Stonehenge Overview

This video, titled Solarisation of the Moon tests Sims, North & Ruggles
hypothesis of a South Western Minor Lunastice twinned with a Winter Solstice

Stonehenge is one of the best known prehistoric sites in the world.

Evolving from a bank and ditch monument with varying possible wooden post arrangements in the Neolithic period, to a sophisticated sarsen stone circle, built on the axis of the midwinter solstice sunset and the southern minor lunistice moonset.

Stonehenge - Phase 1: Earthwork Enclosure, c3000BC

 The first stage of the monument at Stonehenge was a circular earthen bank and ditch (or henge), which can still be seen. Also part of this phase is the north-east entrance, facing south-west aligned on the midwinter sunset.

Of the same date is the ring of 'Aubrey' holes inside the bank, named after John Aubrey, who discovered them. Some of these holes held cremated human remains, none of them were used for posts or stones.

 

Stonehenge - Phase II: Wooden Structures, c2900-2400BC

During this period, it is generally agreed that, wooden structures were added to the earthwork enclosure  (it is also thought these holes may have been either burial pits or even earlier sites for the blue stones).

Excavations have revealed a complicated pattern of post holes in the centre of the henge as well as at the north-eastern entrance and southern entrances.

 

Stonehenge - Phase III: Stone Monument, c2600-1600BC
The third and final phase of Stonehenge embraces a period of 1000 years and is marked by a change from building in wood to building in stone.

It can be divided into three stages: first a crescent of blue stones from Wales, then the sarsen stone circle and finally, rearrangement of the stones into their present form.

The sarsen stone circle, with its huge squarely shaped stones, its sophisticated joints and its perfect geometry, is unique within prehistoric Europe.

 

Stonehenge - Phase IIIa: The Blue Stones Crescent

In about 2600BC, 80 blue stones were transported from the Preseli Mountains in South Wales, some 385km (240 miles) away and erected inside the earthen bank of the henge in a double crescent setting.

 

Stonehenge - Phase IIIb: The Sarsen Stone Circle
Sarsen stones from the Marlborough Downs, were erected and replaced the blue stones. A continuous ring of uprights with lintels formed the outer circle while five trilithons (pairs of uprights with a lintel on top) formed a horseshoe within.

Each stone weighed more than 25 tonnes and had to be transported over 30km (19 miles).

Some of the stones have carvings, looking like daggers and axes, others have been rendered to look like different tree barks

 It is also during this period that the Avenue was built.

 

Stonehenge - Phase IIIc: The Blue Stones Rearranged

During this period, the blue stones were rearranged at least three times. In their final setting, they formed an inner circle and horseshoe, duplicating the sarsen stones.

The circle originally consisted of about 60 stones, and few of them now remain. The horseshoe was made of blue stones shaped as square pillar or obelisk. Its focus was the Altar Stone, now fallen, which would probably have stood upright.

 

Stonehenge - Today

The monument we see today still inspires awe and admiration. Stonehenge attracts some 800,000 visitors a year and on the summer Solstice, thousands of people gather to watch the sunrise.