Stonehenge Guided Tours

Throughout history, time has been determined by using the reflection of the sun, the phases of the moon, and other calendars such as Stonehenge. Stonehenge, built over 4000 years ago in England, where used to tell ancient civilizations the time of the day and year. Ancient peoples used lunar eclipses, sun rays, the position of the sun, and other seasonal or celestial events to determine the time. People used these stones to tell the time of the day.

In 46 BC Julius Caesar decided that the calendar year should have 365 days, but every fourth year there should be an extra day, which would be a leap year. He adapted this basis because if the year was divisible by four then it was to be a leap year.

In 1582 Clauvius proposed the Gregorian Calendar to Pope Gregory with an average year of 365.2425 days and 97 leap years every 400 years. The year was not to be a leap year unless it were divisible by 100 and 400.

Today time can be easily determined by reading a clock, watch, or even easier by a digital clock.

Wikipedia tells that the winter solstice occurs when the axis of the earth is farthest from the Sun.  Because our calendar has most years of 365 days interrupted frequently by a year with an extra day, the date of the winter solstice varies between December 21 and 23.  (The actual formula for leap year is a little more complicated than every 4th year.  Years evenly divisible by 100 are not leap years unless they are divisible by 400.)  While it is true the winter solstice occurs on the shortest day of the year, it does not correspond to the date of the latest sunrise of the year.

Stonehenge Guided Tours – http://www.StonehengeTours.com 

Get Up Close To The Stones At Stonehenge Like Few Visitors Do

Stonehenge Sunset Tour

Built nearly 5,000 years ago, Stonehenge is the most popular prehistoric monument in the world. Most visitors to the site are not allowed direct access to the stones.

On this tour you get that access, with a private viewing of the mysterious monoliths. We will enter the stone circle itself and stand beside the mighty Sarsen rocks towering above us.
Our guide will explain the history of this ancient site, pointing out the altar, slaughter and heel stones, above which the sun rises dramatically on the summer solstice. There will be time to enjoy the peace, away from the crowds, as we experience Stonehenge at its most mystical and atmospheric best. Not to be missed!

With special access you are allowed right inside Stonehenge, walking among the stones close up and with a maximum of 26 people on the whole site.

After collection from London in the morning we drive to Bath to visit the Roman Baths and Pump Room. In the late afternoon we visit Lacock for an early evening supper in a 13th century inn, before driving to Stonehenge.

As the sun begins to set, we enter the stone circle (which is normally roped off to the public) for a unique private viewing. The most dramatic and atmospheric way of visiting Stonehenge.

On selected days the tour operates in reverse, beginning with a private viewing of Stonehenge before it opens to the public in the morning, so we see the stones in the eerie morning light. This is followed by our visits to Lacock and Bath.

These tours sell out very quickly as the demand far outstrips supply of available places – be sure to reserve your place early.

The tour twins your special visit to Stonehenge with Bath and Lacock.

Lacock

Lacock is a very picturesque village dating back to the Saxon era. So pretty is the village that it has provided the setting for many movies and television dramas including Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice and more recently Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. Take a walk before enjoying an early evening supper* (breakfast for morning tours*) in The George, a vintage English pub built in 1361. (*food/drink not included).

Bath

Bath, a world heritage site, is a beautiful Georgian city with delightful crescents, terraces and architecture. There will be plenty of time to visit Bath Abbey, or to shop and explore. Your guide will also conduct an optional walking tour to show you where Charles Dickens lived and worked as a young man, and a give you a chance to sample some delicious cheeses fresh from the local dairy farms. Then we will enter the magnificent Roman Baths, where over one million litres of boiling water still burst free from the hot springs everyday.

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 Visit our website: http://www.StonehengeTours.com
The Stonhenge Tour Company

The world is full of the most mysterious and secret places. These are locations all around the world that we either don’t know anything or about or, quite simply, are afraid to venture any further!

Stonehenge is surely Britain's greatest national icon, symbolizing mystery, power and endurance. Its original purpose is unclear to us but some have speculated it was a temple made for the worship of ancient Earth (pagan?) deities. It has also been called an astronomical observatory for marking significant events on a prehistoric calendar. Others claim it was a sacred site for the burial of high-ranking citizens from societies of long ago. While we can't say with any degree of certainty what it was for, we can say it wasn't constructed for any casual purpose. Only something very important to the ancients would have been worth the effort and investment that it took to construct Stonehenge

There are so many unexplained phenomena… who built some buildings… who created those statues… why do planes and ships disappear here… why do radios not work in some places… the list goes on and on.

