No. 59

Stonehenge

On land Europe

Travel there with Lyra

Where: England
Built by: Neolithic Britons
Era: 3000-1500 BCE
Known for: Stones lined up with the solstice sunrise and sunset.
How it ended: Its use faded in the Bronze Age.

One of the earliest near-accurate depictions of Stonehenge. — Lucas de Heere, Public domain

The plan shows the first of the three Stonehenge construction phases archaeologists think took place. — Drawing by Adamsan, CC BY-SA 3.0

Condensed and simplified map showing of the spread of agriculture from Southwest Asia to Europe, between 9600 and 3800 BCE, with approximate dates and routes of diffusion. — Detlef Gronenborn, Barbara Horejs, Börner, Ober, CC BY 4.0

Lyra Kael can take you here on the globe, tell you the story out loud and answer your questions. Start the time jump.

Background

Stonehenge is a prehistoric megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, two miles (3 km) west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around 13 feet (4.0 m) high, seven feet (2.1 m) wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connecting horizontal lintel stones which are held in place with mortise and tenon joints—a feature unique among contemporary monuments. Inside is a ring of smaller bluestones. Inside these are free-standing trilithons: two bulkier vertical sarsens joined by a single lintel. The whole monument, now in ruins, is aligned towards the sunrise on the summer solstice and sunset on the winter solstice. The stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the densest complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred tumuli (burial mounds).

Stonehenge was constructed in several phases, beginning about 3100 BC and continuing until about 1600 BC. The famous circle of large sarsen stones was placed between 2600 BC and 2400 BC. The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the bluestones were given their current positions between 2400 and 2200 BC, although they may have been at the site as early as 3000 BC.

One of the most famous landmarks in the United Kingdom, Stonehenge is regarded as a British cultural icon. It has been a legally protected scheduled monument since the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882 was passed. The site and its surroundings were added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1986. Stonehenge is owned by the Crown Estate and managed by English Heritage; the surrounding land is owned by the National Trust.

Stonehenge could have been a burial ground from its earliest beginnings. Deposits containing human bone date from as early as 3000 BC, when the ditch and bank were first dug, and continued for at least another 500 years.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.