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An introduction to Stonehenge

Stonehenge at sunrise © English Heritage.

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By Jennifer Wexler, Project Curator, The world of Stonehenge

What is Stonehenge? How old is it? And why was it constructed?

Find out how and why Stonehenge was built and learn more about the people creating these extraordinary monuments and their beliefs in Britain, Ireland and continental Europe 4,500 years ago.

The ancient stone circle of Stonehenge is known around the world, surrounded by myths, folklore and speculation. But who built it and what went on there?

It's a story that transcends where the monument stands in Wiltshire in the south of England, and reaches far into continental Europe. Let's take a closer look ahead of our next major exhibition – The world of Stonehenge .

Stonehenge was constructed about 4,500 years ago at around the same time as the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. Despite their differences, these distant sites had much in common. Most importantly, the desire and ability to bring together – often over long distances – the people, materials, objects and ideas required to undertake creative feats that remain compelling after millennia.

Far from being static places, monuments like these have their roots in the changing religious, political and social practices of their era. To unravel the many mysteries these famous sites still hold, they must be set in the wider context of their time. The story of the landscape that Stonehenge was built in, the people who built it, the objects they carried and the world it belonged to provide an opportunity to see the monument with new eyes.

What is Stonehenge?

Around 5,000 years ago, people in Britain, Ireland, Germany and France starting building large monuments in the landscape, some of these we refer to as 'henges'.

So what is a 'henge'? A 'henge' is a term, originally coined by British Museum curator Thomas Kendrick in the early 1930s, used to describe a series of ceremonial monuments defined by ditches and banks of soil, usually circular or oval in shape, used to enclose a sacred space. Strangely, despite its name, Stonehenge is not a true henge! This is because, according to Kendrick's definition, a henge is supposed to have the bank outside the ditch. At Stonehenge the opposite is the case. The usefulness of the term is questionable and insignificant by comparison with the social and religious role played by these important monuments.

When was Stonehenge built?

Scientific dating techniques and painstaking archaeological research undertaken around the monument over the last few decades have brought the timeline of the site into focus. It is not possible to talk about 'one' Stonehenge – the monument was built, altered, and revered for over 1,500 years. That is equivalent to around 100 generations – it is worth pausing to let the sheer length of time sink in!

The first Stonehenge was built around 5,000 years ago and comprised of 'bluestones' transported on a remarkable long-distance journey, or more likely a series of journeys, from west Wales. The term 'bluestones' refers to a type of blue volcanic rock that were specially quarried in the Preseli Mountains. They were transported on sledges, taking approximately 40–60 days to make the 200km journey from Wales to Wiltshire. The epic journey the stones made enhanced their value, meaning and symbolic significance.

At this time, the monument served as a cremation cemetery and it is estimated that possibly 150–200 people were buried there. Analysis suggests that several lived and died in west Wales before their remains may have moved with bluestones to become part of the monument. Many objects from this period have been found buried with the dead – including a beautifully crafted mace-head made of banded Gneiss (a type of rock with distinctly coloured bands), probably brought from the north of Scotland and symbolising the authority associated with several important religious centres across Britain and Ireland.

By the time the first monument at Stonehenge was raised 5,000 years ago, the surrounding landscape was already an established and impressive place. A considerable number of similar ceremonial complexes emerged across Britain and Ireland around the same period. The monumental enclosure just a few miles away at Larkhill enshrined solstice alignments as early as 3750–3650 BC, raising the possibility that Stonehenge's key solar alignments marking the longest and shortest days of the year were prefigured by one of the earliest monuments built in the landscape. It may have inspired the construction of the 'first' Stonehenge using the Welsh bluestones.

Around 500 years later, the monument underwent a major transformation. The bluestones were rearranged, and the great sarsens (a type of hard silicified sandstone) were painstakingly moved, each requiring at least 1,000 people to transport them the 25 kilometers from their source. Each of the massive stones were pounded into shape and raised into the central setting of uprights and capping lintels – the familiar image we know today. This work required unprecedented co-operation, planning and patience in the name of social and religious service. There were perilous and dramatic moments, and the looming fear of failure must have stalked the inspired and innovative builders.

How is Stonehenge connected to the sun?

When the sarsens were raised at Stonehenge around 4,500 years ago, they enshrined an important solstice alignment within the fabric of the monument. The centrality of the solstices at Stonehenge, other henge monuments and stone circles suggests that linking the monument to the cycles of the cosmos was an expression of religious and symbolic ideas.

At Stonehenge, the axis of the stones at its centre marked the position of the rising midsummer and setting midwinter sun. On midsummer, the sun rises on the horizon approached by the Avenue and would be framed by the upright known as the Heel Stone. On midwinter, the sun sets in the opposite direction, between the two uprights of the tallest trilithon at the heart of the monument. Recent examination of the surfaces of the sarsen stones has shown that great care was taken to shape and dress those that framed the sun on these auspicious occasions when the sun was at the extremes of its solar journey and the fortunes of the community were thought to hang in the balance.

Across Britain, Ireland and continental Europe, monuments of equal standing to Stonehenge were being raised between 5,000 and 4,000 years ago. It is estimated that there are around 1,300 of these stone circles are still standing. Distinctive objects, decorative motifs and art from this time also convey new religious and social practices and principles. In Orkney in the northern isles of Scotland, some of the most impressive feats of ancient architecture were underway as stone circles, henges and sophisticated stone-built villages were constructed alongside grand houses of the dead, such as at the Ness of Brodgar and Ring of Brodgar shown below.

