Stonehenge

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Summary

The construction of Stonehenge is much more complicated than what most people think. To have built it, it would not only have required a plan of how it should look but also a huge amount of labour that not only had to be strong physically, but also mentally since they had to be very committed to reach their goal which took over 25 generations and nearly 2000 years.
One of the biggest questions is how they transported the stones because the blue stones for example are believed to have come from a place nearly 385 kilometres away. Was the creation begun by people from the late Neolithic period or was it the so called Druids that today take credit for it. Is it made to show when the seasons change or is it just a graveyard for slain Saxon warriors? Most of the explanations can be wrong as well as right when it comes to Stonehenge and this strengthens the fact that Stonehenge really is and probably always will be a mystery. But today the monument that was so important for some people suddenly have lost its purpose and glory partly because of us humans.


Introduction

Stonehenge is a phenomenon that I first discovered last year by watching a documentary about it on the discovery channel. Before that I had never heard of it and had never really understood why there were so many pictures in books that really were just stones standing in a circle. But since I saw that documentary I have not been able the get it out of my head because it is such an interesting phenomenon and mystery that keeps on amazing me the more I hear about it. That is why I have chosen it as my subject to this project since there are so many unexplored angles and views of this story. I also think it is sad that we haven been given any teaching about this what so ever during our history or English lessons since it is one of Britain’s biggest nationalising symbols and probably one of the worlds greatest monuments .


My work is based on these following questions:

· How is Stonehenge constructed? How many different stones are there?

· How did they build Stonehenge? What tools did they use and who were the people that built it?

· What different theories are there which explains what Stonehenge really is and what it was used for?

· What does Stonehenge look like today? How is the interest towards it today?



How is Stonehenge constructed? What different stones are there?

The construction of Stonehenge is so much more complicated than what most people think. To accomplish their planed construction and reach their goal it took over 25 generations and nearly 2000 years. Today different scientists have come to the conclusion that the construction took place in three different phases.

The first phase is believed to have started around 2950 and lasted to 2900 BCE. During this period the outer shape was formed and it included many different parts (as you might tell from picture number one in the back).
At first they dug 56 pits that started the construction of the “Aubrey Holes”; it was named after the English antiquary John Aubrey who first discovered them in the 17th century. In size they varied from 2.5 to 6 feet in width and from 2 to 4 feet in depth and they were placed quite accurately in a 288 foot diameter circle. These holes however fell out of use later on but in the beginning they may have been used to hold wooden or timber posts. They have also believed to one time contain the cremated remains of humans which I will discuss later on.
Outside these 56 Aubrey Holes the whole henge part was created that consisted of an outer and inner bank with a big ditch between them. Something that scientists today think is remarkable with these banks is that the inner bank is much bigger than the outer and this does not follow the rest of the pattern in the monument if you look at the stones further ahead.
The ditch was not uniform or flat in its shape or depth and it varied between 10 to 20 feet in wide and between 4.5 to 7 feet in depth. Since the ditch was not very clean and contained many different fragments, archaeologists have been able to use them to calculate when approximately it was dug.
In this henge though there is a break on the northeast side of the circle that is 35 feet wide where the so called “Avenue” is. This was a laneway that went through the henge and also reached all the way to the River Avon which was two kilometres away. In the front of the Avenue a “Slaughter Stone” was placed and 27 metres behind it stood a huge stone called a “Heel Stone” that weight 35 tonnes and was six metres tall. This Heel Stone may have been pared with another stone which is now missing though. Also four stones were raised inside the circle in a shape of a rectangle and were called the “Stations stones”.
Circular ditches that were 10-12 metres big in diameter surrounded the Heel Stone and two of the Station Stones.

The second phase is the most uncertain phase to scientists today. Nothing is really certain to what happened during this period that lasted between 2900 to 2400 BCE. Some say that during this period the monument held many timber posts that were taken down later and it was the same thing with the bluestones that some claimed were erected like a double horseshoe, but then later taken down.

