Stonehenge

Given the length of time taken to create Stonehenge, who could have carried out such a feat? We now know that just as the monument was constructed in distinct stages, its builders belonged to distinct groups.

The first group, the Windmill Hill people, named after one of their earthworks on Windmill Hill, near Stonehenge, built the large circular furrows and mounds. They had collective burials in large stone-encased tombs. Most of their burial mounds point east-west. Originating in eastern England, they were one of the first semi-nomadic hunting and gathering groups with an agricultural economy, maintaining a strong reverence for circles and symmetry.

The second group - The Beaker people - is thought to have originated in Spain, migrating northwards and colonising north-west Europe. Their name comes from their ancient traditions in which they would bury beakers, or pottery drinking cups, with their dead.

Instead of burying their dead in mass graves, they showed more reverence for death by placing them in small round graves marked by mounds called tumuli. It is assumed by archaeologists that the Beaker People were more warlike in nature than most tribes of their time because they buried their dead with more weapons, such as daggers and battle-axes. The Beaker Folk were highly organised and industrious, using sophisticated mathematical concepts, and they managed their society by using a chieftain system.

Oh dear ! Methinx someone is having a little dig at our US cousins ! Native Americans & Stonehenge have no connection.

There are several theories. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge#Stonehenge_3_I_.28ca._2600_BC.29

Consists of earth, timber, and stone structures .

The major stone construction was built around 4,500 years ago. See related links.

The construction phase information of Stonehenge is somewhat complex and under active discussion as a result of recent work by the Stonehenge Riverside Project and the S.P.A.C.E.S. project, but the indications are that the enclosing bank and ditch date to c3000BC, with the 56 Aubrey Holes around the inside of the bank coming very soon after - though whether these were occupied by timber posts or Bluestones (generally 2m tall, 4 tons in weight, from Preseli in South Wales) is still a matter of debate.

A number of timber constructions within this enclosure date to around this time, with the first Sarsens (these are the large stones - the biggest being over 9m long and weighing over 45 tons, probably from the Marlborough Downs) arriving and being erected as the 5 central Trilithons and the surrounding lintelled Sarsen Circle around 2,500BC.

It appears that the 'double arc' of Q&R holes, which held Bluestones, may have been contemporaneous with this Sarsen phase instead of pre-dating it as a temporary feature.

Around 2,200BC, the best examples of the Bluestones were re-arranged into an oval within the central Trilithon horseshoe and the remaining examples were set up in a ring just inside the Sarsen Circle.

Around 1,600BC the Z and then Y holes were dug outside the Sarsen Circle, but appear not to have ever held either posts or stones before they were back-filled.

Some time later (possibly as late as Roman times), the Bluestone oval was opened at the NE to form a horseshoe shape like that of the Trilithons, with which it shares the NE-SW (midsummer/midwinter solstice) orientation.

Present thinking that Stonehenge was a calculator and timekeeper for solar and lunar events such as eclipses, solstices and the equinoxes is now going out of favour. Few British archaeologists either believe, or can see any evidence that Stonehenge was was used for complex astronomical 'computations'. There is however considerable evidence that it was carefully designed (as a mirrored symmetrical structure), and that the premeditated design, whatever its contemporary cosmological significance, was set on the axis of the midwinter and midsummer solstices.

There are multiple theories with the one that appears the most being related to pagan ceremony. The postions of the stones provide clues that lead scientists to believe they had something to do with the summer and winter solstice, and early religious ceremonies that celebrated the changing seasons. However, most of what has been learned about Stonehenge thus far is still theoretical. National Geographic magazine had a feature about Stonehenge about a year ago (link attached) that you may find interesting. The greatest questions are: how did early man get the stones from the quarry all the way up to the plateau and lift them into place? And perhaps more importantly, how did they so accurately set out such massive stones - to what was clearly a precise and premeditated plan, and what cosmological model determined that plan?

There is only one famous Stonehenge in Britain. The sarsen stones (the big ones) were brought up to 20 miles from other parts of Salisbury Plain. The bluestones were brought from Prescelly, in the far west of Wales, aqbout 160 miles in a straight line. Nobody knows the route they used, the stones may have been brought around the coast by sea, then up the River Avon. (NB not the Avon associated with Shakespeare). Look it up on a map to see the sort of journay the must have had - Stonehenge is just north of Salisbury, Prescelly is near Fishguard and St Davids.

Stonehenge is a World Heritage Site for aesthetic, historic, scientific, and social reasons, as well as authenticity. It is one of the most famous prehistoric monuments in the world, an icon of our prehistoric past, and a testament to the skills of ancient peoples. Stonehenge is a marvel because of the architectural sophistication of the prehistoric stone circle and the more than 700 archaeological features including burial mounds found in the surrounding sites. The monuments and associated landscape help us understand Neolithic and Bronze Age ceremonial and mortuary practices in England and North-western Europe. They demonstrate around 2,000 years of continuous use and monument building between c. 3700 and c. 1600 BC.

Since the 12th century, when Stonehenge was considered one of the wonders of the world by chroniclers such as Henry of Huntington and Geoffrey of Monmouth, it has excited curiosity and speculation. It has influenced generations of antiquarians, archaeologists, artists, authors, architects, historians and others, and today is an icon of ancient astronomy.

They used a series of pulleys and rope,and a lot of man power!

The neolithic people of Britain built Stonehenge for unknown reasons. It has been found that the stones are aligned to tell where the sun will appear at the Winter Solstice. There are burials located nearby. Some theorize that it was a meeting place for trade. For many years, people believed incorrectly it was built by the druids, they constructed it supposedly for sacrificial ceremonies.

Stonehenge is entirely prehistoric in construction.

they died

No

Avebury Hill is near Stonehenge.

Atlantis The Underwater City

There are 93 total rocks at stone hedge which include broken pieces of larger stones. However, there are 75 worked Sarsens in total.

Wiltshire,England

In the county of Wiltshire in southern England.

294 days.

Stonehenge was built by Neolithic people about 4500 years ago.

The term "Cave men" is inaccurate since the people who built Stonehenge did not live in caves. See the timleine on the link below.