Vandals damage Stonehenge
AFP - 1 hour 18 minutes ago
LONDON (AFP) - Vandals used a hammer and screwdriver to vandalise the
Stonehenge ancient monument, the first such incident for decades,
officials said Thursday.
The night-time attack by two men last week involved the central
megalith in the 5,000-year-old ring of standing stones, with English
Heritage saying the vandals could have been looking for a souvenir.
A chip of stone about the size of a large coin was removed, while a
2.5-inch long scratch was left on the Heel Stone, at the centre of
the UNESCO World Heritage Site, near Salisbury.
"Thanks to the vigilance and quick action of the security team at
Stonehenge, very minimal damage was caused," said a spokeswoman for
English Heritage.
"A tiny chip was taken from the north side of the Heel Stone with a
screwdriver and hammer, but as soon as the two men were spotted by
security guards they escaped over the fence and drove off.
"This is now a matter for the police," she added.
A spokeswoman for Wiltshire Police said: "Two male offenders were
seen disturbing the monument with a hammer and screwdriver. .. It is
believed they could be two men seen acting suspiciously on a previous
occasion."
Stonehenge is one of the world's best preserved prehistic monuments.
In around 2,600 BC, 80 giant standing stones were arranged on
Salisbury Plain, where there was already a 400-year-old stone circle.
Around two centuries later, even bigger stones were brought to the
plain.
Today, only 40 percent of the originals remain.
But around 850,000 visitors per year come to marvel at the 17 stones which are still
intact.
The biggest stones came from a quarry some 18 miles away, while some
of the others come from a range of hills in south-west Wales -- a 150
mile journey.
Stonehenge monument in Britain
May 22, 2008 - 8:43PM
British police are looking for suspected souvenir-hunters who used a
hammer and a screwdriver to vandalise the world-famous stone circle
of Stonehenge in south-west Britain.
The incident, which occurred in the late evening of May 15, was the
first act of vandalism at the site, near Salisbury, in decades,
police said.
Two men, spotted by security guards as the escaped by car, managed to
hack off a coin-size piece from the central megalith, known as the
Heel Stone.
Visitors to the 5,000-year-old site, lying on a hilly green field
dotted with grazing sheep, are separated from the stone circle by a
rope barrier.
Stonehenge, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a place of
pilgrimage for neo-druids and those following pagan or neo-pagan
beliefs.
It attracts thousands of visitors for the summer solstice on June 21,
every year.
Vandals in attack at Stonehenge
Suspected souvenir hunters broke into Stonehenge and vandalised the
ancient monument, English Heritage has said.
A hammer and screwdriver were used to take a small chip the size of a
10p piece from the side of the Heel Stone.
English Heritage said further damage was prevented by security guards
who spotted the two men at the 5,000-year-old site in Wiltshire.
Police believe the vandals could be the same two people caught on
CCTV acting suspiciously a few days earlier.
English Heritage said souvenir hunting was once a legitimate practice
and chisels used to be handed out to people visiting the stones.
The recent act of vandalism which happened on the evening of 15 May
at about 2200 BST is thought to be the first attack on the site for
many years.
Police said the men managed to escape by jumping over the fence and
driving off in a red Rover 400 with plastic sheeting covering the
driver's side window.
Archaeologists are currently excavating the World Heritage Site to discover more about its origins.
The last time an excavation was allowed inside the stone circle was in 1964.
The current dig is a major research excavation to investigate the bluestones.
These smaller stones made up part of the prehistoric monument alongside the sarsen stones.
Stonehenge has remained open as normal and visitors will be able to
observe up close the excavation as it happens on plasma screens
inside a special marquee.
ALSO OF INTEREST : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7337292.stm Archaeologists carrying out an excavation at Stonehenge say they have
broken through to a layer that may finally explain why the site was
built.