And though our understanding of the structure has increased greatly, particularly in recent years, questions persist about who built Stonehenge and why. Stonehenge in southern England ranks among the world's most iconic archaeological sites and one of its greatest enigmas. The megalithic circle on Salisbury Plain inspires awe and fascination—but also intense debate some 4, years after it was built by ancient Britons who left no written record. The monument's mysterious past has spawned countless tales and theories.
According to folklore, Stonehenge was created by Merlin, the wizard of Arthurian legend, who magically transported the massive stones from Ireland, where giants had assembled them. Another legend says invading Danes put the stones up, and another theory says they were the ruins of a Roman temple. Modern-day interpretations are no less colorful: some argue that Stonehenge is a spacecraft landing area for aliens, and even more say it's a giant fertility symbol in the shape of female genitalia.
Archaeological investigation of the site dates back to the s, when it was first surveyed by antiquarian John Aubrey. Aubrey wrongly credited Stonehenge to the much later Celts, believing it to be a religious center presided over by Druid priests. Centuries of fieldwork since show the monument was more than a millennium in the making, starting out 5, years ago as a circular earthen bank and ditch.
A complicated pattern of wooden posts was replaced in about B. These huge sandstone blocks, each weighing around 25 tons, were transported some 19 miles 30 kilometers to create a continuous outer circle with five trilithons pairs of uprights with a lintel on top forming a horseshoe within.
It's been estimated that it took well over 20 million hours to construct Stonehenge. Modern debate over the monument's meaning has two main camps: those who see it as a holy site, and others who believe it represents a scientific observatory.
Then check out our fascinating Stonehenge facts… What is Stonehenge? When was Stonehenge built? How was Stonehenge built? Brand new discovery! It seems that Stonehenge may have originally been built in Wales! Evidence of a stone circle suspiciously similar to Stonehenge has just been discovered in Wales, very near to the quarry where some of the bluestones originate from.
It looks like these huge stones may have stood in Wales for many years, before they were uprooted and dragged to Wiltshire to form the Stonehenge we know today. Phew — that sounds like hard work! What was Stonehenge used for? But the stones themselves give us a few clues, which have given rise to many different theories… Each year, on 21 June the longest day of the year , the sun always rises over the Heel Stone at Stonehenge — a single large sarsen stone which stands outside of the main monument.
The Station Stones, a series of sarsens placed within the inner edge of the surrounding earthwork, may also belong to this phase, as indeed does the rearrangement of stones within the main, northeast-facing entrance to the enclosure. The third stage of modification came between and BC with the construction of the Avenue, the recutting of the main enclosure ditch, and the reorganisation of the entrance stones. Around BC, the bluestone circle was disassembled and rearranged into two oval settings, one inside the horseshoe of sarsens and one between this and the outer sarsen uprights.
By BC, the stones were being broken and carvings were being etched into the sarsens. At some point in the late- or post-Roman period, during the 4th or 5th century AD, the bluestones were again modified, but the full extent of this alteration is unknown. The first attempt to resolve the date of Stonehenge occurred in the s during an excavation commissioned by the Duke of Buckingham. None of these finds survive. Further exploration took place in the early 19th century, work which may have contributed to the overall instability of the stones.
Concerns about the security of the stones led to a renewed phase of excavation and stone straightening. Another campaign of excavation took between and , together with a programme of stabilisation, repair and stone re-erection. Although reconstruction of the monument has helped ensure the long-term survival of Stonehenge, the results of these excavations were not published until In , two smaller, targeted archaeological excavations took place within the circle.
The first which I took part in , designed to investigate the date, nature and settings of the internal smaller stones, recovered significant evidence for late- and post-Roman use of the monument. The second, which focused on retrieving cremation burials from the earliest phase of the site, demonstrated that men, women and children had all been buried there between and BC. Research published in August revealed that some of the prehistoric cremations recovered were of individuals who were not local to the monument, possibly — although this is yet to be confirmed — originating from western Wales, Ireland or northern Scotland.
Archaeological investigation, limited although it has been to date, has proved helpful in establishing a building chronology for Stonehenge. No single phase of the monument, it is fair to say, was probably ever completed; it is likely that it was an ongoing building project throughout much of its existence.
If we assume that the outer ring of sarsens was finished, then it would have contained 30 uprights and 30 lintels. Add to this the five trilithons in the central horseshoe, that gives us 75 sarsens in total. Beyond the centre there are four additional sarsens standing today, but there are recorded holes, for those moved or taken away, for at least another ten. In addition to the sarsens, there is the large sandstone monolith now fallen known as the Altar Stone, and an unknown number of bluestones.
The outer circle of bluestones may originally have contained 60 uprights, although there is only certain evidence for 28 and, of those, only seven are still standing. The inner bluestone horseshoe may have contained 19, of which only six still stand. A conservative guess would suggest something in the region of stones on the site at any one time. Today, Stonehenge is managed by English Heritage, while the surrounding land is owned by the National Trust members of either organisation get free entry to the site, as do local residents.
A new visitor and exhibition centre was opened in 1. It was this accidental alignment that got the boulders noticed by early Brits, who then decided to build it up into a proper monument. One theory suggests Stonehenge was a sacred burial site, while another proposes that it was used for celestial and astronomical alignments.
It used to be believed that it was created as a Druid temple but we now know that Stonehenge predated the Druids by around years. On the summer solstice, the sun rises behind the Heel Stone, the ancient entrance to the Stone Circle, and rays of sunlight are channelled into the centre of the monument. Summer solstice takes place as one of the Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the sun and the sun reaches its highest position in the sky, ensuring the longest period of daylight in the year.
It is believed that Winter and Summer solstices have been celebrated at Stonehenge for thousands of years.
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