So why do these ancient structures stand out during times of drought? The henges are actually a series of concentric circles created by placing large posts in the ground. When the henge fell out of disuse or was burned down, the underground portions of the posts rotted away, changing the composition of the soil in the posthole, causing it to retain more moisture. During a drought, while the surrounding crops yellow, the plants over the post holes have a slight advantage. “The weather is 95 percent responsible for this find,” Murphy tells Best. “The flying of the drone, knowledge of the area, and fluke make up the rest in this discovery.”
July 17, 2018
"Drought Reveals Giant, 4,500-Year-Old Irish Henge."
"The circular structure in the Boyne Valley was discovered by drone photographers searching for signs of hidden Neolithic sites" (Smithsonian).
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Neolithic, indeed! What nonsense!
It's aliens, I tells ya!
Aliens. Aliens with an unquenchable thirst for Guinness!
@Althouse, I see the writer is from Madison. Is he someone you know?0
"Fell out of disuse" ???
"Outlander" stuff.
Of course that was Scotland.
One of the more WTF moments in my life was when I was in Dubai watching the hotel staff wash off the landscaping after a sandstorm while listening to a couple of Brits discuss water saving measures back in the UK.
You can't have too many circles.
"@Althouse, I see the writer is from Madison. Is he someone you know?"
No.
“Analysis of the remains of a 5,200 year-old Irish farmer suggested that the population of Ireland at that time was closely genetically related to the modern-day populations of southern Europe, especially Spain and Sardinia. Her ancestors, however, originally migrated from the Middle East, the cradle of agriculture.”
In other words, the Irish henge was likely built by Iraqis.
We have been to the Newgrange site several times. If you visit Ireland, GO! It is truly something to see and experience. Awesome.
I see the Boyne River runs through it. That was the strategic water way to the Irish Sea that is the closet Irish port to travel to England. So control over this area was a military move.
Henge is one theory. My theory is we are witnessing an ancient Irish Pee Circle. The keg was in the middle.
The same condom I've been carrying around for the last 15 years does the same thing to my wallet.
Talk about a dry spell!
I see the writer is from Madison. Is he someone you know?
I don't know him either. But I also noticed that.
Aliens with an unquenchable thirst for Guinness!
It can't be aliens. Guinness is an acquired taste.
"Before Stonehenge there was Woodhenge and Strawhenge, but a big bad wolf came and blew them all down." - Eddie Izzard
Droning for the Stone Age, for Neolithics who ain't around. Droning for the Druids whose sites cannot be found
For the countless disused misused abandoned henges in the ground
Droning for the archeologist. Finding old things constantly.
We gazed upon the Drone of Academia flashing
D 2 said... [hush][hide comment]
Droning for the Stone Age, for Neolithics who ain't around. Droning for the Druids whose sites cannot be found
For the countless disused misused abandoned henges in the ground
Droning for the archeologist. Finding old things constantly.
We gazed upon the Drone of Academia flashing
Haha!
Well, tollin For the lonesome haunted lovers with too personal a tale
Exposed for all to see, with their unsecured F.B.I. mail
Saw the courses for the British Open in the barbershop today. Boy are they dry !
Brown fairways.
Just looking at things from a different perspoective. Who knows what you will find?
This sort of thing happens all the time. Lakes go really low and reveal sites that are usually covered with water, floods erode sediment away, etc. There are henges all over the place.
My favorite vegetation-related archaeological site story is from a former professor who described how he and another person were out surveying an area and noticed a smallish square patch that had unusually long grass in it. This is often indicative of settlement structures where food refuse and such provides additional fertilizer for subsequent plant growth. So they set up an excavation unit and started digging.
And then realized they were excavating an old outhouse.
Bonus information: Outhouses, latrines, and cesspits are actually very useful archaeologically because people throw lots of junk down them (besides the usual), they're stratified, and all that poop often contains enough plant and animal material to get an idea of diet and how it changed through time.
Thus endeth the archaeological lesson.
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