In northeast Ireland, along the Brú na Bóinne, massive stone passage tombs like Newgrange and Knowth were constructed with long, stone-lined passageways leading to a central chamber. The magnificent tomb at Newgrange (shown below) constructed around the same time as the first monument at Stonehenge, was designed to let light into the interior of the tomb through an ingeniously placed opening in the roof, illuminating the long passage with new light at the midwinter sunrise. The intentional illumination of burial chambers by the sun at turning points in the year has clear metaphorical associations with rebirth and regeneration, and would no doubt have spoken to communities about the cyclical nature of time, the journeys of celestial bodies across the sky and of humanity's place in the wider cosmos.

The flint macehead from deep in the chamber at Knowth shown below is a miniature masterpiece worthy of its final resting place. Carved from a single, colourful nodule of flint, it is one of the most elaborately decorated objects unearthed in Britain and Ireland from this period of remarkable stone-working at every scale.

The sun was a dominant element in the world of Stonehenge. For farming communities, the length of the days and the turning of the seasons was central to the patterns of life and religious belief. As people started to transition to using metalwork around 4,000 years ago, gold was turned into jewellery and cult objects (see below) imbued with the power of the sun.

Is Stonehenge related to Seahenge?

In 1998, a well-preserved timber circle emerged from the shores of Holme-next-the-Sea, on the coast of Norfolk in the east of England. This unique survival was called 'Seahenge', in a reference to its similarity to timber circles that once stood in the Stonehenge landscape.

The circle had originally been built on a saltmarsh, between land and sea. In the wide horizons of this flat landscape, the land appears to touch both sea and sky. It consisted of 55 large oak posts, many of which were half-split trunks from 15 to 20 substantial oak trees felled from the same piece of oak woodland. A narrow entranceway was positioned exactly to align on the sun's path  – the midsummer rising sun illuminating the interior of the monument. The posts were tightly packed with the bark-covered sides facing outwards, creating the form of a giant tree.

Inside the circle is the base of a mighty oak weighing two and a half tons, its roots turned towards the heavens like branches. The tree had been hauled to the site and maneuvered into place using a rope made from honeysuckle vine. This powerful vision invokes trees of life from other cultural traditions, including Yggdrasil , a huge ash tree that linked different worlds in Norse cosmology. Inversion of the everyday world may have brought the other world closer within the confines of the timber circle.

From a study of the tree rings, it is known that Seahenge was built in the spring or summer of 2049 BC, at a time when stone tools and weapons were rapidly being replaced by metal as the material of choice for social and economic life and for offerings to supernatural forces. During that period, circles of wood and stone were in decline. Seahenge was constructed near the end of a religious tradition that had lasted for almost a millennium.

Why did Stonehenge fall out of use?

In the centuries that followed the raising of the great sarsens, burying bodies with valued objects on sacred land became the dominant way of expressing cultural and spiritual meaning across Britain. At Stonehenge, hundreds of burial mounds were raised for the illustrious dead. In fact, the site has one of the densest concentrations of surviving burial mounds anywhere in Britain. The emphasis of people's labour had shifted from building large-scale monuments requiring massive communal effort to the smaller-scale construction of mounds that reflected relationships between individuals, families and communities.

Even in these changing circumstances, Stonehenge was still at the centre of religious and cultural life.

Around 3,500 years ago, there was little perceptible activity or building work at Stonehenge. This date marks a major threshold. Rather than being an active place where episodic acts of construction and modification had previously renewed the circle's vitality, Stonehenge became a monument in stasis, a situation that has continued to the present day. Several archaeologists have suggested that the circle was already in ruins by the middle of the second millennium BC, although undoubtedly the monument remained a powerful symbol.

Stonehenge stands not for a landscape, region or even country, but for the generations of people who have made meaning from an enduring place in a changing world.

Our exhibition The world of Stonehenge ran from 17 February to 17 July 2022, setting the great monument in context and bringing together exceptional objects that shed new light on its meaning and significance.

Books and gifts from the exhibition are still available to buy from our online shop .

Join as a Member to visit special exhibitions anytime.

Supported by bp

Organised with the State Museum of Prehistory, Halle/Saale, Germany.

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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 4,600 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 1660s, 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 5,000 years ago as a circular earthen bank and ditch. A complicated pattern of wooden posts was replaced in about 2600 B.C. by 80 dolerite bluestones from Wales that were rearranged at least three times once the larger sarsen stones were added several hundred years later. 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.

Holy Site or Scientific Observatory?

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. Both camps base their theories on the site's celestial influence, with alignments to the sun and moon taken as evidence of rituals linked to the changing seasons and the summer and winter solstices. Alternatively, alignments identified particularly with stars point to a megalithic calendar used for working out dates or to reflect or predict astronomical events such as solar eclipses.

Recently a radical new theory has emerged—that Stonehenge served as a "prehistoric Lourdes" where people came to be healed. This idea revolves around the smaller bluestones, which, researchers argue, must have been credited with magical powers for them to have been floated, dragged, and hauled 145 miles (233 kilometers) from west Wales. A team lead by Tim Darvill of Bournemouth University, U.K., announced in 2005 that it had located the quarry the bluestones came from, only for another study to suggest the stones had made the journey earlier, powered naturally by ice age glaciers. Excavations at Stonehenge co-directed by Darvill in 2008 bolstered the hypothesis, also based on a number of Bronze Age skeletons unearthed in the area that show signs of bone deformities.

