Stonehenge

Stonehenge, the great stone monument in Britain, is one of the world's oldest standing stone circles. Many speculations have been made on this site, from being used to perform sacrifices and rituals to an astrological observatory.

It is located on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England. It was only in 1650 that the first known systematic search of Stonehenge was completed by John Aubrey. He also falsely attributed the construction of Stonehenge to the druids. In 1740, an other search of the site by Doctor William Stuckly strengthens the belief that Stonehenge was constructed by the druids. Doctor Stuckly also proposed that the stones might be astronomically aligned so that eclipses and solstices could easily be predicted. Even to this day, we are still unsure of who built Stonehenge, why it was built and how it was built.

Stonehenge was not built all at once, and by more than one group of people it seems. It was built in 3 main stages, with a very small and minimal fourth stage.

First stage: 3100 - 2300 BC (Neolithic Age)

• Circular ditch and 4 holes excavated. The heel stone was erected and the 50 Aubrey holes are dug.

Second stage: 2100 - 2000

• People of the Beaker Culture constructed the double circle of bluestones.

Third stage: 2000 - 1550

• Ten upright stones were arranged as five freestanding pairs were placed in the shape of a horseshoe.
• A circle of 33 meters was then created around it with 30 neatly trimmed standing sandstone blocks. These stones supported a continuous ring of sarsen lintels (the horizontal stones).
• The 35-ton heel stone was also placed during this period.

For more detailed information on Stonehenge and its history, visit http://www.christiaan.com/stonehenge/stonemain.html