A review by tsundokupuzzle
The Memory Code by Lynne Kelly

5.0

Kelly's thesis is that monuments like Stonehenge were constructed as memorization aids for oral cultures during the transition from nomadic hunter-gatherer societies to settled farming communities. She asserts that non-literate societies used the method of loci to memorize huge volumes of information: knowledge of animals and plants; laws and treaties; geography; and everything else that a society needed to maintain within its collective memory. In a nomadic culture, these are anchored to actual places in the landscape that the tribe would visit throughout the year. In a settled culture, artificial replacements would need to be created, and Kelly believes that Stonehenge is one of these.

Kelly supports her thesis with data from still-existing oral cultures and monuments from all around the world.

I found it fascinating and informative.