The third and last phase of the construction of this magnificent monument lasted from 2550 to 1600 BCE which is the longest period but also the period where most things happened, at least if you look at all the stones that were placed. Here the so called Trilithons were placed as five freestanding pairs which each had a lintel over them; a lintel is a stone that lies flat on the top of the stones. These stones stood within the Sarsen Circle formed like a horseshoe where its open side was facing north-east where the Avenue was. This Sarsen Circle consisted of 30 upright sarsen stones which stood four metres above ground, were two metres wide and one metre thick. The stones also had lintels over them that connected and completed their shape as a circle.
In the end of this phase the bluestones were placed. At first 20 stones were placed within the inner sarsen horseshoe and formed another smaller horseshoe. Then about 60 other bluestones were placed between the sarsen horseshoe and the sarsen circle. These stones weighed up to 4 tons each. And the absolutely last addition to this huge construction were the “Z” and “Y” holes that could have been meant for fitting in even more bluestones outside the large sarsen stone circle but today stand empty. (See picture number two in the back)

How did they build Stonehenge? What tools did they use and who were the people that build it?
To build Stonehenge without today’s technology and machines to me seem impossible, but the truth is that the people that did this were a lot smarter than what most of us thinks. To have built it, it would not only have required a plan of how it should look but also a huge amount of labour that not only had to be strong physically, but also mentally since they had to be very committed to reach their goal.
They had used very primitive tools during the construction such as red deer antlers and ox shoulder blades that were involved in the digging process. But the big question really is how they transported the stones since the blue stones for example are believed to have come from the Preseli Mountains which is nearly 385 kilometres away. These stones weight about four tonnes each and the most popular theory of how they were moved is that they first were rolled to the Welsh shore, and then carried on a raft that went around the coast and into the River Avon, at Bristol. After that they would have been transported on different smaller rivers as far as they could go and then once again were rolled to Salisbury Plain. There are other theories like that the stones would have got there by glaciation during the last glacier period in history that lasted about 650 000 years ago, but this theory is not that popular.
To erect the stones it is believed that they first built a foundation pit and then erected the stones with wooden stakes that were on some way pounded into the vertical side of the pit so that the stone would not sink any deeper than planed (see picture number four in the back). Then they also used some sort of a ramp to raise the stone up to 30 degrees and then used ropes and their own strength to place it. The lintels then were placed by first being laid parallel to the base of the uprights and then they were very slowly lifted with help from wooden levers and temporary timber platforms.

There have also been different theories about the people that constructed this interesting monument. During the years the biggest connection has been against the Druids and this guess John Aubrey had created around three centuries ago. But most scientists agree today that this is highly unlikely since the Druids first came there around 55 BC, which means that Stonehenge already had been standing for two thousands years. The best guess or assumption seems to be that people from the late Neolithic period around 3000 BC began the creation and then later on the work continued by people called Beaker Folk. These people scientists can not really get a grip on since they do not know where they came from. But that is really the same thing when it comes to most of the questions Stonehenge brings out, since no one really knows everything for sure. Most of the explanations can be wrong as well as right and this strengthens the fact that Stonehenge really is and probably always will be a mystery.

What different theories are there which explains what Stonehenge really is and what it was used for?

This is and always has been the most interesting and exciting part of the mystery of Stonehenge. Because when it comes to this no one knows for certain but can only guess and speculate what the answers might be. I have chosen to list de most popular theories below and the theory that I am going to start with is:

Stonehenge: A calculator for seasons?
This is a very interesting theory since there are many things that match to this. During the most parts of the year you can not see the sunrise from there except on the longest day of the year; the 21st of June on the summer solstice. On this day you can see the sun rising behind the great Heel Stone and gives you the picture that the sun is somehow balancing on the stone. When this happens a huge shadow creates that extends deep into the centre of Stonehenge, right into the opening of the sarsen stone trilithons shape as a horseshoe. Then when the sun clears the horizon just for a moment it looks like the sun is hovering on the tip of the Heel Stone. Then on midsummer’s day, which is just a few days later, the sun appears once again but this time it slowly starts to move to the right of the Heel Stone and this incredible thing also happens during the winter solstice but then the sun moves to the left instead and at the sunset. This whole phenomenon shows the change of seasons which could have been useful for the farmers in that area.

