The impressive circle of gigantic standing stones that is Stonehenge It is located in the lowlands of southern England, about 120 kilometers from London. It is one of the most fascinating but least understood archaeological sites in the world.
Stonehenge is just one of many stone circles that were built in Neolithic Britain. However, this particular circle of megaliths (large stones) has fascinated specialists for hundreds of years. Having been the subject of many myths and superstitions. Everyone who visits the monument today is awed by the gigantic standing stones, an effect that must have been far more daunting to the Neolithic people who built it 4,000 years ago.
What is Stonehenge?
Stonehenge's e built between the end of the Neolithic period and the beginning of the Bronze Age , between the years 2950 and 1600 BC. And it is certainly the best known example of the type of megalithic monuments that were being built throughout Western Europe at that time.
At present it is made up of 90 large stones, although it seems that over the centuries some 50 stones have disappeared.
The image that most people have of Stonehenge, that of a circle of standing stones supporting other horizontal stones or lintels, is only part of a much larger and more complex monument.
In the center is a series of blue stones arranged in a small horseshoe shape surrounding the stone that served as the altar, the focal point of Stonehenge. Surrounding the blue stones is another horseshoe made up of five gigantic trilithons, each consisting of two huge stone pillars with an equally huge lintel above them.
The trilithons are surrounded by a circle of small upright blue stones, surrounded in turn by another circle. This outer circle was once made up of 30 large standing stones and the same number of lintels. Like trilithons, they were made from a stone called sarsen . Many of them are still standing. Around the perimeter of this central area was an earth embankment and ditch.
Aubrey's holes
Just inside the embankment, archaeologists found 56 holes dug into the limestone layer just below the ground; for reasons no one really knows, the holes were filled in immediately after they were dug. These holes are known as Aubrey holes. At four points, the ring of holes is interrupted by a standing blue stone called the Station Stone . The main entrance to the area surrounded by the embankment is marked by a large stone called Heel Stone .
Stonehenge was built in several stages. The ditch, embankment and Aubrey's holes cut into the limestone were built around 2750 BC. For the following centuries Stonehenge remained in these simple forms. Then around 2100 B.C. the four Station Stones were erected in the middle of Aubrey's holes and the Heel Stone. We now know that the bluestones came from a place some 200 kilometers away, in the Welsh mountains, and that they were probably transported by water on rafts for much of that journey. It was not until nearly a century later that the gigantic trilithons and the circle of sarsens that surround them were placed.
The erection of stones
Placing these large stones in place was a remarkable engineering achievement. First of all, from 30 kilometers away the stones were brought. No one knows for sure how this was done, but it seems that when the ground was hard they were transported on rollers during the winter months.
Another theory supposes that the stones could have been transported on sledges along specially built roads. Once in the right place, they had to be erected. It is probable that this was achieved by raising them to the vertical using a system of ramps, scaffolding and levers, and then fitting them into specially dug holes. The entire operation surely required the strength of hundreds of oxen and people.
The lintels were set in place by raising one end of the stone and supporting it with logs. To then repeat the operation with the other end and so on as many times as necessary to reach the required height, when the stone was pushed on the pillars. The ancient builders left stone protrusions at the top of these pillars, to fit into recesses dug into the bottom of the lintels to hold the stones in place.
Historians have estimated that it took about a thousand people to lift the largest stones and that this third phase of Stonehenge construction required two million hours of work in total
Monuments of memory
The region around Stonehenge has many monuments that reminded people of their ancestors and chiefs . They buried their leaders under round mounds or burial mounds (barrow in English), often accompanied by gold and bronze objects. Bush Barrow, 1.6km south of Stonehenge, contained the skeleton of a tall person along with two copper daggers, a bronze ax and some gold ornaments.
Other buildings in Great Britain
Approximately 2.5 kilometers from the main entrance to Stonehenge is an embankment known as "The Avenue". Consisting of two parallel ditches separated from each other about 30 meters. An elevated path was created between the two where the earth from the excavation was placed.
Some 30 kilometers to the north is Avebury, where a ditch marks off a huge 300 meter wide enclosure built just after 3000 BC. Inside Avebury, as at Stonehenge, there is a circle of sarsen stones, although they are arranged differently. Avebury is also much larger than Stonehenge.
Near Avebury is the man-made mound of earth called Silbury Hill, built around the same time as Stonehenge. It is very likely that many similar monuments existed in the region. But over the last 4,000 years they were destroyed. Around this time, megalithic monuments were being built throughout Western Europe. Small stone circles are common in England, Wales and Scotland, perhaps continuing an older tradition of building circles from pieces of wood driven into the ground that have not survived.
Across the English Channel in Brittany, at a place called Carnac, at the same time that Stonehenge was being built, many rows of thousands of standing stones were being created. In one place there are seven parallel rows of stones, of which 1,029 still stand, stretching 1,130 meters. Nearby, in Locmariaquer, there is a huge granite pillar that was 22 meters high before it fell.
The Druids and Stonehenge
There is a misconception about Stonehenge that it was built by Celtic priests. Popularly known as Druids and described by the Romans who arrived in Great Britain. This is nothing more than a romantic fantasy about the origins of Stonehenge, which began nearly 300 years ago and still persists today.
Every year at the summer solstice, modern druids and others who believe stones have mystical or religious powers gather at Stonehenge to perform rituals on Midsummer Day. Although these beliefs are not based on any archaeological evidence, the fact that Stonehenge brings them together reflects the magical attraction felt by all who see this spectacular monument.
Why was Stonehenge built? ?
No one knows for sure the purpose of Stonehenge, although it is clear that it was a place of great importance to the Neolithic and early Bronze Age inhabitants of the surrounding area. It does not seem that its inhabitants lived in it, since only a few burials have been found in the ditch and among the stones. However, something made the farmers and ranchers of the region dedicate their time and energy to building this gigantic construction over several centuries.
In the 1950s and 1960s, some historians suggested that Stonehenge may have been an observatory or a primitive means of predicting astronomical events. In fact, during the summer solstice, June 21 or 22, the sun rises almost exactly over the first Heel Stone.
Except for this detail, little other evidence exists that Stonehenge was aligned with the stars and planets; today, most archaeologists do not accept the idea that Stonehenge was an astronomical observatory . Instead they consider it to be a meeting place or ceremonial area, intended to provide the area's farmers and ranchers with a powerful sense of community. It served as a visible and lasting reminder of the ancestors who had claimed the territory where they lived. A mighty chief erected the largest stones. That he wanted to make it the most elaborate monument in the region, visible from far away in the entire plain that surrounds it.