[{"id":673,"title":"Stonehenge: Solstice Opens Path to a Neolithic Afterlife","sha":"9a63eee85a038908a9e8cdd223344eb3","user_id":null,"state":"published","body":"Stonehenge was a massive effort for a calendar when the climate supports year round crops. Cups and Rings stones found throughout the UK were more likely the working calendars. They marked the field indicating when/where/what crop to harvest, using astronomical references thought to be the primary purpose of Stonehenge.\r\n\r\nAdditional religious motivation supports calendar, cremation + place of healing theories. Absence of god imagery points to directly communing with deities.\r\n\r\nNewgrange Kerbstone (Ireland, tomb, 300 yrs earlier) imagery similar to shape of Stonehenge and moon. Also:\r\n\r\nMotifs resembling two constellations in eastern winter sky:\r\nTriskele - Winter Triangle\r\n3 consecutive spirals  - Orion's belt\r\nCorrelation between death/winter, in keeping with agrarian culture.\r\n\r\nNewgrange exterior Kerbstone, left side, roughly translated: \r\nHere these seeds (the dead) moved from earthly fields, crossed the bridge (path) to new fields in the sky (triangles + moon/horseshoe arc) Right side: (represents afterlife activity)\r\n\r\nSolstice perhaps when \"path\" opens, Orion's belt indicates route. Stonehenge built to represent moon. Bluestones should glow with cool light (moon fire) when heated.\r\n\r\nStonehenge should be lit when Orion rises in the east, fire around every bluestone, a signal for the ancestors to receive the newly dead about to cross over.\r\n","created_at":"2020-02-08T22:05:43.997Z","updated_at":"2020-02-09T06:00:38.396Z","zenodo_id":3660066,"doi":"https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3660066","subject":null,"tags":["stonehenge","constellations","moon","bluestone","orionsbelt","neolithicart","tomb","newgrange","kerbstone","cupsandrings","triskele"],"vote_count":0,"view_count":1,"score":0.1,"deleted":false,"muted":false,"tweeted":false,"attachment_file_name":"Screenshot_20200208-135241_2.png","attachment_content_type":"image/png","attachment_file_size":2270339,"attachment_updated_at":"2020-02-08T22:05:43.979Z"},{"id":712,"title":"Cups And Rings Stones: Representations Of Clan Structure","sha":"3edd8493d6bcbc06f84e292435b9d638","user_id":null,"state":"published","body":"Fertility was so valued by the first farmers that a seed became the symbol for a human life. Neolithic Britons may have believed life's purpose was connected to proliferation, both here and beyond, in the stars.\r\n\r\nThe symbols on the Cups and Ring Stones found throughout the UK, appear to be derived from the stars. Although similar in appearance to constellations, they most likely represent a family unit, or clan.\r\n\r\nThe art suggests that clans were polygamous and celebrated proliferation rather than specific lineages.\r\n\r\nA \"cup\" represents a seed/person/star. The rings may relate to the number of children born to the woman represented. When a child was born, a ring was carved around the mother cup and a new child cup marked nearby. When the child matured and gave birth, their cup received a ring, and another cup carved nearby.\r\n\r\nIn this way, ringed cups represent mothers and how many children they birthed, while ringless cups represent men, childless women and children.\r\n\r\nA trough, or a strike through the rings may represent the death of the mother. Where the line joins another cup, death during childbirth. Deeper, additional meaning of the trough is related to its directionality.\r\n\r\nDiagram Attached\r\n","created_at":"2020-03-04T20:42:05.139Z","updated_at":"2020-09-25T06:01:12.406Z","zenodo_id":4049037,"doi":"https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4049037","subject":null,"tags":["neolithic art","cups and rings stones","fertility beliefs","ritual","rock art","clan","neolithic british isles","pre christianity","polygamous societies","pagan","constellations","first farmers","seeds"],"vote_count":0,"view_count":1,"score":0.1,"deleted":false,"muted":false,"tweeted":true,"attachment_file_name":"Screenshot_20200304-131828_2.png","attachment_content_type":"image/png","attachment_file_size":2649778,"attachment_updated_at":"2020-03-04T20:42:05.099Z"}]