Stonehenge: A religious place?
This theory is not so popular at the moment but has been discussed a lot during the years. It was the eighteenth century British antiquarian William Stukeley that were among the first that reported seeing the special event of the sunrise on the summer solstice and this led him to believe that it was a religious and sacred place. He saw the place as a temple and Stonehenge has therefore been associated with that for the last two hundred years. Another view of this had the twentieth century British astronomer Sir Norman Lockyer, since he also saw it as a temple but a temple to the Sun. But today these theories are mostly seen as assumptions since they ground more on the special structure of Stonehenge that does not show a regular hall or house or anything else that we se as normal buildings. Another thing that might contribute to this theory is the fact that most of the more complex buildings that have survived from the past are buildings that are religious which we can see in Greece and in Egypt for example.

Stonehenge: A graveyard?
This theory could be connected with the one above since people could have wanted to be buried here since it was a holy place. There are more than 400 burial mounds around Stonehenge and archaeologists have found precious metal items in them with shows that they are graves. But who were the people that got buried there, were they people that had died during the construction or people that had in some way sickened? The questions are many towards this and there is a legend or a myth that explains this. It is a story that was written in the 12th century by Geoffrey of Monmouth and was about Aurelius who was the king of the Britons and the famous magician Merlin. Aurelius anted a monument where he could place many hundreds of graves where Saxon warriors could get buried. King Ambrosius (the father of King Arthur) then turned to Merlin for help and guidance how this monument could be created. Merlin told him about a mountain in Ireland where stones that had the ability to heel were and that stood in a circle called the Giant’s Dance. King Aurelius and his men then went there and tried to dismantle the stones and move them without success which led to that Merlin himself had to use his magic to make them ready for transport and he also reconstructed the monument on Salisbury Plain where it stands today.
This is surely only a myth but it is the most popular one and deep down some people perhaps believes in some of it.

Apart from these theories there are many left and many different angles to write about but I have chosen these as the ones that I think are the most interesting ones so if one ought to see other aspects of this it should not be so hard to find.

What does Stonehenge look like today? How is the interest towards it today?

Today Stonehenge has changed incredibly much but not on its own. We humans are the ones to blame because it is because of us that the monument that was so important for some people suddenly had lost its purpose and glory. The Stones that are left today has endured the weight of people that have climbed them and painted them with graffiti which have left marks on these old and fragile stones, even though the graffiti today has been removed. In 1989 the grass had turned into dust since there were so many people walking there that turned the once so beautiful landscape into a swamp. This led to that people started to take action. At first the thought was only to protect Stonehenge from the people and improve the parts that were the most damaged ones but some archaeologists and historians also wanted to return it into its original glory so that people could get amazed by it. This lead to the “Stonehenge Master Plane” that involved several groups that all wanted the same, to restore the landscape, change the roadways that were so close to the monument (see picture number three in the back) and to improve the visitor enjoyment of the site. A part of this has already been accomplished since a visitor centre has been implemented with information and other interesting things, but also the landscape has begun to improve. People can now walk beside the stones that are roped off instead of walking on them and the work of removing one of the two roads has begun and also the construction of the tunnel over the other road is starting to form. And the interest towards Stonehenge has never been bigger since it today is seen as Britain’s greatest national icon and thousands of tourists go there every year on their holidays. Something that is a bit sad though is that the Stonehenge we see today only is the old Stonehenge in ruin. Some examples to this is that there are only two of the four station stones left, many stones have fallen and are down on the ground, many of the smaller bluestones have suffered serious damage from close human contact and many stones have been moved by previous generations. But the rest of the monument still stands today on the same place which is on the open downland of Salisbury Plain that lies three kilometres west of the town of Amesbury, Wiltshire, in southern England.

Conclusion
This work has really been all about information and nothing that could include any of my own opinions. This is positive in the way that I could not really misjudge anything and only stick to the facts but mostly it has had very negative sides. Because there have been some gapes in the history of Stonehenge’s construction, especially in phase two of the building phases since there was not much fact about it. This feeli...