleton showed that the man would have towered above contemporaries at over 6ft tall.
Most of the articles buried with him in the 130ft-diameter, 10ft-high barrow were so fabulously rare that only someone of royal, military or religious power might possess them.

 A 4,000-year-old gold body ornament found at the burial site in Wiltshire
Some believe Tall Stout Man was all three - a monarch, a general and a spiritual leader.
The highlight of the collection is a bronze dagger that had been 'richly and most singularly ornamented' with more than 140,000 minute gold rivets, arranged to form a zig-zag pattern in the hilt.
Each rivet - as fine as a human hair and no more than a millimetre long - had been meticulously placed in tiny, individually drilled holes, then glued into place to form a brilliant lustre. Bronze daggers were very rare in those days, with probably only 50 in the country. This one was unique - and certainly fit for a king.
Other treasures include what appears to be a sceptre of office, sleeved with jagged-toothed, interlocking bone rings; an oval mace head, laboriously shaped, drilled and polished from a fossil sponge; two more bronze daggers and an axe head; a gold belt buckle; a lozenge- shaped insignia or piece of gold jewellery; and a gold breast-plate, enhanced by symmetrically carved patterns.
Archaeologists have long believed these to have been among the most valuable possessions of the age, taking teams of craftsmen and women up to five years to make.

 The hoard of jewellery was recovered from Salisbury Plain near Stonehenge (pictured)
They used materials sourced from all over the country, possibly from Europe as well.
But it is recent research that underlines the status of Tall Stout Man, whose remains still lie sealed inside Bush Barrow.
It is one of the most prominent burial mounds around Stonehenge and is thought to have been directly linked with the stone circle by a processional walkway lined with stone pillars, the so-called heel stone.
Museum director David Dawson said: 'It's a leap of faith, but it's not impossible that Bush Barrow was the burial place of the person who had Stonehenge built.
'It appears to be a family vault, in which Tall Stout Man was placed about 400 years later. It is therefore almost certain he was part of that elite dynasty. There is no doubt he was an important figure.
'He clearly had the power to command the considerable collaboration it would take to fashion the kind of treasures which, in a culture which knew no diamonds or precious stones, were essentially Britain's first Crown Jewels.
'Four thousand years later, we want to allow the public to see them as part of the experience of visiting Stonehenge and discovering Britain's past.'

 
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Gaethe
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« Reply #1 on: May 12, 2009, 03:05:41 am »



A 4,000-year-old gold body ornament found at the burial site in Wiltshire
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Gaethe
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« Reply #2 on: May 12, 2009, 03:06:14 am »



The hoard of jewellery was recovered from Salisbury Plain near Stonehenge (pictured)
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