Stonehenge

Not quite sure what the customer said, I made it back to the bus just in time for the departure to Stonehenge.

Although work on the monumental structure began more than 5050 years ago, there are significant similarities to the present day. For example, the entire edifice was handled the same way we do software development:

1. They began with a ‘henge’ which is a circular ditch. (This was the Stonehenge beta release.)
2. Progress continued with Woodhenge , completed 4600 years ago. (In this case, they added a wooden structure in the center of the henge.

3. Various upgrades, using stones – e.g. Stonehenge 2.0; Stonehenge 3.2a; Stonehenge Pro 4.6 - were completed during the next 1000 years.

Moreover, other similarities came to light. The Sarsen stones were dragged from Marborough Downs (19 miles away), the Bluestones from the Preseli Mountains in Wales, 240 Kilometers away. I imagine that the guys doing the dragging questioned the sanity of the managers in charge of the project. Imagine a worker conversation 3000 years ago:

“Dragging this rock…”

“Stone, my friend.”

“… from a zillion miles away is sheer insanity.”

“Are you questioning our leadership?”

“Me? Question the leadership? Of course not. It would be nice, however, if they’d join in the dragging.”

“Do you know what we are building?”

“No. What?”

“We are making a calendar.”

“A calendar? And nobody thought of parchment?”

“It hasn’t been invented yet – at least here.”

No, dear reader, I am not making this up. Stonehenge is a calendar. It is arranged so that the sun will shines through the monument differently each month and will be aligned through the middle of the structure at the Winter Solstice . I cannot personally verify this since it was drizzling while I was there (no Sun) and it wasn’t solstice time. As an aside, New York City can also be a calendar. At the summer solstice the sun shines directly down the streets – between the buildings.