STONEHENGE

STONEHENG
E
 GUIDE QUESTIONS
• WHAT IS STONEHENGE?
• WHO CREATED STONEHENGE AND HOW DID THEY
BUILT IT?
• WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF STONEHENGE?
TRIVIA
STONEHENGE IS ONE OF
THE BEST KNOWN
ANCIENT WONDERS OF
THE WORLD. THE 5,000
YEAR OLD HENGE
MONUMENT BECAME A
WORLD HERITAGE SITE
IN 1986.
WHAT IS STONEHENGE?
WHAT IS
STONEHENGE

STONEHENGE,
PREHISTORIC STONE
CIRCLE MONUMENT,
CEMETERY, AND
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE
LOCATED ON SALISBURY
PLAIN, ABOUT 8 MILES (13
KM) NORTH OF SALISBURY,
WILTSHIRE, ENGLAND.
WHAT IS
STONEHENGE
STONEHENGE IS PERHAPS THE
WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS
PREHISTORIC MONUMENT. IT
WAS BUILT IN SEVERAL STAGES:
THE FIRST MONUMENT WAS AN
EARLY HENGE MONUMENT,
BUILT ABOUT 5,000 YEARS AGO,
AND THE UNIQUE STONE
CIRCLE WAS ERECTED IN THE
LATE NEOLITHIC PERIOD
ABOUT 2500 BC. IN THE EARLY
BRONZE AGE MANY BURIAL
MOUNDS WERE BUILT NEARBY.
WHO BUILT THE STONEHENGE?
DRUIDS
IN THE 17TH CENTURY,
ARCHAEOLOGIST JOHN AUBREY
MADE THE CLAIM THAT
STONEHENGE WAS THE WORK
OF THE CELTIC HIGH PRIESTS
KNOWN AS THE DRUIDS, A
THEORY WIDELY POPULARIZED
BY THE ANTIQUARIAN WILLIAM
STUKELEY, WHO HAD
UNEARTHED PRIMITIVE GRAVES
AT THE SITE.
MERLINS

ACCORDING TO FOLKLORE,
STONEHENGE WAS
CREATED BY MERLIN, THE
WIZARD OF ARTHURIAN
LEGEND, WHO MAGICALLY
TRANSPORTED THE
MASSIVE STONES FROM
IRELAND, WHERE GIANTS
HAD ASSEMBLED THEM.
ALIENS
WHO BUILT THE STONEHENGE?

• ARCHEOLOGISTS BELIEVE THAT THREE GROUPS WERE

INVOLVED IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF STONEHENGE:
THE WINDMILL HILL PEOPLE, THE BEAKER PEOPLE,
AND THE WESS-X PEOPLE.
WINDMILL HILL
PEOPLE
THE WINDMILL HILL PEOPLE
ORIGINATED IN EASTERN
ENGLAND, AND ARE NAMED
AFTER THEIR NEARBY
EARTHWORKS AND BARROWS.
IT IS THOUGHT THAT THEY
CONSTRUCTED THE LARGE
CIRCULAR FURROWS AND
MOUNDS. ONE OF THE EARLIEST
SEMI-NOMADIC HUNTING AND
GATHERING GROUPS WITH AN
AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY,
THEY ATTACHED GREAT
IMPORTANCE TO CIRCLES AND
SYMMETRICAL DESIGN.
THE BEAKER PEOPLE
THE BEAKER PEOPLE - SO-
CALLED BECAUSE OF THEIR
TRADITION OF INCLUDING
BEAKERS, OR POTTERY CUPS,
IN THEIR GRAVES - ARE
THOUGHT TO HAVE MIGRATED
FROM SPAIN. THE BEAKER
FOLK INCLUDED A RANGE OF
WEAPONRY IN THEIR GRAVES,
LIKE DAGGERS AND BATTLE-
AXES - COINCIDING EXACTLY
WITH THE ENGRAVINGS OF
WEAPONRY FOUND ON SOME
OF THE SARSEN STONES.
THE WESS-X PEOPLE
THE WESS-X PEOPLE, WHO
APPEARED ABOUT 1500 BCE,
WERE THE FINAL BUILDERS OF
STONEHENGE. ONE OF THE
MOST ADVANCED BRONZE AGE
CULTURES OUTSIDE THE
MEDITERRANEAN AREA,
WHOSE MAIN SETTLEMENTS
WERE INVARIABLY LOCATED
CLOSE TO IMPORTANT ROAD
JUNCTIONS, THEY CONTROLLED
TRADE ROUTES THROUGHOUT
THE SOUTH OF THE COUNTRY.
TRIVIA
SIR CECIL HERBERT EDWARD
CHUBB, 1ST BARONET (14 APRIL
1876 – 22 SEPTEMBER 1934), WAS
THE LAST PRIVATE OWNER OF
STONEHENGE PREHISTORIC
MONUMENT. THREE YEARS
AFTER HIS £6600 PURCHASE,
HOWEVER, CHUBB DECIDED TO
DONATE THE HISTORIC LAND TO
THE STATE ON THE CONDITION
THAT IT BE DUTIFULLY
PRESERVED AND REMAIN OPEN
FOR PUBLIC VISITATION.
STONEHENGE'S MULTIPHASE
CONSTRUCTION
STONEHENGE'S MULTIPHASE CONSTRUCTION

