The Stonehenge Hospital
The Prehistoric Health Spa – A Perspective by Timothy Darvill and Robert John Langdon (The Stonehenge Hospital)
Introduction
Timothy Darvill, a distinguished figure in Archaeology at Bournemouth University, has put forward a groundbreaking theory. His proposition that Stonehenge was a healing sanctuary, as detailed in his book ‘Stonehenge: The Biography of a Landscape ‘, is supported by compelling evidence from human remains found in burial mounds near the site. These remains, Darvill argues, belonged to individuals who were ailing before their demise, suggesting a unique purpose for the monument.
Darvill’s theory also carries an international dimension. He suggests that the remains found near Stonehenge, including those of the Amesbury Archer from what is now Switzerland, point to a diverse population that visited the site. He further proposes that Stonehenge’s primary function was during the winter solstice, a time when it was believed to be under the influence of Apollo, the Greek and Roman god of healing. (The Stonehenge Hospital)
Adding to Darvill’s hypothesis, Robert John Langdon’s revelations in his book, The Stonehenge Enigma, suggest that the ditch surrounding Stonehenge was not merely a ditch but a series of post holes and chalk seats. These were likely used for people to sit and bathe in the waters of the moat. British Geological Survey (BGS) superficial deposits and carbon-dated excavations in the old Stonehenge car park indicate that these water-filled ditches were active during the Mesolithic period. This suggests a higher water table at that time, allowing the Stonehenge ditch to fill with water.
Langdon emphasises that the old car park, now recognised for its historical significance, reveals evidence of three giant circles (similar to mini roundabouts) where post holes were discovered during its construction. These post holes, each at least 1 meter in diameter, contained pieces of bone and charcoal dated to be 10,000 years old, over twice the age of any other structure at Stonehenge. Traditional archaeology describes these posts as ‘totem poles,’ but Langdon argues that they were more likely functional mooring posts for boats. These posts could have supported a lifting device using simple mortise and tenon joints, allowing stones to be raised from boats during high tide and transported to Stonehenge. (The Stonehenge Hospital)
Langdon’s theory aligns with the idea that Bluestone chippings were used as ‘bath salts.’ When placed in the water-filled moat, these chippings would enhance the healing properties of the baths. Although unremarkable igneous rocks like Dolerite and Rhyolite take on a bluish hue when wet and have been attributed with mystical properties over centuries.
The 13th-century British poet Layamon, inspired by Geoffrey of Monmouth’s folklore, wrote:
The stones are great
And magic power they have
Men who are sick
Fare to that stone
And they wash that stone
And with that water bathe away their sickness
This poem indicates that the sick would bathe away their ailments using water that had encountered the stones. Surprisingly, Darvill did not link this poem to his hypothesis. However, recent findings by Professor Mike Parker Pearson of Sheffield University reveal a smaller version of Stonehenge, aptly named ‘Bluehenge,’ made of 27 Welsh stones and linked to the River Avon, reinforcing the connection between Bluestones and water. (The Stonehenge Hospital)
Excavations have uncovered numerous stone holes at the bottom of the moat surrounding Stonehenge, suggesting they once housed Bluestones. These stones, smaller than the more prominent Sarsen Stones, have been overlooked by archaeologists but played a crucial role in the site’s healing practices. Archaeologists have found 3,600 Bluestone chippings scattered around Stonehenge, suggesting they were deliberately broken up to enhance their healing properties when placed in water. (The Stonehenge Hospital)
Contrary to the belief that these chippings were merely remnants of reshaping efforts, the high number of Bluestone fragments compared to the fewer Sarsen Stone pieces found suggests a deliberate practice. The discrepancy indicates that the Bluestones were intentionally fragmented for use in healing rituals, possibly to be placed in the moat where people bathed.