Competing to solve the enduring prehistoric puzzle is Sheffield University's Mike Parker Pearson, co-leader of the Stonehenge Riverside Project, which is partly funded by the National Geographic Society. Discoveries by the project team supported Parker Pearson's claim that Stonehenge was a center for ancestor worship linked by the River Avon and two ceremonial avenues to a matching wooden circle at nearby Durrington Walls. The two circles with their temporary and permanent structures represented, respectively, the domains of the living and the dead, according to Parker Pearson.

"Stonehenge isn't a monument in isolation," he says. "It is actually one of a pair—one in stone, one in timber. The theory is that Stonehenge is a kind of spirit home to the ancestors."

(Read: Stonehenge Was Cemetery First and Foremost, Study Says. )

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By: History.com Editors

Updated: June 5, 2023 | Original: June 1, 2010

For centuries, historians and archaeologists have puzzled over the many mysteries of Stonehenge, the prehistoric monument that took Neolithic builders an estimated 1,500 years to erect. Located in southern England, it is comprised of roughly 100 massive upright stones placed in a circular layout. 

While many modern scholars now agree that Stonehenge was once a burial ground, they have yet to determine what other purposes it served and how a civilization without modern technology—or even the wheel—produced the mighty monument. Its construction is all the more baffling because, while the sandstone slabs of its outer ring hail from local quarries, scientists have traced the bluestones that make up its inner ring all the way to the Preseli Hills in Wales, some 200 miles from where Stonehenge sits on Salisbury Plain. 

Today, nearly 1 million people visit Stonehenge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986, every year.

Stonehenge’s Multiphase Construction

Archaeologists believe England most iconic prehistoric ruin was built in several stages, with the earliest constructed 5,000 or more years ago. First, Neolithic Britons used primitive tools—possibly made from deer antlers—to dig a massive circular ditch and bank, or henge, on Salisbury Plain. Deep pits dating back to that era and located within the circle—known as Aubrey holes after John Aubrey, the 17th-century antiquarian who discovered them—may have once held a ring of timber posts, according to some scholars.

Did you know? In 1620, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, dug a large hole in the ground at the center of Stonehenge looking for buried treasure.

Several hundred years later, it is thought, Stonehenge’s builders hoisted an estimated 80 non-indigenous bluestones, 43 of which remain today, into standing positions and placed them in either a horseshoe or circular formation. 

During the third phase of construction, which took place around 2000 B.C., sarsen sandstone slabs were arranged into an outer crescent or ring; some were assembled into the iconic three-pieced structures called trilithons that stand tall in the center of Stonehenge. Some 50 sarsen stones are now visible on the site, which may once have contained many more. Radiocarbon dating suggests that work continued at Stonehenge until roughly 1600 B.C., with the bluestones in particularly being repositioned multiple times.

The Megaliths of Stonehenge

Stonehenge’s sarsens, of which the largest weighs more than 40 tons and rises 24 feet, were likely sourced from quarries 25 miles north of Salisbury Plain and transported with the help of sledges and ropes; they may even have already been scattered in the immediate vicinity when the monument’s Neolithic architects first broke ground there. 

The smaller bluestones, on the other hand, have been traced all the way to the Preseli Hills in Wales, some 200 miles away from Stonehenge. How, then, did prehistoric builders without sophisticated tools or engineering haul these boulders, which weigh up to 4 tons, over such a great distance?

According to one longstanding theory, Stonehenge’s builders fashioned sledges and rollers out of tree trunks to lug the bluestones from the Preseli Hills. They then transferred the boulders onto rafts and floated them first along the Welsh coast and then up the River Avon toward Salisbury Plain; alternatively, they may have towed each stone with a fleet of vessels. More recent hypotheses have them transporting the bluestones with supersized wicker baskets or a combination of ball bearings, long grooved planks and teams of oxen.

As early as the 1970s, geologists have been adding their voices to the debate over how Stonehenge came into being. Challenging the classic image of industrious Neolithic builders pushing, carting, rolling or hauling the craggy bluestones from faraway Wales, some scientists have suggested that glaciers, not humans, did most of the heavy lifting. 

The globe is dotted with giant rocks known as glacial erratics that were carried over long distances by moving ice floes. Perhaps Stonehenge’s mammoth slabs were snatched from the Preseli Hills by glaciers during one of the Ice Ages and deposited a stone’s throw away—at least comparatively—from Salisbury Plain. Most archaeologists have remained cool toward the glacial theory, however, wondering how the forces of nature could possibly have delivered the exact number of stones needed to complete the circle.

Who Built Stonehenge?

According to the 12th-century writer Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose tale of King Arthur and mythical account of English history were considered factual well into the Middle Ages , Stonehenge is the handiwork of the wizard Merlin. In the mid-fifth century, the story goes, hundreds of British nobles were slaughtered by the Saxons and buried on Salisbury Plain. 

Hoping to erect a memorial to his fallen subjects, King Aureoles Ambrosias sent an army to Ireland to retrieve a stone circle known as the Giants’ Ring, which ancient giants had built from magical African bluestones. The soldiers successfully defeated the Irish but failed to move the stones, so Merlin used his sorcery to spirit them across the sea and arrange them above the mass grave. Legend has it that Ambrosias and his brother Uther, King Arthur’s father, are buried there as well.

While many believed Monmouth’s account to be the true story of Stonehenge’s creation for centuries, the monument’s construction predates Merlin—or, at least, the real-life figures who are said to have inspired him—by several thousand years. Other early hypotheses attributed its building to the Saxons, Danes, Romans, Greeks or Egyptians. 

