Aerial view of the stones (copyright
unknown)
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The most famous prehistoric
structure in Europe, possibly the world, Stonehenge stands on Salisbury Plain,
an area rich in monuments such as long
barrows and round
barrows. It draws visitors from all over the world but viewing is restricted
and it is difficult to get a sense of the grandeur of the place amongst all of
the tourists.
There have been many timescales attached to the building of the site although
it is generally held to have been completed in 3 identifiable phases over
a 1700 year period starting perhaps around 3200BC.
Stonehenge I
Begun in the Neolithic,
a circular bank nearly 2 metres high was built with a quarry ditch
outside and a smaller bank around the edge of the ditch. This henge
structure was over 85 metres wide with an entrance to the south and
one at the northeast which may have been some kind of ceremonial gate.
Set beyond this entrance was a huge sarsen
block known as the 'Heel Stone' which was aligned on the midpoint
of the northern moon's major and minor rising. Inside the henge some
kind of wooden structure was built, possibly a timber circle or a
mortuary house. Later 56 pits were cut inside the bank - the 'Aubrey
Holes', but these seem to have been refilled shortly afterwards, some
contained cremated human remains.
Stonehenge II
Begun sometime around 2500BC the second phase saw two concentric stone
circles added inside the bank. These 'bluestones', some 80 in all,
were brought from the Preseli mountains in Wales (possibly from Carn
Meini) over 135 miles away. They consisted mainly of diorite and
some of rhyolite, both types of volcanic rock, weighing up to 4 tons
each. It is believed that they would have traveled from the mountains
to Milford Haven where they were loaded onto rafts and brought along
the Welsh coast to the Severn estuary, then along the Bristol Avon
and the River Frome, via the Wiltshire Avon before being offloaded
to the banks of the river. From here they were brought to the sanctuary,
perhaps involving some kind of ceremony and finally finished their
incredible 250 mile journey. Another four blocks, known as the 'Station
Stones' were also erected around the circle - only two now remain.
The Stonehenge Avenue is thought
to have been built during this time - a pair of parallel banks with
outer ditches that emerge from the northeast entrance through the
Heel Stone and run down to the River Avon, it could be that the avenue
was constructed to commemorate the route of the bluestones.
Stonehenge III
It appears that the second phase was never completed and the site
remained unchanged until about 2300BC at the dawn of the Bronze
Age when a third phase of building and remodeling began with the
bringing of sarsens from the Marlborough Downs, 25 miles to the north.
Roughly cut to shape before moving, these 80 huge blocks weighing
between 20 and 50 tons each were placed on sledges and dragged over
rollers to Stonehenge. It is estimated that it would have taken a
team of 1000 men 7 weeks to move each stone, the whole mammoth task
requiring over 10 years to complete.
Once at the site, the rough sarsen blocks would have been shaped by
a team of masons, another task that would have taken several years.
At this time the bluestone rings had been taken out and the ground
leveled ready for the 30 uprights that formed the great outer circle.
Pits of about 1.5 metres deep were dug and the blocks tipped into
them, then pulled upright and their tops leveled, but with a protruding
tenon to receive the lintels. These lintels had mortises on their
undersides to fit the uprights and tongue-and-groove joints to bind
them to their neighbours. Inside this circle were raised the 5 great
trilithons
in a horseshoe shape with the opening facing the entrance, each consisting
of 2 huge mortised uprights, between 6 and 7 metres tall with a single
tenoned lintel and with the Altar Stone at their centre. Of the bluestones,
22 were now placed inside the trilithons, then moved to form another
simpler horseshoe structure. Others were placed in a circle outside
of the trilithons. Some time later the 'Altar Stone', a block of micaceous
sandstone, was brought from South Wales and erected within the horseshoe.
Two stones were put up within the northeast entrance to frame the
midsummer sunrise, of which one remains as the 'Slaughter Stone'
There have of course
been many theories advanced over the years to explain the purpose of Stonehenge,
from the plausible to the downright eccentric. It may be that it is closely related
with the changing of the seasons and astronomical phenomenon such as the rising
and setting of the sun and moon. It is likely that no-one will ever come up with
a definitive answer to this prehistoric enigma.
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