• ARCHAEOLOGISTS BELIEVE ENGLAND MOST ICONIC

PREHISTORIC RUIN WAS BUILT IN SEVERAL STAGES, WITH THE
EARLIEST CONSTRUCTED 5,000 OR MORE YEARS AGO. FIRST,
NEOLITHIC BRITONS USED PRIMITIVE TOOLS—POSSIBLY MADE
FROM DEER ANTLERS—TO DIG A MASSIVE CIRCULAR DITCH AND
BANK, OR HENGE, ON SALISBURY PLAIN. DEEP PITS DATING BACK
TO THAT ERA AND LOCATED WITHIN THE CIRCLE—KNOWN AS
AUBREY HOLES AFTER JOHN AUBREY, THE 17TH-CENTURY
ANTIQUARIAN WHO DISCOVERED THEM—MAY HAVE ONCE HELD
A RING OF TIMBER POSTS, ACCORDING TO SOME SCHOLARS.
STONEHENGE'S MULTIPHASE CONSTRUCTION
STONEHENGE'S MULTIPHASE CONSTRUCTION

• SEVERAL HUNDRED YEARS LATER, IT IS THOUGHT,

STONEHENGE’S BUILDERS HOISTED AN ESTIMATED
80 NON-INDIGENOUS BLUESTONES, 43 OF WHICH
REMAIN TODAY, INTO STANDING POSITIONS AND
PLACED THEM IN EITHER A HORSESHOE OR
CIRCULAR FORMATION.
STONEHENGE'S MULTIPHASE CONSTRUCTION
STONEHENGE'S MULTIPHASE CONSTRUCTION

• DURING THE THIRD PHASE OF CONSTRUCTION, WHICH TOOK

PLACE AROUND 2000 B.C., SARSEN SANDSTONE SLABS WERE
ARRANGED INTO AN OUTER CRESCENT OR RING; SOME WERE
ASSEMBLED INTO THE ICONIC THREE-PIECED STRUCTURES
CALLED TRILITHONS THAT STAND TALL IN THE CENTER OF
STONEHENGE. SOME 50 SARSEN STONES ARE NOW VISIBLE ON
THE SITE, WHICH MAY ONCE HAVE CONTAINED MANY MORE.
STONEHENGE'S MULTIPHASE CONSTRUCTION
THE THREE PHASES OF CONSTRUCTION OF
STONEHENGE
AN IMAGE OF HOW THE ANCIENT PEOPLE LIFT
THE SARSENS FROM THE GROUND.
IMAGE OF HOW THE SARSENS CONNECT TO EACH
OTHER TO FORM A CRESCENT OR RING FORMATION.
THE MEGALITHS OF
STONEHENGE
THE MEGALITHS
OF STONEHENGE
STONEHENGE’S SARSENS, OF
WHICH THE LARGEST WEIGHS
MORE THAN 40 TONS AND RISES
24 FEET, WERE LIKELY
SOURCED FROM
MARLBOROUGH DOWNS WHICH
IS 25 MILES NORTH OF
SALISBURY PLAIN AND
TRANSPORTED WITH THE HELP
OF SLEDGES AND ROPES; THEY
MAY EVEN HAVE ALREADY
BEEN SCATTERED IN THE
IMMEDIATE VICINITY WHEN
THE MONUMENT’S NEOLITHIC
ARCHITECTS FIRST BROKE
GROUND THERE.
THE MEGALITHS
OF STONEHENGE
THE SMALLER
BLUESTONES, ON
THE OTHER HAND,
HAVE BEEN TRACED
ALL THE WAY TO THE
PRESELI HILLS IN
WALES, SOME 200
MILES AWAY FROM
STONEHENGE.
HOW THEN DID PREHISTORIC BUILDERS
WITHOUT SOPHISTICATED TOOLS OR
ENGINEERING HAUL THESE BOULDERS,
WHICH WEIGH UP TO 4 TONS, OVER SUCH A
GREAT DISTANCE?
ACCORDING TO ONE
LONGSTANDING THEORY,
STONEHENGE’S BUILDERS
FASHIONED SLEDGES AND
ROLLERS OUT OF TREE
TRUNKS TO LUG THE
BLUESTONES FROM THE
PRESELI HILLS. THEY THEN
TRANSFERRED THE
BOULDERS ONTO RAFTS
AND FLOATED THEM FIRST
ALONG THE WELSH COAST
AND THEN UP THE RIVER
AVON TOWARD SALISBURY
PLAIN; ALTERNATIVELY,
THEY MAY HAVE TOWED
EACH STONE WITH A FLEET
OF VESSELS.
MORE RECENT
HYPOTHESES HAVE
THEM
TRANSPORTING THE
BLUESTONES WITH
SUPERSIZED
WICKER BASKETS
OR A COMBINATION
OF BALL BEARINGS,
LONG GROOVED
PLANKS AND TEAMS
OF OXEN.
TRIVIA
A MISSING PIECE OF
STONEHENGE WAS
RECOVERED, AFTER BEING
LOST FOR SIX DECADES. THE
CYLINDRICAL PIECE OF
SANDSTONE WAS DRILLED
OUT OF ONE OF THE GIANT
UPRIGHT STONES AT
STONEHENGE DURING
RESTORATION WORK IN 1958.
A LOST PIECE OF ONE OF
STONEHENGE'S ICONIC
STANDING STONES HAS
FINALLY BEEN RETURNED.
THE DIFFERENT THEORIES ABOUT STONEHENGE
A PLACE FOR THE DEAD