In the 17th century, archaeologist John Aubrey made the claim that Stonehenge was the work of the Celtic high priests known as the Druids, a theory widely popularized by the antiquarian William Stukeley, who had unearthed primitive graves at the site. Even today, people who identify as modern Druids continue to gather at Stonehenge for the summer solstice. However, in the mid-20th century, radiocarbon dating demonstrated that Stonehenge stood more than 1,000 years before the Celts inhabited the region, eliminating the ancient Druids from the running.

Many modern historians and archaeologists now agree that several distinct tribes of people contributed to Stonehenge, each undertaking a different phase of its construction. Bones, tools and other artifacts found on the site seem to support this hypothesis. The first stage was achieved by Neolithic agrarians who were likely indigenous to the British Isles. Later, it is believed, groups with advanced tools and a more communal way of life left their stamp on the site. Some have suggested that they were immigrants from the European continent, but many scientists think they were native Britons descended from the original builders.

Stonehenge’s Function and Significance

If the facts surrounding the architects and construction of Stonehenge remain shadowy at best, the purpose of the arresting monument is even more of a mystery. While historians agree that it was a place of great importance for over 1,000 years, we may never know what drew early Britons to Salisbury Plain and inspired them to continue developing it. 

There is strong archaeological evidence that Stonehenge was used as a burial site, at least for part of its long history, but most scholars believe it served other functions as well—either as a ceremonial site, a religious pilgrimage destination, a final resting place for royalty or a memorial erected to honor and perhaps spiritually connect with distant ancestors.

In the 1960s, the astronomer Gerald Hawkins suggested that the cluster of megalithic stones operated as an astronomical calendar, with different points corresponding to astrological phenomena such as solstices, equinoxes and eclipses. While his theory has received quite a bit of attention over the years, critics maintain that Stonehenge’s builders probably lacked the knowledge necessary to predict such events or that England’s dense cloud cover would have obscured their view of the skies. 

More recently, signs of illness and injury in the human remains unearthed at Stonehenge led a group of British archaeologists to speculate that it was considered a place of healing, perhaps because bluestones were thought to have curative powers.

Stonehenge Today

One of the most famous and recognizable sites in the world, Stonehenge draws more than 800,000 tourists a year, many of whom also visit the region’s numerous other Neolithic and Bronze Age marvels. In 1986 Stonehenge was added to UNESCO’s register of World Heritage sites in a co-listing with Avebury, a Neolithic henge located 17 miles away that is older and larger than its more famous neighbor. 

Stonehenge has undergone several restorations over the years, and some of its boulders have been set in concrete to prevent collapse. Meanwhile, archaeological excavations and development of the surrounding area to facilitate tourism have turned up other significant sites nearby, including other henges.

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Unesco social media, stonehenge, avebury and associated sites.

• Description

Stonehenge and Avebury, in Wiltshire, are among the most famous groups of megaliths in the world. The two sanctuaries consist of circles of menhirs arranged in a pattern whose astronomical significance is still being explored. These holy places and the nearby Neolithic sites are an incomparable testimony to prehistoric times.

Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

Stonehenge, Avebury et sites associés

Stonehenge et Avebury, dans le Wiltshire, sont parmi les ensembles mégalithiques les plus célèbres du monde. Ces deux sanctuaires sont constitués de cercles de menhirs disposés selon un ordre aux significations astronomiques encore mal expliquées. Ces lieux sacrés et les divers sites néolithiques proches sont des témoins irremplaçables de la préhistoire.

ستونهنج وأفيبوري والمواقع الملحقة بها

يعدّ ستونهنج وأفيبوري في ويلتشاير من المجمعات المغليثية الأشهر عالمياً وهما ضريحان مؤلفان من دوائر من المنهير (النصب الصخرية العمودية) المرتّبة وفق نظام يحمل معاني فلكية لم يتم فهمها بعد. ويشكل هذان المكانان المقدسان ومختلف المواقع النيوليتية القريبة منهما شهوداً لا مثيل لها على مرحلة ما قبل التاريخ.

source: UNESCO/CPE Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

“巨石阵”、埃夫伯里及周围的巨石遗迹

位于威尔特郡的“巨石阵”、埃夫伯里是世界上最负盛名的巨石林，它们由巨石围成圆圈，其排列方式对天文学的重要意义仍在探索之中。这个圣地和周围的新石器时代遗址为研究史前时代提供了至关重要的证据。

Stonehenge, Avebury y sitios anejos

Situados en el condado de Wiltshire, los conjuntos megalíticos de Stonehenge y Avebury figuran entre los más célebres del mundo. Ambos santuarios están constituidos por círculos de menhires dispuestos en un orden cuya significación astronómica todavía no se ha dilucidado. Estos lugares sagrados y los distintos sitios neolíticos de los alrededores son testimonios incomparables de los tiempos prehistóricos.

ストーンヘンジ、エーヴベリーと関連する遺跡群

source: NFUAJ

Stonehenge, Avebury en bijbehorende locaties

Stonehenge en Avebury in Wiltshire behoren tot de meest bekende megalithische monumenten ter wereld. De twee heiligdommen bestaan uit cirkels van menhirs gerangschikt in een patroon waarvan de astronomische betekenis nog wordt onderzocht. Deze heilige plaatsen en de nabijgelegen neolithische gebieden vormen unieke overblijfselen van de prehistorie. Er zijn uitzonderlijk veel prehistorische monumenten bewaard gebleven. Ze geven inzicht in de dodenverering en ceremoniële praktijken uit deze periode en zijn het bewijs van prehistorische technologie, architectuur en astronomie. Daarnaast geeft de zorgvuldige plaatsing van de monumenten in relatie tot het landschap, meer inzicht in de Neolithische en Bronstijd.

