Interesting Facts About Stonehenge

Stonehenge is a famous ancient monument found in the UK which dates back to

prehistoric times and took more than 1000 years to evolve.
Many questions remain about how and why it was constructed but with more than half of
the stones believed to be missing and others toppled over, finding all the information
needed has proven to be a difficult task.
Located in Wilshire county of Southern England, stonehenge lies between two
rivers and is approximately 2 miles away from woodhenge which is the remains of an
ancient wooden circular monument built right about the same time.
The structure of stonehenge is approximately 100 feet in diameter and more than 24 feet
tall. The original builders moved 89 stones weighing up to 4 tons each, years later heavier
stones thought to weigh up to 40-45 tons were moved in.
Ancient engineers had 56 holes dug along the inner diameters bank of the stone
walls which may have helped support wooden posts. Over the next few hundred years
more posts were erected more toward the center of the structure and approximately 500
years later were replaced with stones. Then around the same time, those stones were
removed and replaced with even larger stones. The large standing stones seen placed in
the circular setting today are sunk deep into the ground and capped with large stones
lying horizontally. At one point there were also three huge tall standing stones greeting
visitors at the north east entrance.
Ancient stone workers and engineers had a difficult job working with the massive
stones. Each and every stone was uniquely crafted and carved with interlocking joints by
way of uprights and lintels. It was composed of two distinct types of rock, one type of
rock was sarsen which is an extremely tough sandstone and the other type of rock were
called blue stones. These particular blue stones are made of spotted dolerite which is a
volcanic rock so rare its only found in one known location which is 240 miles west of
stonehenge in the Preseli Mountains of South Whales. Stonehenge was an architectural
and engineering triumph.
Its mysterious even today, most archeologist agree that there were more than just
the one structure we see today built at the site over the years. Some archeologists have
suggested that each pair of the large standing stones represent a male and female form
while others say the tall stones were grave markers.
Was it created to warship the sun, stars, moon, burials, was it a giant clock, something
more sinister or all the above? Many archeologist want to solve the mystery of how and
why Stonehenge was built. The best guess seems to be that it was built as some sort of
monument for the dead since its in one of the most congested burial grounds from its
time of around 5,100+ years ago. The burial area around stonehenge covers
approximately 12 square miles and is one of Britains largest ancient burial grounds
today. Evidence from large amounts of pig bones found near stonehenge suggests there
were large feasts and pigs were very plentiful. Could these feasts have been held in honor
of the dead? Most feasts back then were commonly held in the fall so the owner of the
pig or cow didnt have to spare the expense of feeding the animal through the winter.
 Stonehenge is found in the centre of a huge complex of monuments and near a
few hundred burial mounds which date back to sometime between the Bronze and
Neolithic ages.

Here are a few interesting facts about Stonehenge which might make you want to visit
this great monument.
How old is Stonehenge? Radiocarbon dating measured it to an age of about
5,100 years old with construction beginning in 3100 B.C, 300 years before the Egyptians
are thought to have built the first pyramids.
Stonehenge can be found to the SW of London at about 137 km from it.
It isnt documented as a known archaeological fact right now who exactly the
builders of Stonehenge are. Whoever erected it is suspected to have had a highly
sophisticated level of mathematics such as geometry as well as a deep knowledge of
astrology. Some of the theories which are discussed include Aliens, the Windmill Hill
People, druids and the Greeks. Until recently, the closest known associates to stonehenge
were believed to be the druids which were priests of the ancient Britons but carbon dating
suggests stonehenge was completed around 1500 years before the druids were in the
region. Today its thought that the first people to have most likely started work on
stonehenge were the Neolithic Agrarians also known as the Windmill Hill People.
In 1986, Stonehenge became a World Heritage Site of UNESCO which is
protected as an ancient monument. English Heritage are the ones which manage it and the
rights of ownership of the monument is held by the British Crown.
Stonehenge is considered by many archeologists and astrologists as a flawless
design from a geometrical and mathematical point of view. Its design was extremely
precise in its day, marking the alignment of the moon and the sun as well as certain
weather periods.
The stones used in the construction vary from a couple of tons on up to over 40
tons. They were brought from distances which varied between a couple of miles and two
hundred and forty miles away.
In total, over 900 stone rings can be found in the British Isles. Stonehenge is
the most known and the most impressive but its not the only one.
Its likely that thousands of people would have been needed to work on the
construction of Stonehenge over the years and that it would have taken over a million
man hours of labor to complete.