William Collins
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First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 1996
Copyright © John North 1996
John North asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Source ISBN: 9780002558501
Ebook Edition © JUNE 2016 ISBN: 9780008192167
Version: 2016-10-06
Further praise for Stonehenge:
‘North has many ingenious new proposals … the leading title for scientists who take an interest in archaeology.’
CHRISTOPHER CHIPPENDALE, New Scientist
‘Professor North is a distinguished historian of science teaching in the Netherlands, and therefore also a historian of past ideas and beliefs … He is the right kind of person to be involved in these immensely taxing enquiries and can alone offer fresh understandings of what may have driven and coloured Neolithic activity … The book’s length partly reflects the author’s successful intent to provide explanations in near-plain language. Occasionally the prose seems quite lyrical … I suspect we shall never know what certain phases of Stonehenge were really designed for, and the same goes for some of the less intricate monuments in that region, but I also now suspect that John North is nudging us with considerable skill in the only credible direction.’
CHARLES THOMAS, Literary Review
‘Stonehenge covers years of study by an eminent historian of science, and pays meticulous attention to archaeological surveys, ancient knowledge of the heavens and other prehistoric remains in Britain and northern Europe.’
Hampstead and Highgate Express
TO
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CONTENTS
Neolithic Chamber-Tombs—an Introduction
First Thoughts on the Taper of Long Barrows
The Orientation of Long Barrows
Frame and Form at Wayland’s Smithy
West Kennet and its Star Chambers
The West Kennet Neighbourhood. Silbury Hill