Episode 1: Rubbish
In this episode, you heard four writers from the past. Each of them wrote about Stonehenge. Then you heard what archaeologists found in an old rubbish heap. Archaeologists dig up things from the past and study them.
Each of these is a source. A source is anything from the past that tells us about it. Historians are people who find out about the past, and they check every source with three questions. Try the questions here. Then decide how far you trust each source.
How to check a source: the three questionsHenry of Huntingdon
- Who wrote it?
Henry, an important churchman in Huntingdon, a town in England. He wrote a history of England, in Latin. Latin was the language of the ancient Romans.
- When did they write it?
About 900 years ago. That was more than 3,500 years after people built Stonehenge.
- Were they there?
No. Stonehenge was already very old in Henry’s time. In this part of his book, he doesn’t say whether he ever went to see it.
- Who translated it, and when?
Thomas Forester, in 1853. Henry wrote in Latin. A translation is the same writing, turned into another language.
What you heard
The second is at Stonehenge.
And no one has been able to discover for what purpose they were designed.
Hard words: purpose means what something is for.
Read it yourself
- Henry’s history, in EnglishInternet Archive
This is Forester’s English, printed in 1853. A computer scanned the old pages and turned them into text, and it made some mistakes.
The page is very long. To find Stonehenge, use Find on page and type “Stonehenge”.
Be a historian
- Henry wrote that nobody knew what Stonehenge was for. Was that true in his time? Is it still true today?
- Henry doesn’t say he went to Stonehenge. How else could he have found out about it?
Geoffrey of Monmouth
- Who wrote it?
Geoffrey, a Welsh churchman. Later he became a bishop, a leader in the Church. He wrote a history of the kings of Britain, in Latin.
Merlin, Aurelius and Gillomanius are people in Geoffrey’s story. Geoffrey wrote the words they say.
- When did they write it?
Around 1136, nearly 900 years ago.
- Were they there?
No. He set his story about Merlin and the stones hundreds of years before he was born. And people built Stonehenge more than 3,500 years before he wrote about it.
- Who translated it, and when?
Aaron Thompson turned Geoffrey’s Latin into English, and J. A. Giles updated his translation. This version came out in 1848.
What you heard
Merlin, the wizard in Geoffrey’s story
The giants of old brought them from the farthest coast of Africa, and placed them in Ireland. Their design in this was to make baths in them.
Aurelius, a king in Geoffrey’s story
How is it possible to remove such vast stones from so distant a country?
Gillomanius, the king of Ireland in Geoffrey’s story
Was ever the like folly heard of? What are the stones of Ireland better than those of Britain?
Merlin, the wizard in Geoffrey’s story
Now try your forces, young men, and see whether strength or art can do the most towards taking down these stones.
Hard words: design means plan. vast means huge. folly means silliness. forces means strength. art means skill.
Read it yourself
- Geoffrey’s history, in EnglishInternet Archive
This is Thompson and Giles’s English, printed in 1848 in a book called Six Old English Chronicles. A computer scanned the old pages and turned them into text, so some words come out wrong.
To find Merlin and the stones, use Find on page and type “farthest coast”. That is part of what Merlin says.
- What historians say about Geoffrey’s bookWikipedia
Wikipedia says Geoffrey’s book “is now considered to have no value as history”. Wikipedia is not a source from the time. People write it today, and anyone can change it. So check what it says against other sources.
Be a historian
- Geoffrey wrote down what Merlin said, hundreds of years after the time of his story. How could he know what Merlin said? What does that tell you about his story?
- Geoffrey called his book a history, and people believed it for hundreds of years. Does calling something a history make it true? What would you check?
William of Newburgh
- Who wrote it?
William, a churchman at a place called Newburgh. He wrote a history of England.
- When did they write it?
In the 1190s, about 830 years ago. That was about 60 years after Geoffrey wrote his book.
- Were they there?
No. But he knew the older histories of Britain. He said that anyone who knew them could see Geoffrey made things up.
- Who translated it, and when?
