Stonehenge is incredibly large and unimaginably old – it has inspired awe in all who have seen it for countless generations.
Where is Stonehenge?
Stonehenge is located on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire.
How big are the stones of Stonehenge?
Each stone is quite large: it is about 4 meters high, 2.1 meters wide and weighs about 25 tons.
How old is Stonehenge?
Stonehenge is thought to date back to around 2500 BC. Since construction began around 3000 BC, and additional additions were made over the next two millennia, Stonehenge has become one of the most famous and enigmatic prehistoric structures in the world.
Why was Stonehenge built?
Although we know that the stones are aligned with the sunrise and sunset at the summer and winter solstices respectively – and that burials have taken place here – the exact motivations of those who built this burial site may never be fully understood.
And just when you think the monument could not be more confusing,
Stonehenge poses another mystery. A group of archaeologists writes
It has just been announced in the journal Nature that the altar stone of the monument
does not come from the Brecon Beacons, as previously thought, but was mined in
the extreme north-east of Scotland.
It was then transported either over land (over 450 miles) or by sea (over 600 miles) to southwest England. This amazing feat has led scientists to reassess the skills and organizational abilities of our Neolithic ancestors.
According to Mike Parker Pearson of the University College of London, the
involved in many excavations around Stonehenge, ‘No other circle (in
Britain) was made entirely of stones from distant sources … This must be one
of the greatest clues to its purpose – a monument to people on a
on a large scale.’
However, this latest discovery is just one of many about the
Totem Monument – now in the care of English Heritage – over the past few decades.
6 spectacular discoveries about Stonehenge
The Bluestone Quarry
Before the revelation of Stonehenge’s Scottish connection, it was believed that the most remote elements of Stonehenge were the so-called bluestones, which came from the Preseli Mountains in southwest Wales, just 150 miles away.
In 2015, careful examination of the dolerite and rhyolite in these stones allowed geologists to locate the exact outcrops from which they came. Remarkably, excavation of these outcrops – Carn Goedog and Craig Rhos-y-felin – uncovered Stone Age quarry tools. Carbon dating of wood and hazelnuts at the site revealed that the quarry had been in operation since around 3400 BC.
A Welsh Stonehenge?
At Waun Mawn, another site in the Preseli Mountains, a standing stone and three lying stones have led researchers to believe that a stone circle similar to Stonehenge may once have stood here.
Excavations suggested that perhaps half a dozen bluestones had been removed from the site, and at least three of them had found their way to Stonehenge.
However, this has since been disputed by Dr Brian John, who lives near the site of Waun Mawn. In early 2024, he published findings suggesting that no stone was ever transported from Waun Mawn to Stonehenge and, furthermore, that no such circle ever existed. It is unlikely that we have heard the last of it…
A sarsen quarry
Closer to home, scientists conducted a geochemical analysis of the composition of the giant sarsen stones that make Stonehenge so impressive. Their results suggested that the stone was probably found in a place called West Woods on the edge of the Marlborough Downs, just 15 miles away. But because the monoliths weigh between 20 and 30 tons, they all have to be hauled that distance.
would have been a major undertaking.
The expanding world of Stonehenge
Stonehenge is much more than the iconic stone circle. A 2.7km stretch of ramparts and ditches known as “The Avenue” runs between the stones and the River Avon, and there are also a series of mounds and elongated hills scattered across the landscape like constellations.
And then there is the wooden circle called Woodhenge, three kilometers away, discovered almost a century ago.
However, more recent discoveries have shown that the area was even more complex and extensive. The Stonehenge Riverside Project, a six-year study that began in 2003, focused on the Durrington Walls, a henge over 370 metres in diameter surrounded by a rampart and ditch.
The researchers found evidence not only of a group of houses, but also of an avenue connecting Durrington Walls to the Avon. The connection to Stonehenge could then be made by travelling along the river and up the avenue.
In 2008, archaeologists uncovered a small prehistoric stone circle on the banks of the Avon, now known as West Amesbury Henge. Nine years later, an enclosure surrounded by a causeway was uncovered during the construction of army barracks at Larkhill, north of Stonehenge.
The Neolithic builders and tomb workers in Wiltshire were very industrious and it seems highly unlikely that we have already found everything they created.
Europe’s cemetery
Another discovery in 2008 sheds new light on the identity of some of those buried around Stonehenge. DNA tests were carried out on the cremated remains of more than 50 people buried during the early period of the monument – sometime between 3000 and 2800 BC.
The results showed that some of them were not from the area. They were
genetically similar to Bronze Age people buried in local burial mounds and known to have come from other parts of Europe. This suggests that the people found at Stonehenge may have died and been cremated far away, only to have their charred remains transferred to this important ritual site for burial.
A fine example was unearthed three miles southeast of Stonehenge in 2002. The Amesbury Archer – so named because he was unearthed near the village of Amesbury – had lived on the European continent and was buried with various items believed to help him in his next life. Dating from the Early Bronze Age, these items remain the oldest gold objects unearthed in Britain.
Romans and St. Paul
There are two names that you might not have thought had any connection at all
with Stonehenge: the Romans and St. Paul’s Cathedral.
In 2008, the Strumble-Preseli Ancient Communities and Environmental Study (SPACES) project, led by Professor Tim Darvill and the late Geoffrey Wainwright, carried out a small-scale excavation.
Surprisingly, they discovered a shaft or pit that had been dug sometime in the late Roman period. There was also evidence of further activity in the Middle Ages. At the very least, this reminds us that interest in Stonehenge is not a modern phenomenon. No doubt the Romans and the medieval Britons who discovered Stonehenge were just as fascinated by the stone circle as we are today.
And the connection to St. Paul’s Cathedral? Over the centuries, the stones have unfortunately been the victims of frequent vandalism, including names being engraved there by visitors seeking immortality.
One of these seekers carved his name – WREN – into Stone 52. It is believed that this
was designed by none other than the architect Sir Christopher Wren, whose family owned a house near Stonehenge.
And new revelations keep coming. Given all that diligent archaeologists and researchers have uncovered in this century alone, it would be foolish indeed to claim that there are no more secrets to be revealed at Stonehenge.
Who knows? Perhaps something even more surprising than the Scottish origin of the altar stone is about to happen…
