The Mystery Of Stonehenge

What was Stonehenge used for and how and why was it built?

We described what you will actually see at Stonehenge on our What s Stonehenge? page. On this page we look at arguably the more interesting aspect of Stonehenge, what was it used for and why was it built.
 

The Neolithic age in which Stonehenge was built is so long ago that firm, factual information is sparse. As a result there is no shortage of conflicting dates and views about Stonehenge.
 

Nearly every year respected archaeologists will put forward papers suggesting dates need to be adjusted and our assumptions about Stonehenge changed. Just pick up a few books on Stonehenge in the gift shop and even fundamental dates will differ markedly from one book to another.
 

When you visit Stonehenge the ‘official line’ taken by English Heritage, owner of Stonehenge follows closely the theories put forward by archaeologists. This is fine and logical but get a bit compromised when archaeologists themselves always seem to be revising their thoughts on Stonehenge.

There are fundamentally three strands of theories about Stonehenge of how and why it was built.
 

The Archaeologists viewpoint is based on observation, digs in and around Stonehenge, carbon dating and conclusions at other Neolithic sites all around the British Isles.

The Archaeoastronomers viewpoint stems from the fact that nearly all the stones at Stonehenge are precisely sited and correlate to significant events of the planets orbit like solstices. A suggestion that Stonehenge is perhaps a place where ancient astronomy took place, perhaps part driven by the need to predict agricultural seasons.

The New Age viewpoint is a loose term we have used to summarise a spiritual input. Religion for want of a better term in Neolithic times had similarities to pagan religions nowadays. The concept of Mother Earth and Father the Sun overlap to some extent with the Archaeoastronomers viewpoint, the concept of ‘energies’ and the siting of Stonehenge at the intersection of many Ley Lines also follow a back to nature theme.

Today the Druid religion uses Stonehenge as a key religious monument, though druidism itself wasn’t around at the time of the Neolithic’s.

The Mysteries of Building Stonehenge

One of the major mysteries of Stonehenge was how it was built.

The first stones, the bluestones were sourced from the only place in the UK where such stone exists. In Wales, nearly 200 hundred miles away.
 

The common theory is that these stones were transported largely by water to within a couple of miles of Stonehenge. However no body has even today successfully re-enacted this feat with the technologies available at the time. Nor found any evidence along the way to support this. Other theories include the stones being moved to Stonehenge by glaciers.

The larger stones the Sarsen Stones came from only about 20 miles away, but again with no modern machinery and before the wheel how did they transport these stones through the undulating countryside. The common theory is that they were rolled along on top of tree trunks.

Stand next to one of the big Sarsen Stones and you begin to understand what a task this would be even today. What is clear is that large amounts of manpower would have been required and organised and leaders over many generations must have been able to inspire the masses into the concepts and beliefs that drove them to attempt such a monument.
 

Stonehenge itself is put together like woodwork. Joints and sockets have been carved into the stone so each stone fits into each other precisely. Stonehenge is unique in that it has horizontal stones to form arches. These horizontal stones have been engineered so they were flat, on a sloping site. Stonehenge is also unique in that the stones have been shaped into flat sided blocks.

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