Narwhal
The narwhal, or narwhale (Monodon monoceros), is a medium-sized toothed
whale that possesses a large "tusk" from a protruding canine tooth. It lives yearround in the Arctic waters around Greenland, Canada, and Russia. It is one of two
living species of whale in the Monodontidae family, along with the beluga whale.
The narwhal males are distinguished by a long, straight, helical tusk, which is an
elongated upper left canine. The narwhal was one of many species described
by Carolus Linnaeus in his publication Systema Naturae in 1758.
Like the beluga, narwhals are medium-sized whales. For both sexes, excluding the
male's tusk, the total body size can range from 3.95 to 5.5 metres (13.0 to 18.0
feet); the males are slightly larger than the females. The average weight of an adult
narwhal is 800 to 1,600 kilograms (1,800 to 3,500 pounds). At around 11 to 13
years old, the males become sexually mature; females become sexually mature at
about 5 to 8 years old. Narwhals do not have a dorsal fin, and their
neckvertebrae are jointed like those of other mammals, not fused as in dolphins
and most whales.
Found primarily in Canadian Arctic and Greenlandic and Russian waters, the
narwhal is a uniquely specialized Arctic predator. In winter, it feeds
on benthic prey, mostly flatfish, under dense pack ice. During the summer,
narwhals mostly eatArctic cod and Greenland halibut, with other fish such as polar
cod making up the remainder of their diet. Each year, they migrate from bays into
the ocean as summer comes. In the winter, the male narwhals occasionally dive up
to 1,500 metres (4,900 feet) in depth, with dives lasting up to 25 minutes.
Narwhals, like most toothed whales, communicate with "clicks", "whistles", and
"knocks".
Narwhals can live up to 50 years. They are often killed by suffocation when the sea
ice freezes over. Another cause of fatality, specifically among young whales, is
starvation. The current population of the narwhal is about 75,000, so narwhals
qualify for Near Threatened under the criterion of the International Union for
Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Narwhals have been harvested for over a
thousand years by Inuit people in northern Canada and Greenland
for meat and ivory, and a regulated subsistence hunt continues.
Narwhal
(ˈnɑːwəl) or narwal; narwhale (ˈnɑːˌweɪl)
n
1. (Animals) an arctic toothed whale, Monodon monoceros, having a blackspotted whitish skin and, in the male, a longspiral tusk: family Monodontidae
STONEHENGE
HISTORY OF STONEHENG E
Stonehenge is perhaps the most famous prehistoric monument in the world. Begun
as a simple earthwork enclosure, it was built in several stages. The first monument
was as an early form of henge monument, built about 5,000 years ago, where
prehistoric people buried their cremated dead. The unique lintelled stone circle with
its enormous sarsens and smaller bluestones was erected in the late Neolithic
period around 2500 BC. Stonehenge remained important into the early Bronze
Age, when many burial mounds were built nearby. Today Stonehenge, together
with Avebury and other associated sites, forms the heart of a World Heritage Site
with a unique and dense concentration of outstanding prehistoric monuments.
Stonehenge seen from the south-east
BEFORE STONEHENGE
The earliest structures known in the immediate area are four or five pits, three of
which appear to have held large pine ‘totem-pole like’ posts erected in the
Mesolithic period, between 8500 and 7000 BC. It is not known how these posts
relate to the later monument of Stonehenge.
At this time, when much of the rest of southern England was largely covered by
woodland, the chalk downland in the area of Stonehenge may have been an
unusually open landscape. It is possible that this is why it became the site of an
early Neolithic monument complex.
This complex included the causewayed enclosure at Robin Hood’s Ball, two cursus
monuments or rectangular earthworks (the Greater, or Stonehenge, and Lesser
Cursus), and several long barrows, all dating from the centuries around 3500 BC.
The presence of these monuments probably influenced the later location of
Stonehenge.
A stone (gneiss) macehead and bone pins found associated with cremated human
remains in the Aubrey Holes at Stonehenge, evidence that very early in its
development Stonehenge was a cemetery.
THE EARLIEST MONUMENT
It is possible that features such as the Heel Stone and the low mound known as
the ‘North Barrow’ were early components of Stonehenge,[3] but the earliest known
major event was the construction of a circular ditch with an inner and outer bank,
built about 3000 BC. This enclosed an area about 100 metres in diameter, and had
two entrances. It was an early form of henge monument.
Within the bank and ditch were possibly some timber structures and set just inside
the bank were 56 pits, known as the Aubrey Holes. There has been much debate
about what stood in these holes: the consensus for many years has been that they
held upright timber posts, but recently the idea has re-emerged that some of them
may have held stones.
Within and around the Aubrey Holes, and also in the ditch, people buried
cremations. About 64 cremations have been found, and perhaps as many as 150
individuals were originally buried at Stonehenge, making it the largest late Neolithic
cemetery in the British Isles.
A reconstruction showing the raising of a stone in the outer sarsen circle.
THE STONE SETTINGS
In about 2500 BC the stones were set up in the centre of the monument. Two types
of stone are used at Stonehenge – the larger sarsens and the smaller ‘bluestones’.
