'STONEHENGE': BETWEEN ROCK AND HARD PLACE.

Byline: >David Kronke

Stonehenge, theorizes British archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson, was half of a sacred site. The other half was nearby and looked much like Stonehenge -- but made from wood -- that was home to followers on the summer solstice, where they would variously make merry with ritualistic executions, feasts and "the rite of passage we call marriage," followed by, you know, what usually follows marriages.

In other words -- words Parker Pearson is too genteel to use -- Stonehenge was a site where blood and lust were celebrated in equal measure in what must have ended in something akin to an orgy.

"Stonehenge Decoded," a new National Geographic Channel documentary narrated by Donald Sutherland, attempts to make sense of the iconic structure that has mystified historians for centuries.

It's such an improbable creation that theories have linked it to King Arthur's wizard Merlin, druids and the sun god Apollo.

Parker Pearson's theory is, naturally, more prosaic and more viable, yet seems to have some holes. What's frustrating about this documentary is that his theory could have been explained further, had producer Christopher Spencer not seen fit to spend great swatches of time with histrionic re-enactments of Stone Age believers yowling and howling as they assembled the relic and gathered around it for pagan worship.

The film charts the hit-and-miss excavations that yielded important discoveries as to the civilization that constructed Stonehenge. Parker Pearson, after much trial and error, unearthed the largest Stone Age town in Northern Europe and, following that, further clues that support his theory that Stonehenge was created as a sort of bridge celebrating and linking its builders with their ancestors.

But, clearly, the British government is protective of the site, which is why Parker Pearson and his team started with excavating a site a couple of miles from Stonehenge. Those restrictions and Parker Pearson's subsequent strategy -- which aren't really explained -- would have gone a long way to further explicating why his findings underscore his theories.

Instead, we're subjected to many scenes of day players grunting and shrieking in furs and beads and crude makeup, which advances nothing of substance.

"Stonehenge Decoded" comes titillatingly close to offering a cogent interpretation of a centuries-long mystery. But why the production insisted on ladling faux drama atop genuine science and history is a question as unanswerable as Stonehenge itself has proven to be for nearly 5,000 years.

STONEHENGE DECODED - Two and one half stars.

>What: An interpretation of England's most famous prehistoric monument.

>Where: National Geographic Channel.

>When: 9 tonight.

>In a nutshell: Fascinating, but more explanation and fewer melodramatic re-creations would have made it more enlightening.

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National Geographic's documentary "Stonehenge Decoded" takes yet another look at England's mysterious 5,000-year-old structure.

Associated Press