Stonehenge has been mesmerizing humans since it was built some 4,500 years ago.
Is it any wonder that a replica of the world's most famous prehistoric structure on the campus of the University of Texas Permian Basin in Odessa would attract more than a little attention?
Instead of towering above the featureless Salisbury Plain in Southern England, the Odessa Stonehenge sticks out among the strip malls in this oil town. The massive blocks blend with the sunburned brown of the desert of West Texas. The replica is across the street from society's monuments of Home Depot, OfficeMax and Starbucks. Perhaps, historians centuries from now will be baffled by the purpose of these perfectly aligned stones.
The rock project began several years ago as a dream among three friends, as Chris Stanley, chairman of UTPB's Department of Humanities and Fine Art, told the press after the Permian Basin Stonehenge was built. Stanley had told his friend Dick Gillham, a retired contractor, about having art students make models of the original Stonehenge.
There is no telling how much liquid creativity flowed as the two conjured a plan to bring Stonehenge to West Texas. The idea gained traction when Connie Edwards, owner of a local rock quarry and another Stonehenge fan, offered to provide the rocks.
The University of Texas System Board of Regents approved the project, and the stones were set in the summer of 2006. The replica takes up a little more than a quarter-acre next the art building and re-creates Stonehenge as it stands today. The horizontal dimensions match the original's footprint, but the height of the Texas version is 70 percent of the English version. The tallest stone of the prehistoric relic is 22 feet, while the Odessa replica tops out at 19 feet.
The local version is made of a cream-colored limestone pockmarked with fossils and shells left by a shallow sea that once covered much of Texas. To trim costs, each vertical piece was made from two 20- to 40-ton blocks instead of one 50- to 90-ton block like the English version. The vertical columns missing their massive horizontal lintels are complete with tenons, just like the original.
Scientists estimate that the original was constructed over a 2,000-year period and was abandoned around 1500 BC. It took modern technology about six weeks to complete the concrete foundation and position the 44 stones. Both Stonehenges are aligned with the summer solstice sunrise and the winter solstice sunset.
The Permian Basin Stonehenge is off of 42nd Street in northeastern Odessa. Besides being a roadside attraction that is dramatically lit at night, the replica is a classroom prop for art, architecture, math and history students. There is no charge to walk around the monument.
Gerald E. McLeod's Day Trips, Vol. 2 is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, P.O. Box 33284, South Austin, Texas 78704.
RSS
Mobile
Daily Emails
Twitter
Facebook