• MIKE PARKER PEARSON OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD,

UK ARGUES THAT STONEHENGE MUST BE TREATED AS PART
OF A GREATER COMPLEX OF MONUMENTS IN THE
SURROUNDING AREA. HE BELIEVES THAT STONEHENGE
WAS PRIMARILY A PLACE FOR THE DEAD, WHILE
WOODHENGE – A SIMILAR MONUMENT BUILT OF WOODEN
PILLARS – WAS A PLACE FOR THE LIVING.
A PLACE OF HEALING

• ANOTHER THEORY IS THAT THE MONUMENT WAS THE

LOURDES OF ITS DAY, WITH PEOPLE FLOCKING FROM FAR AND
WIDE UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT IT COULD CURE THEM OF
THEIR AILMENTS. MANY HUMAN REMAINS EXCAVATED FROM
BURIAL MOUNDS NEARBY HAVE SHOWN SIGNS OF INJURY OR
ILLNESS, WHILE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF TEETH HAVE
REVEALED THAT THEY CAME FROM AS FAR AFIELD AS
IRELAND, WALES, AND NORTHERN ENGLAND.
ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY

• ONE SHOULD ALSO NOTE THAT THE ARCHITECTS OF STONEHENGE

INCORPORATED A CELESTIAL ALIGNMENT. THE SITE IS ALIGNED
NORTHEAST-SOUTHWEST, LINKING UP WITH THE SOLSTICE AND EQUINOX
POINTS: THUS, ON MIDSUMMER'S MORNING FOR INSTANCE, THE SUN'S
FIRST RAYS GO DIRECTLY INTO THE CENTRE OF THE MONUMENT THROUGH
THE ARMS OF THE SARSEN HORSESHOE. CONVERSELY, AT THE MOMENT OF
THE WINTER SOLSTICE, THE SUN SETS EXACTLY BETWEEN THE LARGEST
SARSEN STONES. IT MIGHT BE A BIG HELP TO FARMING ACTIVITIES LIKE
PLANTING AND HARVESTING. OTHERS HAVE SUGGESTED THAT THE
MONUMENT WAS USED TO PREDICT SOLAR AND LUNAR ECLIPSES.
• STONEHENGE IS THE MOST ARCHITECTURALLY
SOPHISTICATED PREHISTORIC STONE CIRCLE IN
THE WORLD, WHILE AVEBURY IS THE LARGEST
IN THE WORLD. TOGETHER WITH INTER-
RELATED MONUMENTS AND THEIR ASSOCIATED
LANDSCAPES, THEY HELP US TO UNDERSTAND
NEOLITHIC AND BRONZE AGE CEREMONIAL
AND MORTUARY PRACTICES.
THANKS FOR
LISTENING!!!!