Stonehenge. Finally, there are suggested reasons from past of the islands for overlooking Orkney. The essay is mostly based on readings from professional books about both historic sights. This essay was written to point out that there are places as the Orkney Islands, which may be much more interesting than other more popular places. Orkney Islands vs.. Stonehenge Stonehenge is one of the most visited places in Great Britain because it is very imposing and important historical monument.
However, there is one place in United Kingdom, which is not half as visited as Stonehenge, although t is more important and more impressive and that is Heritage Of Orkney Islands. Orkney is a group of 70 islands north of Scotland, from which the biggest one, Mainland, is the place where most of the Neolithic sights of the historical interests are situated. Firstly there are two stone circles: Ring of Brogan, which is one of the largest Neolithic hinges, measuring one hundred and thirty meters in diameter and then Standing Stones of Sternness, which are almost five hundred years older than four thousand years old Stonehenge.
Based on this, some archaeologists suppose that these Orkney stone circles, ay have served as a model for much more popular Stonehenge (Foster). In addition to that, close to the stone circles a stone village has been found called Kara Brae, which according to the archaeological research was already inhabited 3100 BC Not to treat Stonehenge unjustly, there is also one old village nearby, but only foundations remained of it.
Kara Brae, on the other hand, is dated to be built in Neolithic, the New Stone Age, and even nowadays, there is only one small forest on the Orkney Islands, which means that all the buildings and tools in Kara Brae had to be made from stone or bones. Thanks to this fact, everything is very well preserved and it seems, as the village was built yesterday. All these big architectural treasures are supplemented with lots of lone standing stones and other monuments, such as Messmate, the dark chambered tomb, which is lighted up by the sun rays only in the time of solstice.
Nevertheless, although this small island can offer you real unforgettable trip into the past, it is visited only by 120 000 visitors per year (Orkney Islands Council), which is a derisory number against the Stonehenge 800 000 visitors (Davies). Reasons for the overlooking of the Orkney heritage may be found in the story of islands. First, till the 16. Century the Orkney Islands were under the Norwegian rule, so the British were not much interested in them and thus the islands did not have to be well-known in United Kingdom.
Then, when the Norwegian relinquished Orkney, the islands fell to the Scotland, the everlasting enemy of England, and that might have been the reason, for English to propagate Stonehenge more than another place in Scotland. Besides, in the time of the World Wars there was also built a very important Royal Navy base in Orkney Caps Flow, thus Britons maybe also did not want to popularize the military place. Moreover, the main interest in the Orkney did not broke out until the beginning of the ;ninetieth century, when the Kara Brae was discovered, only then became the Orkney Islands more interesting for both archaeologists and tourists. Ultimately, small popularity may be also intentional, it is a good way to preserve the significant monuments of the Orkney Islands. Whatever the reason is, it is clear that Orkney Islands do not deserve to be overshadowed by the Stonehenge because they are unique place, which can offer visitors a real compact image of the Neolithic life. Bibliography Ancient Wisdom. Alex Whitaker. 005. 26 November 2010. < http://wmw. ancient-wisdom. co. uk >.
Website Ancient Wisdom gives a complex view on the most of the stone circles in a Great Britain, which allows me to compare different places with a similar focus. Thus, it helped me to find and organize main differences between Orkney and Stonehenge. Davies, Caroline. Stonehenge? It’s more like a city garden. Guardian. 7 February 2010. Guardian News and Media Limited. 30 December 2010. < http://www. guard i an. co. u k/ culture/2010/feb/07/stonehenge-city-garden- visitor-centre This article is written about new plans to protect Stonehenge gainst the impact of the near infrastructure.
This topic is not really related to this essay, I used the article from Guardian only as the source of statistic about the annual attendance of Stonehenge, which is a relevant fact supporting my thesis. Foster, S. M. 2006. Messmate and the Heart of Neolithic Orkney. Edinburgh: Historic Scotland. This book is focused on the monuments and history of the Orkney Islands and provides a lot of information about archaeological researches on The Mainland, for my essay was important mostly because of the historic facts and dates. Hill, Rosemary. Stonehenge.