The Stonehenge phenomenon: red alert

This is an interesting article which deserves to be taken seriously by archaeologists and maybe sociologists as well.........

Opinion: “Stonehenge is no longer a Neolithic monument – it is a pop culture phenomenon”

Dr Kenny Brophy

BBC History Extra
Feb 17, 2022

Viewing all of Neolithic Britain through the lens of one monument shuts down an understanding of the diversity of the period, writes Dr Kenny Brophy, head of the archaeology department at the University of Glasgow.

https://www.historyextra.com/period/21st-century/opinion-stonehenge-monument-celebrity-fame-how-we-understand-neolithic-britain/

What interests me particularly about the article is not so much the status of Stonehenge as an icon, or an EH cash cow, or even a "pop culture phenomenon", but the manner in which "the Stonehenge story" (or myth as we should really call it) has been turned into a belief system.  Large numbers of people have been drawn to the narrative not just at an intellectual level but at a spiritual or almost religious level -- and that is more than a little frightening.  There is a Stonehenge cult out there -- and of course this is encouraged by the style of EH marketing, with the high point being the "midsummer sunrise" event which attracts thousands of "believers"(and not just the druids)  to the old ruin every year, very early in the morning.    

Some members of the public are so attached to the narrative or the "Stonehenge belief system" that they actually feel that any criticism or questioning of it is equivalent to an attack upon themselves.  Comments that fly about on social media suggest that some actually feel personally wounded.  On a couple of occasions on Twitter, when I have questioned some of the "astonishing discoveries" made by certain Stonehenge experts, and the post-processual methods employed in British archaeology, there has been a furious response from loose groups of individuals who seem to think I have been attacking, demeaning or patronising them personally.  It's really rather bizarre -- until one realises that large groups of people spend much of their time flagging up and blowing the trumpet for the latest Stonehenge discoveries, retweeting messages, congratulating the archaeologists involved and generally getting a nice rosy glow from the whole process.  They are the members of an informal club, obtaining some sort of personal validation and pleasure from these social media interactions.   And I can understand that, as a member of my own little Facebook group!

But when somebody comes along and says "Hang on a minute!  Has anybody actually read this particular article and scrutunized the evidence?  Has it occurred to you that this might all be much ado about nothing?" they feel personally threatened, and out come their daggers in self-defence..........

And there is another level too, involving an archaeological establishment which protects itself, and its senior members who promote one Stonehenge "astonishing discovery" after another, by making sure that mavericks are given short shrift.  Poor Geoffrey Kellaway discovered that many years ago, when he had the effrontery to question the bluestone "human transport" myth and was dealt with on the telly by an assortment of thugs in dark suits.  And similar things have happened since, generally behind the scenes, as some who may read this post will know to their cost.

Some of the blame for the current situation rests with media outlets who are obsessed with Stonehenge, as Kenny Brophy points out.  And those who manage and promote Stonehenge may or may not be aware of the social and psychological impact of their high pressure marketing campaigns, but when a powerful myth is adopted by a cult, the results are not always benign.