位于温特伯恩阿巴斯的“九石”遗址环境并不光彩。它紧邻A35公路，仅靠细长的铁栏杆和一条小沟渠将石圈与西向隆隆驶过的繁忙交通隔开。每年约有六个月的时间，沟渠里会有水流（即“冬溪”），经常溢出并淹没道路。
he Nine Stones at Winterbourne Abbas have an inglorious setting. Hard by the A35, there are only slim iron railings and a small ditch to shield the circle from the heavy traffic rumbling west. And for about six months of the year the ditch flows with water (the winter bourne), often overspilling and flooding the road.
然而，这里曾经的环境甚至更不美观。直到几年前，一排高压电塔还横跨山谷，在距离遗迹几百米的地方发出嗡嗡声和嘶嘶声。
Yet the surroundings used to be even less picturesque. Until a few years ago, a line of high‑voltage electricity pylons looped across the valley, humming and sizzling a few hundred metres from the monument.
2022年，这些线路被埋入地下，不再可见。如今，通往石圈的小路穿过地下电缆，经过两个小型围栏，每个围栏里都装着一对灰色金属柜。这些现代设施庄严而神秘，连接着隐藏的电力，与远处的青铜时代巨石遥相呼应。
In 2022, the lines were buried out of sight. Today, the path to the circle crosses the underground cables, passing two small enclosures, each containing a pair of grey metal cabinets. Stern and mysterious, connected to hidden power, these modern installations echo the bronze age megaliths beyond.
（全屏查看图片：九石石圈的特写，显示出粉红色的燧石块，这是一种因岩石形成时存在的铁元素而产生的罕见颜色。）摄影：萨拉·哈德斯顿。石圈本身坐落在一片树木繁茂的林间空地中，如果不是因为旁边轰隆驶过的卡车，这里本该十分宁静。每一块石头都各不相同，大小从膝盖高到1.5米不等，有的矮胖，有的宽大，还有一块看起来像是一个披着斗篷的高大身影。一个腐烂且布满苔藓的古老山毛榉树桩，充当了第十个更具临时性的标记。
View image in fullscreen A close-up of the Nine Stones stone circle, showing chunks of pink flint, an unusual colour caused by iron elements present when the stone formed. Photograph: Sara Hudston circle itself sits in a wooded glade, which would be peaceful were it not for the lorries clattering by. The individual stones are markedly different from each other, varying in size from knee-high to 1.5m, some squat, some broad, and one like a tall, cloaked figure. An old beech tree stump, rotted and streaked with moss, acts as a tenth, more temporary, marker.
从远处看，这些巨石看起来就像南部白垩丘陵地带常见的砂岩萨森石，呈灰色且略带球状。近距离观察，惊喜便显现出来。最大的石头由鹅卵石、燧石和石英的砾岩组成，并由细颗粒沉积物粘合在一起。很难相信这种被称为“布丁石”的混合物是自然形成的，因为它看起来极其像搅拌进混凝土里的粗骨料。
From a distance, the monoliths look like typical sandstone sarsens found across southern chalk downland, grey and slightly bulbous. Viewed up close, a surprise reveals itself. The largest are made of a conglomerate of pebbles, flint and quartz held together with fine-grained sediment. It’s hard to believe that this mix – known locally as “puddingstone” – occurred naturally because it looks uncannily like a rough aggregate stirred into concrete.
一些燧石块呈现出粉红色，这是由铁元素的存在引起的罕见效果。这种颜色弥漫在岩石薄片层中，就像冻在冰里的草莓汁。这一奇特之处为萨森石的来源提供了线索。不到两英里外就是“石头谷”，那里散布着上一个冰河时代末期留下的巨大漂砾，其中许多含有同样的玫瑰色燧石结核。从新石器时代开始，当地的其他祭祀场所就曾使用过来自那里的材料。
Some of the chunks of flint are flushed pink, an unusual effect caused by the presence of iron elements. The colour is diffused through layers of rock flakes, like strawberry juice frozen in ice. This oddity offers a clue about where the sarsens came from. Less than two miles away is the Valley of Stones a scattering of large boulders left at the end of the last ice age, many of which contain the same rosy flint nodules. Material from there was used locally in other ritual settings from the Neolithic onwards.