Tim Darvill and Geoffrey Wainwright’s excavations in 2008 support this theory, revealing that Bluestones began to be chipped away almost immediately after being set up in successive arrangements. The notion of prehistoric man using water to heal may seem far-fetched, but such practices have deep roots in human history, evidenced by the widespread use of spas in Roman Britain. (The Stonehenge Hospital)
Langdon’s theory also posits that Stonehenge had a ‘lost’ processional walkway on the northwest side of the monument, leading towards the ancient shoreline and mooring station. This area, aligned with the midsummer moonset, highlights the site’s connection to the moon rather than the sun. The lack of human remains from the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods has led to theories of ‘excarnation,’ where bodies were left to decompose naturally. The Q and R holes at Stonehenge, arranged in a crescent moon shape, suggest a space designed for laying out the dead, aligned with the setting moon.
Further supporting Langdon’s hypothesis is the Palisade Ditch, a lesser-known feature running in a southwest-to-northeast direction between Stonehenge and the visitor’s car park. This ditch likely served as a barrier or entrance, creating a secluded sacred space. The Palisade would have kept the monument hidden from outsiders and protected the corpses laid out on slabs from wild animals.
As the Bronze Age progressed and the moat at Stonehenge dried up, these smaller Bluestones were abandoned and scattered throughout the site. Larger Bluestones where moved to the inner stone circle, accounting for today’s varied bluestone shapes and sizes. This perspective reimagines Stonehenge as a prehistoric health spa and highlights the enduring human quest for healing and wellness through natural elements. (The Stonehenge Hospital)
(The Stonehenge Hospital)
Further Reading
For information about British Prehistory, visit www.prehistoric-britain.co.uk for the most extensive archaeology blogs and investigations collection, including modern LiDAR reports. This site also includes extracts and articles from the Robert John Langdon Trilogy about Britain in the Prehistoric period, including titles such as The Stonehenge Enigma, Dawn of the Lost Civilisation and the ultimate proof of Post Glacial Flooding and the landscape we see today.
Robert John Langdon has also created a YouTube web channel with over 100 investigations and video documentaries to support his classic trilogy (Prehistoric Britain). He has also released a collection of strange coincidences that he calls ‘13 Things that Don’t Make Sense in History’ and his recent discovery of a lost Stone Avenue at Avebury in Wiltshire called ‘Silbury Avenue – the Lost Stone Avenue’.
Langdon has also produced a series of ‘shorts’, which are extracts from his main body of books:
Other Blogs
1
a
- AI now Supports – Homo Superior
- AI now supports my Post-Glacial Flooding Hypothesis
- Alexander the Great sailed into India – where no rivers exist today
- Ancient Prehistoric Canals – The Vallum
- Ancient Secrets of Althorp – debunked
- Antler Picks built Ancient Monuments – yet there is no real evidence
- Archaeological ‘pulp fiction’ – has archaeology turned from science?
- Archaeological Pseudoscience
- Archaeology in the Post-Truth Era
- Archaeology in the Post-Truth Era
- Archaeology: A Bad Science?
- Are Raised Beaches Archaeological Pseudoscience?
