While most people use the holidays to be with friends and family, I took a one off trip to visit Great Britain. I had never been before in person, but since it has been a global epic center for learning and science for hundreds of years, I felt I owed it a revisit. What captivated me most about the trip was not the common tourist attractions, like Big Ben or the Tower of London which were amazing in their own respect, but the history written in the stone.

It was during my trip to the British Museum that I laid eyes on of the most important stones, the Rosetta Stone.
The significant of this stone lies within the ability to translate a nearly indecipherable language using known languages. First it is a gorgeous analogy of how in science we must use what we can see to learn about the unseen world. We cannot see atoms or chemical reactions occurring with our naked eyes. However, observations, specialized equipment, and deductive reasoning allows us to have sight beyond sight. The Rosetta Stone has given us language beyond our words. The second important part of the Rosetta Stone is that the home of knowledge continual changes: from stone to paper or floppy disks to flash drives. The pace at which knowledge marches obsoletes many of its media and becomes lost (you try developing an old picture on a floppy or a negative!). Stone intrinsically is a difficult medium to work with but in this case, but stone and is composite minerals is a hero in this story. It was able to withstand the cruelty of time and preserve its knowledge.

One a spur of the moment decision, I traveled to arguably one of the ancient wonders of the world, Stonehenge. The amazing nature of Stonehenge was not recognized for hundreds of years and was believed to be the work of Merlin or other magical people. Most of its nature still isn’t understood. It wasn’t until the mid-20th century that scientists finally dated Stonehenge using radiocarbon dating. The purpose of the monument is still debated but certainly was important in rituals and burials. Folklore aside, Stonehenge signifies that ancient people living greater than 3000 years ago were talented enough to know how to work with massive stones. This is a feat in and of itself.

If you are ever in the United Kingdom, I recommend seeing some of these amazing monuments. Moreover, it is worth looking at some of the rich history humans have written in and with stones.

Photo credit Amanda F. Washington.