The sarsens were erected in two concentric arrangements – an inner horseshoe
and an outer circle – and the bluestones were set up between them in a double
arc.[7]
Probably at the same time that the stones were being set up in the centre of the
monument, the sarsens close to the entrance were raised, together with the four
Station Stones on the periphery.
About 200 or 300 years later the central bluestones were rearranged to form a
circle and inner oval (which was again later altered to form a horseshoe). The
earthwork Avenue was also built at this time, connecting Stonehenge with the river
Avon.
One of the last prehistoric activities at Stonehenge was the digging around the
stone settings of two rings of concentric pits, the so-called Y and Z holes,
radiocarbon dated by antlers within them to between 1800 and 1500 BC. They may
have been intended for a rearrangement of the stones that was never completed.
The Normanton Down Barrows lie on the crest of a low ridge just to the south of
Stonehenge. Excavation of the barrows has produced several rich finds, including
beads and other personal ornaments
AFTER STONEHENGE W AS BUILT
The stone settings at Stonehenge were built at a time of great change in
prehistory, just as new styles of ‘Beaker’ pottery and the knowledge of
metalworking, together with a transition to the burial of individuals with grave
goods, were arriving from the Continent. From about 2400 BC, well-furnished
Beaker graves such as that of the Amesbury Archer[9] are found nearby.
In the early Bronze Age, one of the greatest concentrations of round barrows in
Britain was built in the area around Stonehenge. Many barrow groups appear to
have been deliberately located on hilltops visible from Stonehenge itself, such as
those on King Barrow Ridge and the particularly rich burials at the Normanton
Down cemetery.
Four of the sarsens at Stonehenge were adorned with hundreds of carvings
depicting axe-heads and a few daggers. They appear to be bronze axes of the
Arreton Down type, dating from about 1750–1500 BC. Perhaps these axes were a
symbol of power or status within early Bronze Age society, or were related in some
way to nearby round barrow burials.
A mid-14th-century manuscript illustration showing Merlin building Stonehenge, an
idea widely accepted until as late as the 16th century.
LATER HISTORY
From the middle Bronze Age, less communal effort went into the construction of
ceremonial monuments such as Stonehenge and more on activities such as the
creation of fields.[11]
In the Iron Age, probably about 700 BC, a major hillfort later known as Vespasian’s
Camp was constructed 1¼ miles east of Stonehenge overlooking the river
Avon.[12] Stonehenge appears to have been frequently visited in the Roman period
(from AD 43), since many Roman objects have been found there. [13] Recent
excavations raised the possibility that it was a place of ritual importance to
Romano-British people.[14]
The small town of Amesbury is likely to have been established around the 6th
century AD at a crossing point over the Avon. A decapitated man, possibly a
criminal, was buried at Stonehenge in the Saxon period.[15] From this time on,
sheep husbandry dominated the open downland around Stonehenge. [16] The
earliest surviving written references to Stonehenge date from the medieval period,
and from the 14th century onwards there are increasing references to Stonehenge
and drawings and paintings of it (see Research on Stonehenge).
This photograph, taken in September 1901, shows the remaining upright of the
tallest trilithon being supported while Professor Gowland's excavations take place
beneath. To the right is the horse-drawn caravan of William Judd, who was
appointed custodian by the owners and acted as a guide and photographer at the
stones for many years.
STONEHENGE IN THE 20TH AND 21ST CENTURIE S
Since 1897, when the Ministry of Defence purchased a vast tract of land on
Salisbury Plain for army training exercises, the activities of the military have had an
impact on the area. Barracks, firing ranges, field hospitals, airfields and light
railways were established.[17]Some of these, such as the Stonehenge airfield, have
long since been demolished, but others, such as the Larkhill airfield sheds, still
stand and are of importance in the history of early military aviation.[18]
Meanwhile, the introduction of turnpike roads and the railway to Salisbury brought
many more visitors to Stonehenge. From the 1880s, various stones had been
propped up with timber poles, but concern for the safety of visitors grew when an
outer sarsen upright and its lintel fell in 1900. The then owner, Sir Edmund
Antrobus, with the help of the Society of Antiquaries, organised the re-erection of
the leaning tallest trilithon in 1901.
This was the start of a sequence of campaigns to conserve and restore
Stonehenge – the last stones were consolidated in 1964.[19]
The monument remained in private ownership until 1918 when Cecil Chubb, a local
man who had purchased Stonehenge from the Atrobus family at an auction three
years previously, gave it to the nation.[20] Thereafter, the duty to conserve the
monument fell to the state, today a role performed on its behalf by English
Heritage.
From 1927, the National Trust began to acquire the land around Stonehenge to
preserve it and restore it to grassland. Large areas of the Stonehenge landscape
are now in their ownership. The removal of the old visitor facilities, together with
the closure of the section of the A344 which ran close to the monument, will finally
return Stonehenge to an open grassland setting.
Video: http://www.history.com/topics/british-history/stonehenge
Visit: http://www.stonehenge.co.uk/about.php
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/history/