In addition, there has often been so much uncertainty about these places. It is understandable, of course. After all, who is really brave enough to fly into the Bermuda Triangle just on a dare?

As we said, there are several such places all around the world and we couldn’t possibly write about them all.

Nevertheless, click on “Slideshow” above, check out the following most mysterious places in the world… and tell us what you think…

Link: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/302886/20120222/mysteries-world-aliens-ufos-unexplained-phenomena.htm

The Stonehenge Tour Company

Don’t miss this opportunity to walk within the stones of Stonehenge before any visitors arrive, to venture into the religious landscapes of two of Britain’s most spectacular prehistoric sites and to have the latest ideas and archaeological discoveries described and put into the context of the monumental remains.  Based within the Cathedral Close in Salisbury

Day one

 Meet in the evening for an introductory lecture and dinner together in Sarum College in the beautiful Cathedral Close.

Day two

By coach to Avebury for a full exploration of the huge Neolithic henge, so large that part of the village lies within it. It is one of the largest and best preserved of 1300 stone circles known in the British Isles. Morning walk around the henge and along the ceremonial Avenue. We approach the stones of Avebury just as one would have done in prehistoric times.

Afternoon circular walk (2 hours) past Silbury Hill, the largest man-made mound in Europe. The most famous of its excavators crawled into an earlier excavation chamber and recorded later:

“the sides of the open chamber provided one of the most astonishing sights that I have ever seen…it was clear that this innermost mound had been covered by a series of conical shells or cappings…the effect was of finding oneself in an enormously complicated and highly coloured layer cake of gigantic size..”

The walk continues to the Long Barrow at West Kennet and a chance to explore the chambered tomb within. This kind of monument is the earliest known to have been built in Britain – in commemoration of the dead. Continue to the ‘Sanctuary’, a small, complex timber and stone circle on the top of Overton hill. Walking in our ancestors’ footsteps helps us try to understand their motives and methods. Disperse in Salisbury about 5.30pm.

Day three

Stonehenge for an early (7.30am) visit inside the stone circle before the public arrives. This will be followed by a walk (2 hours) through the wider religious landscape – the cursus, King Barrows and Stonehenge Avenue.

A short drive takes us to Woodhenge, where the remains of wooden post settings have been found – now marked by concrete. From here there is a good view over the huge henge at Durrington Walls, site of exciting recent excavations which revealed the settlement which may have housed the builders of Stonehenge.

Return to Salisbury Museum for a visit to the Stonehenge and Prehistory Galleries. We have arranged a private demonstration of flint-knapping in the gardens here, which is not only much enjoyed, but adds considerably to your understanding of the way in which our prehistoric forebears were able to fashion all manner of implements and tools from our good local flint supplies. In a world without metal technology this was a critical and highly sophisticated art. Disperse about 5pm.

Should you choose to arrive earlier or stay later, you might like to visit Old Sarum, the hillfort to the north of Salisbury which was later chosen as the site of our first cathedral, and of course our beautiful Gothic cathedral – straight in front of the College.

Fri 31st August – Sun 2nd September 2012
Link: http://www.barebonestours.co.uk/Europe/bare-bones-wessex-2011.html

More Stonehenge Tours: ‘The Stonehenge Tour Company‘ – www.StonehengeTours.com

Theories about the purpose of Stonehenge range from a secular calendar to a place of spiritual worship. Now, an archaeologist suggests that the Stonehenge monument in southern England may have been an attempt to mimic a sound-based illusion.

If two pipers were to play in a field, observers walking around the musicians would hear a strange effect, said Steven Waller, a doctoral researcher at Rock Art Acoustics USA, who specializes in the sound properties of ancient sites, or archaeoacoustics. At certain points, the sound waves produced by each player would cancel each other out, creating spots where the sound is dampened.

It’s this pattern of quiet spots that may have inspired Stonehenge, Waller told an audience Thursday (Feb. 16) in Vancouver, British Columbia, at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The theory is highly speculative, but modern-day experiments do reveal that the layout of the Stonehenge ruins and other rock circles mimics the piper illusion, with stones instead of competing sound waves blocking out sounds made in the center of the circle.

