Stonehenge stands on the bleak Salisbury Plain, an awesome and powerful monument to the once great civilisations of the Stone and Bronze ages. The remaining stone circles are the last in a sequence of circular (henge) structures all aligned to the rising sun at the mid summer solstice.

 

Stonehenge maybe, in many peoples' minds, the most mysterious place in the world. This set of concentric rings and horseshoe shapes on the empty Salisbury Plain, is, at the age of 4,000 years, one of the oldest, and certainly best preserved, megalithic (that means large, often ancient, stone) structures on Earth. It is a fantastic construction with many of the larger stones involved weighing 25 tons and quarried from a location 18 miles away. The rings and horseshoes of Sarsen (a type of sandstone) also carry massive lintels connecting them so that when they were all in place there was a ring of stone in the sky as well as on the ground.

We know almost nothing about who built Stonehenge and why. A popular theory advanced in the 19th century was that the Druids, a people that existed in Britain before the Roman conquest, had built it as a temple. Modern archaeological techniques, though, have dated Stonehenge and we now know that it was completed at least a 1,000 years before the Druids came to power. If Druids used Stonehenge for their ceremonies they got the site secondhand. Despite this, modern Druids have laid claim to Stonehenge and an annual ceremony takes place at Stonehenge during Summer solstice, one of the ring's astronomical alignments.

There is evidence there was activity on the Stonehenge site as far back as 11,000 years ago. It wasn't until about 3100 BC, though, that a circular bank, following the current Stonehenge layout, appeared. At the same time pine posts were put into place. Around 2100 BC stones started being erected. First bluestones from Wales, then the larger Sarsens stones. During this period some stones were erected, then later dismantled.

The building of Stonehenge can be divided into four periods spanning approximately 2,000 years.

PHASE 1

Phase I began in approximately 3,100 B.C., and it consists of a circle with an approximately 320 foot diameter, consisting of a low outer bank surrounding a ditch with another bank about 6 feet high within this ditch. Inside the inner bank are the Aubrey Holes.

PHASE 2

Phase II began around 2,100 B.C., and it is believed that this phase was conducted by the Beaker culture, who were named so because of the form and style of their pottery. The Avenue was built, an earthwork approach road leading to the entrance of the bank and ditch. It included the addition of 80 bluestones in two rings in the center. These bluestones are believed to have come from the Preseli Mountains in south-west Wales, 130 miles away. However, water travel alleviated much of the hassle of moving stones that great of a distance so that only a short land journey remained, from Amesbury to Stonehenge along the Avenue.

PHASE 3

Phase 3 lasted from about 2,000 BC till 1,100 BC,and consisted of the removal of bluestone circle and the ecrection of a ring of 30 sarson -stone uprights,linked by stone lintels.The ring is about 16 feet high and was approximately 30.5 meters(about 100 feet)in diameter.Inside are five taller trilithhons.The sarsen stones came from the Marlborough Downs,a 30 kilometer(20 miles)distance away.Lastly the bluestones were re-erected in the center in an oval structure that contained that containted at least two miniature trilithons,and the rest were to be set in two concectric circles(in the y and z holes) around the sarsen circle.The plan was to later abandonrd,and in approximately 1,550 B.C. the blue stones were rearranged again in the circle and horseshoe.

PHASE 4

Phase IV (1,100 B.C.) involved the extending of the Avenue to the River Avon, 2 km (1.25 miles) from Stonehenge.

ALTAR STONE

The Altar Stone is one of the most unique stones in Stonehenge. It is a 5 meter (16 foot) block of dressed green sandstone located near the center, embeddded 15 feet within the great central sarsen trilithon. All of the other stones in Stonehenge are either composed of sarsen or bluestone.

SLAUGHTER STONE

The Slaughter Stone is another unique stone. It is one of two stones at the entraceway, the Slaughter Stone being the more easterly of the two. It is in fact 21 feet long, but it is sunken so deep that only the upper surface shows. It was originally placed upright.

HEEL STONE

The Heel Stone is a stone which is not located in the main circle. The Heel Stone, formerly Friar's Heel, is the Anglicized corruption of the ancient Welsh "Freya Sul". Sul (pronounced "seal" in old and modern Welsh) means Sun Day.

STATION STONES

Four station stones lie just inside the embankment, approximately in line with the Aubrey Holes . They were erected during Phase III. Lines connecting the stones opposite each other will intersect at the very center of the monument at an angle of 45 degrees and are symmetrical with respect to the main axis.  

AUBREY HOLES 

The Aubrey Holes, named for John Aubrey, circle around the "Y" and "Z" holes. They were first noticed by Aubrey, and thus carry his name. They consist of small, barely visible, manmade cavities filled with rubble.

Y AND Z HOLES

Thirty "y" holes and 29 "z" holes circle around Stonehenge. They are concentric circular holes. The Y holes lie 11 meters (36.1 ft) outside the Sarsen Circle, and the Z holes lie 3.7 meters (12.1 ft) outside the Sarsen circle.

 DruidsFlame20 with much help from

http://stonehenge.20m.com/info.htm#AubreyH

Posted by NyWitch