- ATLANTIS: Discovery with Dan Snow Debunked
- Avebury Ditch – Avebury Phase 2
- Avebury Post-Glacial Flooding
- Avebury through time
- Avebury’s great mystery revealed
- Avebury’s Lost Stone Avenue – Flipbook
b
c
- Caerfai promontory fort – archaeological nonsense
- Car Dyke – ABC News PodCast
- Car Dyke – North Section
- CASE STUDY – An Inconvenient TRUTH (Craig Rhos Y Felin)
- Case Study – River Avon
- Case Study – Woodhenge Reconstruction
- Chapter 2 – Craig Rhos-Y-Felin Debunked
- Chapter 2 – Stonehenge Phase I
- Chapter 2 – Variation of the Species
- Chapter 3 – Post Glacial Sea Levels
- Chapter 3 – Stonehenge Phase II
- Chapter 7 – Britain’s Post-Glacial Flooding
- Cissbury Ring through time
d
- Darwin’s Children – Flipbook
- Darwin’s Children – The Cro-Magnons
- Dawn of the Lost Civilisation – Flipbook
- Dawn of the Lost Civilisation – Introduction
- Digging for Britain – Cerne Abbas 1 of 2
- Digging for Britain Debunked – Cerne Abbas 2
- Digging Up Britain’s Past – Debunked
- DLC Chapter 1 – The Ascent of Man
- Durrington Walls – Woodhenge through time
- Dyke Construction – Hydrology 101
- Dykes Ditches and Earthworks
- DYKES of Britain
e
g
h
- Hadrian’s Wall – Military Way Hoax
- Hadrian’s Wall – the Stanegate Hoax
- Hadrian’s Wall LiDAR investigation
- Hambledon Hill – NOT an ‘Iron Age Fort’
- Hayling Island Lidar Maps
- Historic River Avon
- Hollingsbury Camp Brighton
- Hollows, Sunken Lanes and Palaeochannels
- Homo Superior – Flipbook
- Homo Superior – History’s Giants
- How Lidar will change Archaeology
l
m
- Maiden Castle through time
- Maritime Diffusion Model for Megaliths in Europe: A Groundbreaking Study
- Mathematics Meets Archaeology: Discovering the Mesolithic Origins of Car Dyke
- Mesolithic River Avon
- Mesolithic Stonehenge
- Minerals found in Prehistoric and Roman Quarries
- Mining in the Prehistoric to Roman Period
- Mount Caburn through time
- Mysteries of the Oldest Boatyard Uncovered
- Mythological Dragons – a non-existent animal that is shared by the World.
o
p
- Pillow Mounds: A Bronze Age Legacy of Cremation?
- Post Glacial Flooding – Flipbook
- Prehistoric Burial Practices of Britain
- Prehistoric Canals – The Vallum
- Prehistoric Canals – Wansdyke
- Prehistoric Canals – Wansdyke
- Prehistoric Canals (Dykes) – Antonine Wall
- Prehistoric Canals (Dykes) – Great Chesters Aqueduct (The Vallum Pt. 4)
- Prehistoric Canals (Dykes) – Hadrian’s Wall Vallum (pt 1)
- Prehistoric Canals (Dykes) – Maiden Way
- Prehistoric Canals (Dykes) – Offa’s Dyke (Chepstow)
- Prehistoric Canals (Dykes) – Offa’s Dyke (LiDAR Survey)
- Prehistoric Canals (Dykes) – Offa’s Dyke Survey (End of Section A)
- Prehistoric Canals (Dykes) – Roman Military Way
- Prehistoric Canals (Dykes) – Wansdyke (4)
- Prehistoric Canals Wansdyke 2
- Professor Bonkers and the mad, mad World of Archaeology
r
s
- Sea Level Changes
- Section A – NY26SW
- Section B – NY25NE & NY26SE
- Section C – NY35NW
- Section D – NY35NE
- Section E – NY46SW & NY45NW
- Section F – NY46SE & NY45NE
- Section G – NY56SW
- Section H – NY56NE & NY56SE
- Section I – NY66NW
- Section J – NY66NE
- Section K – NY76NW
- Section L – NY76NE
- Section M – NY87SW & NY86NW
- Section N – NY87SE
- Section O – NY97SW & NY96NW
- Section P – NY96NE
- Section Q – NZ06NW
- Section R – NZ06NE
- Section S – NZ16NW
- Section T – NZ16NE
- Section U – NZ26NW & NZ26SW
- Section V – NZ26NE & NZ26SE
- Silbury Avenue – Avebury’s First Stone Avenue
- Silbury Hill
- Silbury Hill / Sanctuary – Avebury Phase 3
- Six years ago archaeology made an astonishing discovery (Einkorn Wheat)
- Somerset Plain – Signs of Post-Glacial Flooding
- South Cadbury Castle – Camelot
- Stone me – the druids are looking the wrong way on Solstice day
- Stone Money – Credit System
- Stone Transportation and Dumb Censorship
- Stonehenge – Monument to the Dead
- Stonehenge Hoax – Dating the Monument
- Stonehenge Hoax – Round Monument?
