Essays on Stonehenge

Archaeologists believe that Stonehenge was constructed from 3000 BC to 2000 BC.

Stonehenge 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. Inside is a ring of smaller bluestones. Inside these are free-standing trilithons, two bulkier vertical Sarsens joined by one lintel. 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).

There is debate surrounding the original purpose of Stonehenge. Previously thought to be a Druid temple, Stonehenge may instead be, according to researchers and others, a burial monument, a meeting place between chiefdoms, or even an astronomical “computer.”

Stonehenge is constructed from sarsen stones, a type of silicified sandstone found in England, and bluestones, a dolomite variation extracted from western Wales.

The average Stonehenge sarsen weighs 25 tons.
The bluestones travelled 240km to Wiltshire from South Wales.
Stonehenge was bought at an auction in 1915.
The first guidebook claimed Stonehenge survived Noah’s flood.