In support of the theory, Waller pointed to myths linking Stonehenge with music, such as the traditional nickname for stone circles in Great Britain: “piper stones.” One legend holds that Stonehenge was created when two magic pipers led maidens into the field to dance and then turned them to stone,

Waller experimented by having blindfolded participants walk into a field as two pipers played. He asked the volunteers to tell him whenever they thought a barrier existed between them and the sound. There were no barriers in the field, but acoustic “dead spots” created by sound-wave interference certainly gave the volunteers the impression that there were.

“They drew structures, archways and openings that are very similar to Stonehenge,” Waller said.

Waller believes the people who built Stonehenge more than 5,000 years ago may have heard this sound-canceling illusion during ceremonies with musicians and thought it mystical, spurring the creation of the stone circle.

Though the theory is unlikely to settle the mystery of Stonehenge, Waller said he hopes to highlight the importance of considering sound in archaeology. Rock art sites are often in areas where cave acoustics are particularly prone to echoes, he said, suggesting that ancient people found meaning in sound.

“Nobody has been paying attention to sound,” Waller said. “We’ve been destroying sound. In some of the French [rock art] caves, they’ve widened the tunnels to build little train tracks to take the tourists back – thereby ruining the acoustics that could have been the whole motivation in the first place.”

By: Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer
Published: 02/16/2012 06:16 PM EST on LiveScience

Stonehenge Tours – Guided Tours of Stonehenge, Wiltshire

Tours from Antiquity offers a unique opportunity to explore the awe inspiring world famous Stonehenge and Avebury Prehistoric Landscapes with an expert service, guided by a qualified archaeologist.  This exclusive tour can be booked through ‘The Stonehenge Tour Company‘

West Kennet Long Barrow

The tour includes –

• Return travel from London in a luxury coach 
• Entrance in to Stonehenge
• Visit Stonehenge Cursus, Stonehenge Avenue and several Bronze Age Round Barrows (burial mounds)  (only runs between March and October, due to time restrictions in the winter months)
• A visit to one of the world’s most beautiful cities, Bath. Nourished by natural hot springs, stunning architecture, great shopping and iconic attractions
• Guided coach tour around some of the most beautiful and stunning architectural works in Bath
• Visit Woodhenge and Durrington Walls
• Visit West Kennet Long Barrow and Silbury Hill
• Visit Avebury Stone Circle and Henge 

You will enjoy the passion and enthusiasm expressed by our professional,  archaeologist tour leaders.

Why choose Tours From Antiquity?

• Tours From Antiquity conduct ONLY Archaeology Tours, and as a result we believe we offer an excellent up-to-date specialist service; giving you the opportunity to learn in great detail about these amazing prehistoric sites, but also leaving you time to explore your surroundings by yourself.
• Tours From Antiquity is owned by qualified archaeologists and our tour leaders are all qualified archaeologists, offering the most professional service possible.
• On our tours you will be travelling with no more than 19 other people – guaranteed. With smaller group sizes comes a more personalised excursion experience.
• Our tour coaches offer luxury transport, with good air circulation and clear PA system.

Our itineraries are carefully planned offering the very best experience while you discover as much as possible.

Tours From Antiquity was set up in order to tackle the growing interest and demand in the historic environment in the United Kingdom. Identified was a niche for specialist, qualified archaeology tours to the exceptional and world famous archaeological sites of Stonehenge and Avebury prehistoric landscapes. We aim to concentrate on small group sizes unlike the larger tour companies, creating an intimate feel to thetour.

Tours From Antiquity aims to guide you around all these fantastic archaeology sites, maximising your enjoyment and experience, answering all queries, be it general or academic whilst conducting a brilliantly informative archaeology tour. As well as a qualified archeologist tour leader, Tours From Antiquity offer luxury coach travel, admission to English Heritage sites and ‘free time’ for our customers to enjoy and explore the world’s most beautiful cities, Bath. Nourished by natural hot springs, stunning architecture, great shopping and iconic attractions

Tours From Antiquity offer lecture standard archaeology tours, embracing the entire landscape in which these famous sites are situated. Offering a guided archaeology tour through the biographies of these landscapes allows our customers a rare opportunity to truly understand the motives and beliefs of the architects and creators of prehistoric Britain.

Tours From Antiquity firmly believe that through providing passionate tour leaders who have devoted their careers to the study and public presentation of archaeology offers our customers a truly unique and exceptional experience.

 This exclusive tour can be booked with ‘The Stonehenge Tour Company’ http://www.StonehengeTours.com