Stonehenge Has a Traffic Problem

Overheard at National Geographic

National Geographic

Science, Society & Culture

4.5 • 10.1K Ratings

🗓️ 19 July 2022

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The 4,500-year-old Stonehenge attracts hordes of tourists—and massive congestion. To alleviate traffic, the British government is considering a plan to build a tunnel near the monument, but historians and modern Druids alike are concerned that the development could damage artifacts critical to understanding the ancient stone circle. For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want more? Did you know that some pieces of Stonehenge may have come from even older artifacts? Take a look at our article on the subject. Also explore Now that you’ve heard about Alice Zoo’s and Reuben Wu’s photography, want to see it for yourself? Check out Alicezoo.com and ReubenWu.com. For subscribers We only scraped the surface when it comes to Stonehenge. Roff Smith wrote a piece for the August issue of the magazine that digs into the ancient past of the site as well as its modern issues, and you can read more about how Reuben captured the spirit of the world heritage site using a drone. Also, through this interactive graphic, visit Stonehenge in 2500 B.C. to learn more about how and why the mysterious circle was built. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's June 2021.
0:06.4	In Ela Zoo, this National Geographic photographer, she's in a field in rural England.
0:12.3	It's this gray, overcast English morning.
0:16.7	It was still totally dark when we arrived.
0:18.7	There were kind of a few other figures quietly making that way in the morning.
0:23.3	It was totally silent that all these cows in the field.
0:27.2	This heart of cows are looking at us quite suspiciously.
0:31.0	Oh great spirit.
0:33.0	Oh spirits to this sacred place.
0:35.5	Alice finds what she's looking for.
0:37.3	A dozen people dressed in long white robes standing in a wide circle.
0:42.3	These are druids, a modern religious movement inspired by ancient Celtic traditions.
0:46.9	They're holding a ceremony to honor the summer's holstice.
0:51.8	With the power of the sky above.
0:54.7	In the center of the circle there was this altar made up of various different things to
0:59.7	represent the four elements.
1:01.9	So there was some candles burning and some incense and gathered leaves and some crystals
1:08.5	and all different things.
1:11.6	One of the druids blows a cant shell.
1:17.4	The ceremony has begun.
1:19.5	The group sings songs, reads passages, chants.
1:23.5	It felt really sacred and it felt really quiet and really intimate.
	...

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