Source: unesco.nl

Outstanding Universal Value

Brief synthesis

The World Heritage property Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites is internationally important for its complexes of outstanding prehistoric monuments. Stonehenge is the most architecturally sophisticated prehistoric stone circle in the world, while Avebury is the largest. Together with inter-related monuments, and their associated landscapes, they demonstrate Neolithic and Bronze Age ceremonial and mortuary practices resulting from around 2000 years of continuous use and monument building between circa 3700 and 1600 BC. As such they represent a unique embodiment of our collective heritage.

The World Heritage property comprises two areas of Chalkland in southern Britain within which complexes of Neolithic and Bronze Age ceremonial and funerary monuments and associated sites were built. Each area contains a focal stone circle and henge and many other major monuments. At Stonehenge these include the Avenue, the Cursuses, Durrington Walls, Woodhenge, and the densest concentration of burial mounds in Britain. At Avebury they include Windmill Hill, the West Kennet Long Barrow, the Sanctuary, Silbury Hill, the West Kennet and Beckhampton Avenues, the West Kennet Palisaded Enclosures, and important barrows.

Stonehenge is one of the most impressive prehistoric megalithic monuments in the world on account of the sheer size of its megaliths, the sophistication of its concentric plan and architectural design, the shaping of the stones - uniquely using both Wiltshire Sarsen sandstone and Pembroke Bluestone - and the precision with which it was built.

At Avebury, the massive Henge, containing the largest prehistoric stone circle in the world, and Silbury Hill, the largest prehistoric mound in Europe, demonstrate the outstanding engineering skills which were used to create masterpieces of earthen and megalithic architecture. 

There is an exceptional survival of prehistoric monuments and sites within the World Heritage property including settlements, burial grounds, and large constructions of earth and stone. Today, together with their settings, they form landscapes without parallel. These complexes would have been of major significance to those who created them, as is apparent by the huge investment of time and effort they represent. They provide an insight into the mortuary and ceremonial practices of the period, and are evidence of prehistoric technology, architecture and astronomy. The careful siting of monuments in relation to the landscape helps us to further understand the Neolithic and Bronze Age.

Criterion (i): The monuments of the Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites demonstrate outstanding creative and technological achievements in prehistoric times.

Stonehenge is the most architecturally sophisticated prehistoric stone circle in the world. It is unrivalled in its design and unique engineering, featuring huge horizontal stone lintels capping the outer circle and the trilithons, locked together by carefully shaped joints. It is distinguished by the unique use of two different kinds of stones (Bluestones and Sarsens), their size (the largest weighing over 40 t) and the distance they were transported (up to 240 km). The sheer scale of some of the surrounding monuments is also remarkable: the Stonehenge Cursus and the Avenue are both about 3 km long, while Durrington Walls is the largest known henge in Britain, around 500 m in diameter, demonstrating the ability of prehistoric peoples to conceive, design and construct features of great size and complexity.

Avebury prehistoric stone circle is the largest in the world. The encircling henge consists of a huge bank and ditch 1.3 km in circumference, within which 180 local, unshaped standing stones formed the large outer and two smaller inner circles.  Leading from two of its four entrances, the West Kennet and Beckhampton Avenues of parallel standing stones still connect it with other monuments in the landscape. Another outstanding monument, Silbury Hill, is the largest prehistoric mound in Europe. Built around 2400 BC, it stands 39.5 m high and comprises half a million tonnes of chalk. The purpose of this imposing, skilfully engineered monument remains obscure.

Criterion (ii): The World Heritage property provides an outstanding illustration of the evolution of monument construction and of the continual use and shaping of the landscape over more than 2000 years, from the early Neolithic to the Bronze Age.  The monuments and landscape have had an unwavering influence on architects, artists, historians and archaeologists, and still retain a huge potential for future research.

The megalithic and earthen monuments of the World Heritage property demonstrate the shaping of the landscape through monument building for around 2000 years from circa 3700 BC, reflecting the importance and wide influence of both areas.

Since the 12th century when Stonehenge was considered one of the wonders of the world by the chroniclers Henry de Huntington and Geoffrey de Monmouth, the Stonehenge and Avebury Sites have excited curiosity and been the subject of study and speculation. Since early investigations by John Aubrey (1626-1697), Inigo Jones (1573-1652), and William Stukeley (1687-1765), they have had an unwavering influence on architects, archaeologists, artists and historians. The two parts of the World Heritage property provide an excellent opportunity for further research.

Today, the property has spiritual associations for some.

Criterion (iii): The complexes of monuments at Stonehenge and Avebury provide an exceptional insight into the funerary and ceremonial practices in Britain in the Neolithic and Bronze Age. Together with their settings and associated sites, they form landscapes without parallel.

The design, position and interrelationship of the monuments and sites are evidence of a wealthy and highly organised prehistoric society able to impose its concepts on the environment. An outstanding example is the alignment of the Stonehenge Avenue (probably a processional route) and Stonehenge stone circle on the axis of the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset, indicating their ceremonial and astronomical character. At Avebury the length and size of some of the features such as the West Kennet Avenue, which connects the Henge to the Sanctuary over 2 km away, are further evidence of this.