Joseph Stevenson turned William’s book into English, in 1861.
What you heard
A writer in our times has started up and invented the most ridiculous fictions.
How impudently he falsifies in every respect.
Hard words: fictions means made-up stories. impudently means cheekily. falsifies means makes things up.
Read it yourself
- William’s history, in EnglishInternet Medieval Sourcebook, Fordham University
This is Stevenson’s English, from 1861. The website has changed the old spellings to modern ones.
To find what William says about Geoffrey, use Find on page and type “ridiculous fictions”.
Be a historian
- William says Geoffrey made things up to make the Britons look good. The Britons were the people who lived in Britain long ago. If a writer wants to make someone look good, how might that change what they write?
- William wasn’t there either. So why do historians today believe William, and not Geoffrey?
Samuel Pepys
- Who wrote it?
Samuel Pepys, who kept a famous diary. A diary is a book where you write down what happens each day. He kept his from 1660 to 1669. He wrote it in English, but in shorthand: a quick way of writing, with signs instead of letters.
- When did they write it?
He wrote about Stonehenge in his diary for 11 June 1668. Four days later, on 15 June, he wrote about the stones near Avebury. That is more than 350 years ago.
- Were they there?
Yes and no. He rode to Stonehenge and saw the stones with his own eyes. But he wasn’t there when people built it, more than 4,000 years before.
What you heard
Come thither, and find them as prodigious as any tales I ever heard of them, and worth going this journey to see. God knows what their use was!
Which makes me think the less of the wonder of Stonehenge, for hence they might undoubtedly supply themselves with stones.
Hard words: thither means there. prodigious means enormous. hence means from here. undoubtedly means certainly.
Read it yourself
- Pepys’s diaryProject Gutenberg
This is the whole diary, as one very long page of plain text, so it may be slow to open on a phone. A man called John Smith worked out Pepys’s shorthand, and the diary was first printed in 1825. This text comes from a later printing, from 1893.
To find Stonehenge, use Find on page and type “Stonage”, Pepys’s own spelling. The first one you find is the book he bought.
- Was Pepys right? Where the stones came fromEnglish Heritage
English Heritage looks after Stonehenge. This page says where the big stones and the small stones came from.
Be a historian
- Pepys guessed the big stones came from the hills near Avebury, because stones covered those hills. Scientists have tested the stones, and he was right. Was it a good guess or a lucky one? What was his evidence: what did he see that made him think so?
- Two days before he saw Stonehenge, Pepys wrote that he paid four shillings for a “book, Stonage”. Shillings were old British coins. He also says the stones were as “prodigious”, or enormous, as any tales he had heard. How might reading about a place change what you write when you see it?
The rubbish heap at Durrington Walls
- Who wrote it?
Nobody. This source isn’t writing. It is rubbish that people threw away: more than 38,000 animal bones. Archaeologists dug them up.
- When did they write it?
Nobody wrote it. But the bones are about 4,500 years old. The people who built Stonehenge probably lived at Durrington Walls then, and threw the bones away there.
- Were they there?
Yes. The bones were there. They are a source from the time, so they are very good evidence. Evidence is anything that helps to show what is true. But bones can’t tell us everything, so the archaeologists use words like “probably” and “suggests”.
Read it yourself
- Food and feasting at StonehengeEnglish Heritage
English Heritage looks after Stonehenge. This page tells you what the bones show, and where the pigs came from.
- How pigs’ teeth tell the time of yearEnglish Heritage
A team from Sheffield explains how they worked out how old the pigs were, from their teeth.
Be a historian
- The archaeologists ask whether people walked from their feast to Stonehenge, to watch the midwinter sunset. Why do they ask it as a question, and not say it happened?
- Henry, Geoffrey and Pepys wrote about Stonehenge. The bones are from the time people built it. Which tells you more about what Stonehenge was for: the writers, or the bones? Why?
The links on this page go to other websites, where the sources are. Ask a grown-up before you visit them.
For grown-ups: every source for this episode, with full citations.