Stonehenge

For information on the origin of these monuments, go to the Current Theories section. Otherwise, go back to Great Britain.

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STONEHENGE
Blocks that Withstand Time Itself

The Stonehenge ruins stand on the Salisbury Plains three kilometres west of the town of Amesbury, Wiltshire, in Southern England. It is not a single structure but consists of a series of earth, timber, and stone structures that were supposedly revised and re-modelled over a period of more than 1,400 years. Work was reportedly begun on the site at around 3,020 B.C., as shown here.

Figure 2: An aerial view of the ruins of Stonehenge. Click for larger image.

Figure 3: View of the Sarsen Circle. Click for larger image.

The Sarsen Circle, about 33 metres in diametre, was originally comprised of 30 neatly trimmed upright sandstone blocks of which only 17 are now standing. The stones are evenly spaced approximately 1.0 to 1.4 metres apart, and stand on average 4 metres above the ground. They are about 2 metres wide and 1 metre thick, and taper towards the top. They originally supported sarsen lintels forming a continuous circle around the top. Each lintel block has been shaped to the curve of the circle. The average length of the rectangular lintels is 3.2 metres. The lintels were fitted end-to-end using tongue-and-groove joints, and fitted on top of the standing sarsen with mortice and tenon joints. The Sarsen Circle with its lintels is perhaps the most remarkable feature of Stonehenge in terms of design, precision stonework, and engineering, especially considering that many of these stones weigh in excess of 25 tons.

Sarsen stones are hard-grained sandstone with a silaceous cement. They were probably brought to the site from the Marlborough Downs, about 30 kilometres to the north of Stonehenge.

Within the Sarsen circle lie the Trilithon Horseshoe. The Trilithons are ten upright stones arranged as five freestanding pairs each with a single horizontal lintel, fitted with a ball-and-socket jointing system. They were erected within the Sarsen Circle in the form of a horseshoe with the open side facing north-east towards the main entrance of the monument. They were arranged symmetrically and graded in height; the tallest is in the central position. Only three of the five Trilithons are now complete with their lintels. The other two both have only one standing stone with the second stone and lintel lying on the ground.

Figure 4: Two of the Trilithons. In front of them can be seen two of the upright bluestones, which originally formed an oval inside the horseshoe of Trilithons. Click for larger image.

Figure 5: The henge complete as rendered by Mohen 1990.

REFERENCES:

Mohen, J.P.; (1990) The Wolrd of Megaliths, New York, Facts on File, p131 (originally published in French, Tournai: Casterman, 1989).

Inside the Trilithon circle lies the Bluestone circle. The term "Bluestone" refers to various types of mostly igneous rocks including dolerites, rhyolites, and volcanic ash. It also includes some sandstones. These blocks are thought to have originated from various outcrops in the Preseli Hills in Pembrokeshire in Wales. How they were transported to the site at Stonehenge remains a mystery.

Outside and extending from the henge was also laid out an earthwork known as the Avenue that extends north-east from the break in the bank-and-ditch.

Located further along the Avenue is the so-called Heel Stone. The sarsen Heel Stone is approximately 4.88 metres, with another 1.22 metres buried below ground. It was the first stone to be placed at this site. The Heel Stone is surrounded by a circular ditch of approximately the same dimensions as the ditch surrounding each of the two Station Stones. Originally, the Heel Stone may have been paired with another stone now missing.

Figure 6: The Sarsen Heel Stone. Click for larger image.

Finally, mention should be made of the so-called Altar Stone, a large dressed block of sandstone that lies embedded in the ground within the Trilithon Horseshoe and "in front of" of the central and largest Trilithon pair. Two fallen stones now lie across it. The stone is believed to be Cosheston Beds Sandstone from south Wales, and is the only example of this type of stone at Stonehenge. It is 4.9 metres long, 1 metre in height, and a half metre thick.

The curiosity with this megalithic monument lies in the size of the blocks, and their arrangement. While the dating of the blocks is not under scrutiny, the methods used to transort them, erect them, shape them and align them needs to be assessed. The peoples of the time had neither the technology nor motivation to develop sites such as this. While these people attributed with the construction undoubtedly utilised the site, the fact that they actually built it is questionable to say the least. Its sophistication goes beyond the simple stone circles found in other areas.

So the question remains; who DID erect these monstrous blocks? And where did they go? How did they do it? For what purpose? These questions will be addressed in the Current Theories section.

Figure 1: Stonehenge in its fallen glory.

Recently, an enormous crop circle has been discovered next to the Stonehenge site. On July 4th 2002, the crop formation as seen in figure 7 appeared, and evidence confirms that it was completed in one night. Click here for a full press article on this subject.

Figure 7: Aerial view of the crop formation adjacent to the megalithic site of Stonehenge. Click for larger image. Image copyright Charles Mallet.

Across to Newgrange, or go back to Great Britain. Or, Go Back Home.

From radiocarbon dating of pottery found around the site, it has come to light that this site was abandoned rather suddenly around 2,600 B.C. This date coincides rather auspiciously with the abandonment of the Orkney settlement of Skara Brae. So what caused this mass desertion?