- Stonehenge Hoax – Summer Solstice
- Stonehenge LiDAR tour
- Stonehenge Phase I (The Stonehenge Landscape)
- Stonehenge Solved – Pythagorean maths put to use four thousand years before he was born
- Stonehenge Stone Transportation
- Stonehenge Through Time
- Stonehenge, Doggerland and Atlantis connection
- Stonehenge: Discovery with Dan Snow Debunked
- Stonehenge’s Location -The Stonehenge Hoax
- Stonehenge’s The Lost Circle Revealed – DEBUNKED
t
- Ten thousand year old boats found on Northern Europe’s Hillsides
- Ten thousand-year-old boats found on Northern Europe’s Hillsides
- The Ancient Mariners – Flipbook
- The Ancient Mariners – Prehistoric seafarers of the Mesolithic
- The Bluestone Enigma
- The Dolmen and Long Barrow Connection
- The Durrington Walls Hoax – it’s not a henge?
- The First European Smelted Bronzes
- The Fury of the Past: Natural Disasters in Historical and Prehistoric Britain
- The Giant’s Graves of Cumbria
- The Giants of Prehistory: Cro-Magnon and the Ancient Monuments
- The Great Chichester Hoax – A Bridge too far?
- The Great Hadrian’s Wall Hoax
- The Great Iron Age Hill Fort Hoax
- The Great Offa’s Dyke Hoax
- The Great Prehistoric Migration Hoax
- The Great Stone Transportation Hoax
- The Great Stonehenge Hoax
- The Great Wansdyke Hoax
- The Henge and River Relationship
- The Logistical Impossibility of Defending Maiden Castle
- The Long Barrow Mystery
- The Long Barrow Mystery: Unraveling Ancient Connections
- The Lost Island of Avalon – revealed
- The Maths – LGM total ice volume
- The Mystery of Pillow Mounds: Are They Really Medieval Rabbit Warrens?
- The Old Sarum Hoax
- The Oldest Boat Yard in the World found in Wales
- The Post-Glacial Flooding Hypothesis – Flipbook
- The Post-Glacial Flooding Theory
- The Problem with Hadrian’s Vallum
- The Rise of the Cro-Magnon (Homo Superior)
- The Rivers of the Past were Higher – an idiot’s guide
- The Silbury Hill Lighthouse?
- The Stonehenge Avenue
- The Stonehenge Avenue
- The Stonehenge Code: Unveiling its 10,000-Year-Old Secret
- The Stonehenge Enigma – Flipbook
- The Stonehenge Enigma: What Lies Beneath? – Debunked
- The Stonehenge Hoax – Bluestone Quarry Site
- The Stonehenge Hoax – Flipbook
- The Stonehenge Hoax – Moving the Bluestones
- The Stonehenge Hoax – Periglacial Stripes
- The Stonehenge Hoax – Station Stones
- The Stonehenge Hoax – The Ditch
- The Stonehenge Hoax – The Slaughter Stone
- The Stonehenge Hoax – The Stonehenge Layer
- The Stonehenge Hoax – Totem Poles
- The Stonehenge Hoax – Woodhenge
- The Stonehenge Hospital
- The Troy, Hyperborea and Atlantis Connection
- The Vallum @ Hadrian’s Wall – it’s Prehistoric!
- The Woodhenge Hoax
- Three Dykes – Kidland Forest
- Top Ten misidentified Fire Beacons in British History
- Troy Debunked
- TSE – DVD Barrows
- TSE DVD – An Inconvenient Truth
- TSE DVD – Antler Picks
- TSE DVD – Avebury
- TSE DVD – Durrington Walls & Woodhenge
- TSE DVD – Dykes
- TSE DVD – Epilogue
- TSE DVD – Stonehenge Phase I
- TSE DVD – Stonehenge Phase II
- TSE DVD – The Post-Glacial Hypothesis
- TSE DVD Introduction
- TSE DVD Old Sarum