A profound insight into the changing mortuary culture of the periods is provided by the use of Stonehenge as a cremation cemetery, by the West Kennet Long Barrow, the largest known Neolithic stone-chambered collective tomb in southern England, and by the hundreds of other burial sites illustrating evolving funerary rites.

The boundaries of the property capture the attributes that together convey Outstanding Universal Value at Stonehenge and Avebury. They contain the major Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments that exemplify the creative genius and technological skills for which the property is inscribed. The Avebury and Stonehenge landscapes are extensive, both being around 25 square kilometres, and capture the relationship between the monuments as well as their landscape setting.

At Avebury the boundary was extended in 2008 to include East Kennet Long Barrow and Fyfield Down with its extensive Bronze Age field system and naturally occurring Sarsen Stones. At Stonehenge the boundary will be reviewed to consider the possible inclusion of related, significant monuments nearby such as Robin Hood’s Ball, a Neolithic causewayed enclosure.

The setting of some key monuments extends beyond the boundary. Provision of buffer zones or planning guidance based on a comprehensive setting study should be considered to protect the setting of both individual monuments and the overall setting of the property.

The survival of the Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments at both Stonehenge and Avebury is exceptional and remarkable given their age – they were built and used between around 3700 and 1600 BC. Stone and earth monuments retain their original design and materials. The timber structures have disappeared but postholes indicate their location. Monuments have been regularly maintained and repaired as necessary.

The presence of busy main roads going through the World Heritage property impacts adversely on its integrity. The roads sever the relationship between Stonehenge and its surrounding monuments, notably the A344 which separates the Stone Circle from the Avenue. At Avebury, roads cut through some key monuments including the Henge and the West Kennet Avenue. The A4 separates the Sanctuary from its barrow group at Overton Hill. Roads and vehicles also cause damage to the fabric of some monuments while traffic noise and visual intrusion have a negative impact on their settings. The incremental impact of highway-related clutter needs to be carefully managed.

Development pressures are present and require careful management. Impacts from existing intrusive development should be mitigated where possible.

Authenticity

Interventions have been limited mainly to excavations and the re-erection of some fallen or buried stones to their known positions in the early and mid-twentieth century in order to improve understanding. Ploughing, burrowing animals and early excavation have resulted in some losses but what remains is remarkable in its completeness and concentration. The materials and substance of the archaeology supported by the archaeological archives continue to provide an authentic testimony to prehistoric technological and creative achievement.

This survival and the huge potential of buried archaeology make the property an extremely important resource for archaeological research, which continues to uncover new evidence and expand our understanding of prehistory. Present day research has enormously improved our understanding of the property.

The known principal monuments largely remain in situ and many are still dominant features in the rural landscape. Their form and design are well-preserved and visitors are easily able to appreciate their location, setting and interrelationships which in combination represent landscapes without parallel. 

At Stonehenge several monuments have retained their alignment on the Solstice sunrise and sunset, including the Stone Circle, the Avenue, Woodhenge, and the Durrington Walls Southern Circle and its Avenue. 

Although the original ceremonial use of the monuments is not known, they retain spiritual significance for some people, and many still gather at both stone circles to celebrate the Solstice and other observations. Stonehenge is known and valued by many more as the most famous prehistoric monument in the world. 

There is a need to strengthen understanding of the overall relationship between remains, both buried and standing, at Stonehenge and at Avebury.

Protection and management requirements

The UK Government protects World Heritage properties in England in two ways:  firstly, individual buildings, monuments and landscapes are designated under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 and the 1979 Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act, and secondly through the UK Spatial Planning system under the provisions of the Town and Country Planning Acts. The individual sites within the property are protected through the Government’s designation of individual buildings, monuments, gardens and landscapes.

Government guidance on protecting the Historic Environment and World Heritage is set out in National Planning Policy Framework and Circular 07/09. Policies to protect, promote, conserve and enhance World Heritage properties, their settings and buffer zones are also found in statutory planning documents. The protection of the property and its setting from inappropriate development could be further strengthened through the adoption of a specific Supplementary Planning Document.

At a local level, the property is protected by the legal designation of all its principal monuments. There is a specific policy in the Local Development Framework to protect the Outstanding Universal Value of the property from inappropriate development, along with adequate references in relevant strategies and plans at all levels. The Wiltshire Core Strategy includes a specific World Heritage Property policy. This policy states that additional planning guidance will be produced to ensure its effective implementation and thereby the protection of the World Heritage property from inappropriate development. The policy also recognises the need to produce a setting study to enable this. Once the review of the Stonehenge boundary is completed, work on the setting study shall begin.

The Local Planning Authority is responsible for continued protection through policy development and its effective implementation in deciding planning applications with the management plans for Stonehenge and Avebury as a key material consideration. These plans also take into account the range of other values relevant to the site in addition to Outstanding Universal Value. Avebury lies within the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, a national statutory designation to ensure the conservation and enhancement of the natural beauty of the landscape.

