Stonehenge‘s cult status as a centre for pagan worship could be in doubt, thanks to a bloody minded Utah farmer and three old bangers. Rhett Davis, of Hooper, engineered the mechanical megalith to keep prying eyes away from his property – and to show his nosey neighbours he wasn’t afraid to make a mess of the landscape in the small, conservative community. Rhett’s eureka moment came after neighbours refused to pay half the cost of a fence around his land, which would have shielded their eyes from the ‘horrors’ of flies and dust he kicked up at harvest time. So…
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There may be well-known pyramids in Egypt, Mexico and even Bosnia – and ancient wonders across the globe – but not many know about the ancient architecture located right on their doorstep in London. Step forward Nicholas Hawksmoor: architect, freemason and all-round ancient religion nut. Born to a poor family in the British Midlands, Hawksmoor became one of the most revered architects of his time. And his London churches are some of the capital’s strangest landmarks, stepping wildly away from the Baroque time in which they were conceived. Hawksmoor had already built, and helped build with his mentor Sir Christopher…
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She may not be to everyone’s taste, but don’t knock her – this tiny mammoth tusk temptress is looking good for her 35,000 years. Discovered last year in the southwest German cave of Hohle Fels, the somewhat ironically-named Venus is believed to be the earliest form of figurative art – made by the first homo sapiens to settle in Europe. It predates other finds by up to 5,000 years, bringing Europe further in line with engravings found in Africa, which still predate the find. Dr Nicholas Conard of Tubingen University, Germany, told pre-eminent journal Nature that the discovery ‘radically changes…
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Stonehenge‘s use may have been debated for millennia – but one expert now thinks the Neolithic site was the venue for some of prehistory’s wildest raves. Professor Rupert Till, an expert in acoustics and music technology at Huddersfield University, insists the megalithic structure would have worked perfectly to resonate sound – creating trance-like music which would have aided rituals and worship at the site. To prove his theories, Dr Till used a computer model to simulate the acoustics of Stonehenge when it was in perfect shape (many of the huge stones have fallen down over time). The expert also visited…