In the heart of the south west of England  the chalk plateau of the Salisbury Plain  

在英格蘭西南部的中心地帶，索爾茲伯里平原的白堊高原。

stretches out over 300 square  miles as far as the eye can see.  

綿延300多平方英里，目之所及。

As you step through this landscape, you're walking  in the footsteps of some of our most ancient  

當你踏過這片土地時，你正沿著我們最古老的腳步走在這裡

ancestors. Amesbury, a picturesque town thatched  town on the southern fringes of the Plain,  

的祖先。艾姆斯伯裡，一個風景如畫的小鎮，平原南部邊緣的茅草鎮。

is the oldest continuously occupied  settlement in the United Kingdom.  

是聯合王國最古老的連續被佔領的定居點。

But some of the most dramatic evidence of our  deep history lies just west of Amesbury. There  

但我們的一些最引人注目的歷史證據 就在艾姆斯伯裡以西的地方那裡

stands a ring of enormous stones casting  their shadows over the Plain. The sheer  

矗立著一圈巨大的石頭，將它們的影子投射在平原上。陡峭的

physicality of the structure is staggering.  Each stone is said weigh around 25 tonnes.  

該結構的物理性是驚人的。 據說每塊石頭重約25噸。

This is Stonehenge and it's part of  the most complex network of neolithic  

這就是巨石陣，它是新石器時代最複雜的網絡的一部分。

and bronze age monuments in Britain,  including over 100 burial mounds.

和英國青銅時代的紀念碑，包括100多個墓冢。

Stonehenge is one of the most iconic  prehistoric sites in the world, if not  

巨石陣是世界上最具代表性的史前遺址之一，如果說它不是

*the* most. Even before the construction of the  first enclosure on the site some 5000 years ago,  

*最為*。甚至在大約5000年前，在該地建造第一個圍牆之前。

there's evidence of bands of mesolithic  hunter-gatherers in the area. They left  

有證據表明該地區有中石器時代的狩獵採集者隊伍他們留下了

their mark on the landscape in the form of huge  pine totem poles that were raised near the site.

他們在景觀上留下的印記是在遺址附近豎起的巨大松樹圖騰柱。

Stonehenge has been several phases of  construction but the great trilithons,  

巨石陣已經過幾期建設，但大三石。

these fantastic stone uprights with  the single stone lintel across the top,  

這些夢幻般的石立柱與單石門楣橫跨頂部。

were erected around about 2500 BC or 4500  years ago. This place must have been built  

大約建於公元前2500年或4500年前。這個地方應該是在

for a spiritual purpose. While awe-inspiring, it  serves no obvious practical function in terms of  

的精神目的。雖然令人敬畏，但它在以下方面並沒有明顯的實際功能。

being a house or a defensive structure.  It marks the passing of the year and the  

是房屋或防禦性建築。 它標誌著一年的過去和

changing seasons which would have had a huge  significance for the people at the time.

季節變化，這對當時的人們來說，會有很大的意義。

Over the centuries, countless myths and  legends have grown up around Stonehenge.  

幾個世紀以來，圍繞著巨石陣生長出了無數的神話和傳說。

Geoffrey of Monmouth, writing in the  12th century, tells us that the stones  

Monmouth的Geoffrey在12世紀寫道，他告訴我們，這些石頭...

were actually originally from Africa  and then transported to Ireland  

其實是來自非洲，然後運到愛爾蘭的

by giants. They were finally moved to  their current site through the skill of  

由巨人。的技術，終於將它們搬到了現在的位置。

the wizard Merlin and were said to have been  erected over the graves of British warriors.

巫師梅林，據說被豎立在英國戰士的墳墓上。

The stones here tell their own remarkable  story. The larger stones, or Sarsens,  

這裡的石頭講述著自己的非凡故事。較大的石頭，也就是薩森斯。

are made from local sandstone. However  the smaller ones, known as bluestones,  

是由當地的砂岩製成的。然而較小的，被稱為藍石。

were quarried 140 miles away in the Preseli  mountains in Wales. It's astounding to think  

是在140英里外的威爾士普雷塞利山區採掘的。這是令人震驚的想法

that these colossal pieces of rock we  see today travelled for so many miles.

我們今天看到的這些巨大的石塊 已經走過了這麼多英里的路程了

There are countless theories about the function of  Stonehenge but it's certainly a place of the dead.  

關於巨石陣的功能有無數的理論，但它肯定是一個死人的地方。

From the earliest phases, human remains have  been buried here, sometimes as cremations and  

從最早的階段開始，人類的遺體就被埋葬在這裡，有時是火葬，有時是火葬。

then later as inhumations where a body itself  is buried. It's even been suggested that the  

後來又被稱為 "埋葬"，即埋葬屍體本身。甚至有人提出

stones themselves might represent effegies of the  ancestors. This association with the dead is not  

石頭本身可能代表了祖先的遺物。這種與死者的聯繫並不是

just limited to the site itself but it stretches  out into the surrounding fields with monuments  

不僅僅是遺址本身，而是延伸到了周圍的田野上，有很多的古蹟

to the dead filling the countryside in the form  of these fantastic barrow cemeteries. So really  

在這些夢幻般的土墩墓地中，死人充斥著整個鄉村。所以真的

Stonehenge must not be looked at outside of this  wider context. It exists as part of a huge ritual  

不能脫離這個更廣泛的背景來看待巨石陣。它是作為一個巨大的儀式的一部分而存在的。

landscape and we're finding out more about this  landscape every year and we're even uncovering  

我們每年都會發現更多關於這個景觀的資訊，我們甚至還發現了

new monuments, some of them on a breathtaking  scale, literally dwarfing Stonehenge itself.

新的紀念碑，其中一些的規模令人歎為觀止，幾乎使巨石陣本身相形見絀。

In keeping with Stonehenge's  rich history of ritual,  

為了配合巨石陣豐富的祭祀歷史。

we've selected the famous song of John Barleycorn.  It's a primitive tale which contains within it the  

我們選擇了約翰-巴萊科恩的名曲。 這是一個原始的故事，其中包含了

instructions for making beer told via the murder  of a man who personifies the crop of barley.  

通過謀殺一個大麥作物的人格化的人，講述了製作啤酒的說明。

However, Barleycorn's brutal assault  also has a deeper meaning. The song  

然而，巴利康的野蠻攻擊也有更深的含義。這首歌

charts the corn god's cycle of life,  death, transformation and regeneration  

勾勒出玉米神的生、死、化、再生的循環過程

as well as documenting the important role the  brew held in the community in centuries past.

以及記錄了過去幾個世紀中，啤酒在社區中所扮演的重要角色。