About a third of the property at both Stonehenge and Avebury is owned and managed by conservation bodies: English Heritage, a non-departmental government body, and the National Trust and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds which are both charities. Agri-environment schemes, an example of partnership working between private landowners and Natural England (a non-departmental government body), are very important for protecting and enhancing the setting of prehistoric monuments through measures such as grass restoration and scrub control. Much of the property can be accessed through public rights of way as well as permissive paths and open access provided by some agri-environment schemes. Managed open access is provided at Solstice. There are a significant number of private households within the property and local residents therefore have an important role in its stewardship

The property has effective management plans, coordinators and steering groups at both Stonehenge and Avebury. There is a need for an overall integrated management system for the property which will be addressed by the establishment of a coordinating Stonehenge and Avebury Partnership Panel whilst retaining the Stonehenge and Avebury steering groups to enable specific local issues to be addressed and to maintain the meaningful engagement of the community. A single property management plan will replace the two separate management plans.

An overall visitor management and interpretation strategy, together with a landscape strategy needs to be put in place to optimise access to and understanding of the property. This should include improved interpretation for visitors and the local community both on site and in local museums, holding collections excavated from the property as well as through publications and the web. These objectives are being addressed at Stonehenge through the development of a visitor centre and the Interpretation, Learning and Participation Strategy. The updated Management Plan will include a similar strategy for Avebury. Visitor management and sustainable tourism challenges and opportunities are addressed by specific objectives in both the Stonehenge and Avebury Management Plans.

An understanding of the overall relationship between buried and standing remains continues to be developed through research projects such as the “Between the Monuments” project and extensive geophysical surveys. Research Frameworks have been published for the Site and are regularly reviewed. These encourage further relevant research. The Woodland Strategy, an example of a landscape level management project, once complete, can be built on to include other elements of landscape scale planning.

It is important to maintain and enhance the improvements to monuments achieved through grass restoration and to avoid erosion of earthen monuments and buried archaeology through visitor pressure and burrowing animals.

At the time of inscription the State Party agreed to remove the A344 road to reunite Stonehenge and its Avenue and improve the setting of the Stone Circle. Work to deliver the closure of the A344 will be complete in 2013. The project also includes a new Stonehenge visitor centre. This will provide world class visitor facilities including interpretation of the wider World Heritage property landscape and the removal of modern clutter from the setting of the Stone Circle.  Although substantial progress is being made, the impact of roads and traffic remains a major challenge in both parts of the World Heritage property. The A303 continues to have a negative impact on the setting of Stonehenge, the integrity of the property and visitor access to some parts of the wider landscape. A long-term solution remains to be found. At Avebury, a World Heritage Site Traffic Strategy will be developed to establish guidance and identify a holistic set of actions to address the negative impacts that the dominance of roads, traffic and related clutter has on integrity, the condition and setting of monuments and the ease and confidence with which visitors and the local community are able to explore the wider property.

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Stonehenge.

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Presentation on theme: "Stonehenge."— Presentation transcript:

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Static model of site; can be used with light source to simulate a mid-summer's morning.

What it shows:

1:50 scale model of the Stonehenge site with the positions of Sun and Moon on important dates marked. It can be used with a light show to reproduce Sunrise on Midsummer's morning, June 21.

How it works:

Setting it up:.

The slide projector is loaded with a masking slide with a half inch circular hole and mounted on a heavy wheeled tripod with elevating head. The bulb dimmer is a silicon controlled rectifier, a commercially available household dimmer switch that plugs straight into the projector. These are prone to blowing and should be tested before each show. The Stonehenge model itself sits on a cart, with the slide projector operating 2-3m distant. Owen Gingerich, creator and Master of Ceremonies, accompanies the midsummer event with Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss.

The model represents the complete structure of Stonehenge III, constructed around 2100 B.C. Further details of the site, including the older Stonehenges, are available in the references. Due to precession, the Sun now rises slightly to the left of the Heel Stone, but due to its leaning, rises to pass over its tip. Wheeling the tripod, adjusting projector height and controlling the dimmer is a three handed operation; some practice is called for. Musical accompaniment to the dramatic sunrise has traditionally been Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathrustra , although Spinal Tap's Stonehenge would be a fitting alternative.

References:

1. Hawkes, J., Sci. Am. June 1953, pp.25-31 2. Brecher, K., Feirtag, M., Astronomy of the Ancients (MIT Press, 1979) pp.117-132 3. Daniel, G., Sci. Am. July 1980, pp.78-90 4. Heggie, D. C., Megalithic Science (Thames & Hudson, 1981) pp.195-206 5. Krupp, E. C., Echoes of Ancient Skies (Harper & Row, 1983) pp.214-223

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58 Best Stonehenge-Themed Templates for PowerPoint & Google Slides

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Mar 29, 2019

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Stonehenge. Mystery and Theories Rossy Bell Méndez Melissa D. Ocasio Tamille Santiago Cindy Torres. General Information. The name Stonehenge is derived from the Old English words; stān means stone and hencg meaning hinge or hen(c)en, which means hang or gallows.

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Presentation Transcript

Stonehenge Mystery and Theories Rossy Bell Méndez Melissa D. Ocasio Tamille Santiago Cindy Torres

General Information • The name Stonehenge is derived from the Old English words; stān means stone and hencg meaning hinge or hen(c)en, which means hang or gallows. • These stones were buried deep in the ground to make them stand erect and smaller stones were placed horizontally on the top, giving it a doorway-like effect.

General information • Stonehenge is located in the English country Wiltshire, about 3.2 kms west of Amesbury and 13 kms north of Salisbury, in southern England.

General information • Stonehenge is a man-made circular structure made of different-sized stones.

Why is it considered an unsolved mystery? • The Stonehenge is considered a unsolved mystery because they are no evidence or documents that indicate its origin. Based on how many events in relation about origin and creation of the Stonehenge this is considered a mystery. • Events Occurred: Sacrificial Sanctuary, used a calendar of indicating different solstices and communicate with gods and aliens.

