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%<87030720 A 0? 5=0; 81 7.407< )8:;349 Stonehenge Reveals New Clues of Ancient Worship Stonehenge may have been a place for sun worship long before the iconic stones were erected more than 5,000 years ago, according to archaeologists who are carrying out the biggest- ever virtual excavation. Using noninvasive technologies such as ground-penetrating radar and geophysical imaging, a team from the University of Birmingham's IBM Visual and Spatial Technology Centre, known as VISTA, and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology in Vienna, discovered evidence of two huge pits positioned on a celestial alignment at Stonehenge. Measuring more than 16 feet across and at least 3 feet deep, the pits lie within the Cursus, a large enclosure north of Stonehenge, which predates the prehistoric monument by up to 500 years. "This is the first time we have seen The researchers have already found a ancient Israelites. anything quite like this at Stonehenge," said henge-like monument, several other small Changes to scripture itself can not only project leader Vince Gaffney, an archaeologist monuments, and a new horseshoe arrangement include omissions, but also additions as they're from the University of Birmingham. of large pits northeast of Stonehenge, which copied and translated from generation to "When viewed from the Heel Stone, a may have also contained posts. generation. A project led by New Orleans rather enigmatic stone which stands just outside They believe that these structures Baptist Theological Seminary catalogues the entrance to Stonehenge, the pits effectively functioned as minor shrines, perhaps serving hundreds of versions of the New Testament mark the raising and setting of the sun at specific communities visiting the ceremonial written in early Christendom to document midsummer days," he explained. center. changes that crept in over the years. According to the archaeologists, the pits The team is confident that the project Although many of the alterations they may have contained tall stones, wooden posts or will produce new discoveries soon. discover are trivial, some changes can be much even fires to mark the sun rising and setting. more significant, as reported by the Times- Most likely, they defined a processional route "Our knowledge of the ancient landscapes that Picayune. used to celebrate the passage of the sun across once existed around Stonehenge is growing One example of an editorial change the sky at the summer solstice. dramatically as we examine the new includes the addition of the story of Jesus saving "It is possible that processions within geophysical survey results," said Paul Garwood, an adulterous woman from public stoning by the Cursus moved from the eastern pit at a lecturer in prehistory at the University of challenging the crowd with: Let he who is sunrise, continuing eastwards along the Cursus Birmingham. without sin cast the first stone. That tale was and, following the path of the sun overhead, "We can see in rich detail not only new added to the gospel of John some 300 years perhaps back to the west, reaching the western monuments but entire landscapes of past human after the book first appeared, according to the pit at sunset to mark the longest day of the activity, over thousands of years, preserved in report. year," said Gaffney. subsurface features such as pits and ditches." [] Not only have passages been added and The hypothesis gained more weight subtracted to the Bible over time; entire books when the researchers measured the walking have also been left out of the canon. distance between the two pits. The first four books of the New They discovered that the procession Jesus' Wife and Other Testament are the gospels, the story of Jesus would reach exactly halfway at midday, when Bible Rewrites according to the apostles who followed him -- the sun would be directly on top of Stonehenge. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The Gospel of "This is more than just a coincidence, Mary, as in Mary Magdalene, dates back to the indicating that the exact length of the Cursus Identified by Karen L. King, a historian at second century, later than any of the other and the positioning of the pits are of Harvard Divinity school, the scroll has the gospels. The gnostic text paints Mary as a significance," said Henry Chapman, senior following passage written in Coptic, as reported singular disciple among Jesus' followers who lecturer in archaeology and visualization at the by the New York Times: "Jesus said to them, had privileged access to his teachings. University of Birmingham. 'My wife... she will be able to be my disciple." Similarly, the Gospel of Judas, the According to the researchers, the King cautioned that the fragment is not earliest copies of which date to the second presence of the pits within the Cursus suggest proof that Jesus was married, but is reflective of century, was another gnostic book that failed to that the Stonehenge area, which features the debates early Christians had in the infancy break into the Biblical canon. This gospel England's densest complex of Neolithic and of the church. After all, this wouldn't be the first directly contradicts the accounts of the four Bronze Age monuments, was already sacred time early Christian artifacts have contradicted apostles by painting a picture of Judas, the before construction work began to build the history as written in the Bible.. apostle who betrayed Jesus, as merely following enigmatic stone circle. As reported by Discovery News' through with his wishes. "Even though Stonehenge was Jennifer Viegas in March 2011, Oxford scholar Changes are made to the Bible for a ultimately the most important monument in the Francesca Stavrakopoulou believes she found number of different reasons. Some are just landscape, it may at times not have been the evidence that God had a wife based on an errors in copying from one version to another. only, or most important, ritual focus," said analysis of ancient texts, figurines and other Others might be one author or early Christian Gaffney. artifacts. sect putting their stamp on scripture. In fact, "The area of Stonehenge may have God's wife, Asherah, was a powerful Vatican scholars are to this day working on become significant as a sacred site at a much fertility goddess, and worshiped alongside rewrites and updates to the Bible. Given that the earlier date. Other activities were carried out at Yahweh, as God is known in Hebrew. Strict Bible is thousands of years old, it should come other ceremonial sites only a short distance monotheism, however, gradually diminished as no surprise that it might need a facelift every away," he continued. Asherah's importance in the religion of the now and again. []