Stonehenge

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Introduction

I have chosen Stonehenge because I’m so fascinated by it. Even since I been little I have wondered who and why someone has built a such a big construction, and why someone have worked so much with the location, transport and rising of this huge stones. For me, it always has been a question, and my fascination grew bigger when I was in England an saw it with my family for some years ago. Unfortunately it was raining very much, but the place was still mysterious and the feeling of being there mighty. It will be something I always remember, and I surely will visit the Stonehenge again.

In my essay I’m going to tell a little about:

• What kind of monument Stonehenge is
• The purpose theories
• Theories about the transport
• Some legends
• The construction.


The Stonehenge as a monument

Stonehenge is a megalithic stone monument from the Bronze Age. It is located 13 km from Salisbury in Wiltshire, England. Today Stonehenge has been one of Britain’s greatest national icon and also a symbol for mystery, power and the unknown.

The stones have been seriously damaged by time and previous generations but also of the 700 000 visitors which have seen the stones. In the 1900 century, visitors even could rent a tool to pick a bite of the stones as a souvenir! Today is it forbidden to have close contact with the stones; visitors can watch them from 10-15 meters.

Stonehenge includes holy roads and stones in the surrounding area. Most of these stones have been stolen or have fallen. One of the still remaining stones is the “Slayer stone”


Purpose

Why someone built Stonehenge is still unknown. Someone says that it was a temple, another one that it was an astronomical observatory. Some people even say that it has been built by aliens.

The Satanists of today wants to believe that bloody rites were practised at the Stonehenge. Well, maybe, they have found some human bones in the surrounding area.

The first one to mention Stonehenge was named Hecateus, a writer who lived in Greek for 3300 years ago. He claimed that I was a temple, dedicated to the sun god Apollo.

Most of the scientists agree that Stonehenge is built to match the sun and the moon. On midsummer morning, hundreds of tourists, hippies and new age people are visiting Stonehenge to look at the sunrise; witch perfectly passes between the stones in a thousand years old beautiful show.


Legends

There are many legends about the monument. Some of them are about giants, witches and wizards, aliens and the devil. One of the legends tells this:

A devil got the stones from a witch in Ireland. With his black magic he moved the stones to Salisbury. But, after a while, he made a bet with a village. He said that nobody could count the stones, but then one of the villagers said “That is more then the canst will tell”, and that was the right answer nobody could count them. The devil got so angry, that he threw one of the stones on the heel of the man and the stone got damaged.
Since that day is the stone called “The dent stone”.

Another famous legend tells that it was giants who danced and turned into stones. It’s easy to understand, the stones looks like giants holding each others hands.

And then there is, of course, the legend about King Arthur and the wizard Merlin.


The construction and the building process

The first Stonehenge was built 5050 years ago and was a circle of ditches and rampart. In the middle were poles of tree raised 550 years later. But after some years the tree rot, and today we can’t se that construction anymore. So about 1000 years later, the builders started to use stones instead. In almost 1000 years the stones were constructed, arranged and rearranged.

The first sorts of stones came from the mountain called Preseli in Wales 400 km from Stonehenge, and had a weight of 4 ton. The big stones were raised in a form of two half moons. The builders continued to raise stones for 100 years, and these were even huger. The biggest one had an extremely weight of 50 ton! A stone if that size is called a megalith. With scaffolds of tree they could put the stones over each other. To stabilize them, they used a technique, witch actually is better for wood. They made a hole in the topmost stone, matching the lowermost stone.

Archaeologists have even found a trace which shows that a little house of tree could have been placed in the middle of the big stone monument.
Inside the half-moons they raised five pairs of stones with a stone on top, trilithons.


Conclusion

• Stonehenge is a monument witch was raised under the Stone Age and Bronze Age.

• The “first” Stonehenge was ditches and ramparts formed as a circle. In the middle poles of tree were raised.

• Stonehenge is located 13 km from Salisbury in England.

• The purpose is still unknown. Men have always wanted to explain it with everything from aliens, wizards, and giants. Today mostly of the scientists think it is a temple, a sort of ceremony place or an observatory.

• Stonehenge includes holy stones and roads in the surrounding area.

• The first one to mention Stonehenge was the Greek writer Hecateus.

• At midsummer hundreds of tourists visit Stonehenge to see when then fir...