Places mostly known • Stonehengemystery is mostlyknown in different places around theworld. Many people travel to England to visit this historical monument. • Some archaeologists investigated for many years and today continue with the research and have reached conclusions they are challenged with. In some places Stonehenge is know for the influence of religious.

These are some places where Stonehenge is know for the general interest. These are some places where Stonehenge is known for the influence of sacrifices and rituals. Canada England United States China Mexico Cuba Africa Egypt Guatemala India Panama Venezuela Costa Rica Indonesia Peru Bolivia Australia

Theories • The Marlin Theory • The Roman Temple Theory • Built by Druids • The Alien Hand • Astronomical Observatory • A Religious Site • A Burial Ground • Friar's Heel • Scientists Theory

People mostly believe… • To have seen UFOs in the area. • Stonehenge is a sacred place of worship. • That it is archaeological site, tourist attraction, or marketing tool. • Stonehenge was an astronomical calendar because it was built in a circular design; they think might represent the passing of time. • Stonehenge was a sanctuary where the ancient people met their gods.

General Opinion • The mystery of Stonehenge continues and will continue because there is no physical evidence of why it was built. (Cindy) • The theories can all be true because people believe in them and create evidence that will make them true. (Rossy) • I think it is a very interesting mystery because nobody knows how they got there or what's their use. (Tamil) • In the world exist of theories that have not been

Bibliography • Academic Search Complete. (2005).Mystery man of Stonehenge, from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail • National Geographic en EspañolEn la busqueda del significado de Stonehenge. May 30, 2008, from http://ngenespanol.com/2008/05/30/stonehenge/ • INFO de dato windowsxp . Octubre 16, 2007, from http://elclientenuncatienelarazon.blogspot.com/2007/10/stonehenge.html

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https://www.barrons.com/news/to-each-their-own-in-texas-town-reasons-vary-for-watching-eclipse-3947b3e1

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To Each Their Own: In Texas Town, Reasons Vary For Watching Eclipse

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Stonehenge II, a concrete sculpture built as an homage to England's original Stonehenge, will be a gathering point in Ingram, Texas for people watching the total solar eclipse on April 8 2024

In third para from the end please read XXX solar sails around the sun XXX sted cells

Shelli Ezell wants to watch the upcoming solar eclipse so she can feel the presence of her late daughter, with whom she observed one in 2017.

Grover Swartzlander actually studies these celestial phenomena and Jim Saltigerald just plain enjoys them. Indeed, as crowds gather to watch the Moon block out the Sun for a short while Monday, everybody has a reason for casting an eye at the heavens.

Driving up to 20 hours or even crossing an ocean, dozens of people have set up tents or mobile homes along a river bank in Ingram, a town in south Texas, to witness something rare and beautiful.

The river runs beside a park called Stonehenge II, which features a replica of the prehistoric and mystery-imbued monument in England.

Ingram lies in the so-called path of totality, where the Moon will completely obscure the Sun's light. Here, day is expected to turn to night and stay that way for more than four minutes, starting at 1:32 pm local time.

The forecast calls for cloudy weather and there is a storm alert, so the state government has emergency teams on standby. But nothing can discourage these excited visitors, who are hoping for clearer skies and in some cases have brought along telescopes and powerful telephoto lenses.

"We have a saying here in Texas that if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes," said Jennyth Peterson, Special Events Director for the Hill Country Arts Foundation, which runs the park.

Ezell, 44, traveled with her family all the way from Alabama. An eclipse nut, she is wearing earrings in the shape of a sun with a black center. Her nails are painted like stars.

Ezell has a 10-year-old son and a daughter of 15. At the 2017 eclipse her other daughter Mary Elizabeth was with them. The girl died of cancer at age 12.

Back then, mother and Marybeth, as she was called, made their first 'girls trip' to go see the eclipse in Idaho. "It was just a beautiful moment. And it's just a memory that I hold dear to my heart," Ezell said.

"I'm going to enjoy the day," she added. "But just being here when you experience totality and you just... you actually get that feeling of just how small you are in comparison to how big the universe is. And for that moment, I think I might feel closer to my daughter, too."

Some 2,500 people are expected to converge on Stonehenge II at the moment of the eclipse -- a small fraction of the millions who will watch as a blob of darkness crawls from Mexico through the United States to finish in Canada.

In the park Saltigerald, his wife and their two kids are wearing T-shirts that they made themselves. His bears the slogan "Paint it black."

The 62-year-old said he loves how all of a sudden day becomes night, people turn lights on in their homes and the birds disappear.

A man sets up camp and his camera equipment at Stonehenge II park in Ingram, Texas on April 7, 2024, one day before a total solar eclipse sweeps across parts of North America

Saltigerald traveled to England, where his wife is from, to see a total eclipse in 1999. He was also in Idaho for the 2017 version. Now, he's here in Texas.

"It's a great family gathering type of event. Once in a lifetime... Well, three times in ours, for that matter," he said.

For Swartzlander this event is not just historic but also comes right down his alley professionally.

He is a physicist at Rochester Institute of Technology and gets funding from NASA.

"And so, one of our projects is to put a constellation of what are called solar sails around the sun, so we can better understand the sun's dynamics," the academic said.

"And tomorrow's eclipse, we'll see the corona. That's got such a strong signature of what the sun is doing," Swartzlander added.

"So, it really gives me a lot of inspiration to further my mission."

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