It turns out that Stonehenge, one of Britain’s and the world’s best-known monuments, has a cousin almost 300 kilometers northeast. More precisely, two cousins: Holme I and Holme II. These are two circular structures that date back to the Bronze Age and were named Seahenge for its similarity to Stonehenge. As commercial as its name is, why would you fool us?

For decades, we didn’t know what people 4,000 years ago might have used Seahenge for, but a new study believes we have the answer: they were monuments trying to win the war against climate change.

Coincidence. The saying “I came looking for silver, but I found gold” is very appropriate when talking about Seahenge. John Lorimer was an amateur archaeologist who put on his wellies to go shrimping on Holme beach with his brother-in-law in 1998. They both found an ax head from the Bronze Age, but they had no idea what it actually was. Lorimer, who liked such things, went to the beach at other times to see if he could find anything else, and found a second ax head.

Who doesn’t love a Bronze Age ax head?

He and a friend of Lorimer’s contacted Norwich Castle museum, and museum archaeologists examined the tools and determined they were from the Bronze Age, but Lorimer thought there must be something else at the site. He went to the beach until he found something: a tree trunk. The interesting thing was that it had been turned upside down and the amateur archaeologist continued to visit the beach, where waves had eroded away, revealing a ring of 55 bodies surrounding the log.

Seahenge. When Lorimer realized it was clearly human work, he contacted the museum again. Experts initially thought it might have been a fish trap built during the Anglo-Saxon period, but something didn’t add up and that same year they began digging to obtain more information. It wasn’t difficult as they were working in sand and the only thing complicated was dealing with the tides, but after a dendrochronological test carried out by the University of Sheffield in January 1999 it became clear: this was a medieval monument. Bronze Age.

Local media called their story “Our Stonehenge under the sea” and although the monuments had nothing to do with it (other than that circular arrangement), as we said… the name had some appeal. The interesting thing was that there was not one ring but two. During the excavation of Seahenge in 1999, a second structure was revealed about 100 meters away. Since both were close to the town of Holme, the first was called Holme I and the second… Holme II. They didn’t break their heads, no.

This… for what? After analysis, it turned out that the two structures were built simultaneously in 2049 BC. While the trunks of Holme I had intact bark, they were not the same as Holme II lacked bark and wood. It has another color. The Holme I stump also has no roots, so it was initially theorized that they were used for disembodiment in a religious ritual.

And precisely, theories have suggested that the Seahenge structures are mortuary enclosures or celestial burial places like those found elsewhere in the world (quite… interesting: the mess is placed in the center and scavenger birds do the rest). No evidence of this was ever found, and although we had discovered – we believe – what Stonehenge was for, the mystery surrounding Seahenge was still up in the air. So far.

Holmes I

A ritual but not what we think. Knowing what was going through people’s minds more than 4,000 years ago is… complicated. With no written record available, researchers can only hypothesize, but a new study by the University of Aberdeen has published a report explaining what the two structures might have been used for.

The person responsible for the research was Dr. Thomas, who cross-referenced climatic data, folklore of the period, toponymy, and environmental and biological data from the time the two structures were built. David Nance. His theory is that Holme I and Holme II were built during an extremely cold climate and their function was to extend the summer a little longer.

Parts of Holme I on display in the British Museum

write more please. “We know that the period when they were built 4,000 years ago was a long period of falling atmospheric temperatures, severe winters, and late springs that put these early coastal societies under stress,” Nance says. “These monuments likely had the common goal of ending this existential threat, but they had different functions,” he continues.

Thus, the aim was to imitate a featherless cuckoo and make it sing to prolong the summer. “The summer solstice was the date when the cuckoo, which in folklore symbolized fertility, traditionally stopped singing and returned to the Other World, and summer went with it,” Nance adds. And this is not something that comes out of one’s arm, but is taken from folklore and the indoor cuckoo legend, in which a featherless cuckoo is placed in a thorny bush with the intention of not going with it in the summer.

Holme II was different. He has another theory for Holme II. For him, this points to the myth of ‘divine kings’, champions symbolizing male fertility; When misfortune befalls the community, he makes sacrifices to appease the gods (in this case the goddess Venus) and restore harmony. “Evidence indicates that they were sacrificed every eight years on Samhain, coinciding with the eight-year cycle of Venus. Holme II’s orientation is toward sunrise on Sahmain in 2049, when Venus is visible.”

Caught with tweezers? Maybe, but the professor adds: “The best explanation for both monuments is that they had different functions and different associated rituals, but a common purpose: to put an end to extreme cold.”

They can be visited (also in video games). As is often the case when Seahenge was asked to be moved… there was controversy. Locals claimed that they could not pick it up from the beach as it was such a strong tourist attraction. But English Heritage took it back to examine every piece and carry out a meticulous maintenance process. They built a replica of Holme I and the original can be seen in the Lynn Museum near its original location.

Despite all the debate, they decided to leave Holme II where it was, at the risk of the sea consuming it (but hey, it’s been there for 4000 years). And if you’re interested and can’t travel to the area to see Holme I, you can always do so thanks to video games. In the title ‘Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’ there is a puzzle whose protagonist is this ritual center.

Pictures | Mark Brennand, Museum Collections, -JvL-

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