Stonehenge is a
prehistoric monument located in the English county of
Wiltshire, about 2.0 miles (3.2 km) west of
Amesbury and 8 miles (13 km) north of
Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large
standing stones set within
earthworks. It is at the centre of the most dense complex of
Neolithic and
Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred
burial mounds.
Archaeologists believe the iconic stone monument was constructed anywhere from 3000 BC to 2000 BC, as described in the chronology below.
Radiocarbon dating in 2008 suggested that the first stones were erected in 2400–2200 BC,
whilst another theory suggests that bluestones may have been erected at the site as early as 3000 BC (see phase 1 below).
The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the
earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. The
site
and its surroundings were added to the
UNESCO's list of
World Heritage Sites in 1986 in a co-listing with
Avebury Henge monument. It is a national legally protected
Scheduled Ancient Monument. Stonehenge is owned by
the Crown and managed by
English Heritage, while the
surrounding land is owned by the
National Trust.
Archaeological evidence found by the
Stonehenge Riverside Project in 2008 indicates that Stonehenge could possibly have served as a
burial ground from its earliest beginnings.
The dating of
cremated
remains found on the site indicate that deposits contain human bone
material from as early as 3000 BC, when the initial ditch and bank were
first dug. Such deposits continued at Stonehenge for at least another
500 years.
The
Oxford English Dictionary cites
Ælfric's 10th-century glossary, in which
henge-cliff is given the meaning "precipice", a hanging or supported stone, thus the
stanenges or
Stanheng "not far from Salisbury" recorded by 11th-century writers are "supported stones".
William Stukeley
in 1740 notes, "Pendulous rocks are now called henges in Yorkshire...I
doubt not, Stonehenge in Saxon signifies the hanging stones."
Christopher Chippindale's Stonehenge Complete gives the derivation of the name
Stonehenge as coming from the
Old English words
stān meaning "stone", and either
hencg meaning "
hinge" (because the stone lintels hinge on the upright stones) or
hen(c)en meaning "
hang" or "
gallows" or "instrument of torture". Like Stonehenge's
trilithons, medieval gallows consisted of two uprights with a lintel joining them, rather than the inverted L-shape more familiar today.
The "henge" portion has given its name to a class of monuments known as
henges.
Archaeologists define henges as earthworks consisting of a circular banked enclosure with an internal ditch.
As often happens in archaeological terminology, this is a holdover from
antiquarian usage, and Stonehenge is not truly a henge site as its bank is inside its ditch. Despite being contemporary with true
Neolithic henges and
stone circles,
Stonehenge is in many ways atypical – for example, at over 7.3 metres
(24 ft) tall, its extant trilithons supporting lintels held in place
with
mortise and tenon joints, make it unique.
Mike Parker Pearson,
leader of the Stonehenge Riverside Project based at Durrington Walls,
noted that Stonehenge appears to have been associated with burial from
the earliest period of its existence:
Stonehenge was a place of
burial from its beginning to its zenith in the mid third millennium
B.C. The cremation burial dating to Stonehenge's sarsen
stones phase is likely just one of many from this later period of the
monument's use and demonstrates that it was still very much a domain of
the dead.
— Mike Parker Pearson
Stonehenge evolved in several construction phases spanning at least
1,500 years. There is evidence of large-scale construction on and around
the monument that perhaps extends the landscape's time frame to 6,500
years. Dating and understanding the various phases of activity is
complicated by disturbance of the natural
chalk by
periglacial effects and animal burrowing, poor quality early
excavation
records, and a lack of accurate, scientifically verified dates. The
modern phasing most generally agreed to by archaeologists is detailed
below. Features mentioned in the text are numbered and shown on the
plan, right.
Before the monument (8000 BC forward)
Archaeologists have found four, or possibly five, large
Mesolithic postholes (one may have been a natural
tree throw),
which date to around 8000 BC, beneath the nearby modern tourist
car-park. These held pine posts around 0.75 metres (2 ft 6 in) in
diameter which were erected and eventually rotted
in situ. Three of the posts (and possibly four) were in an east-west alignment which may have had
ritual significance; no parallels are known from Britain at the time but similar sites have been found in
Scandinavia.
Salisbury Plain was then still wooded but 4,000 years later, during the earlier Neolithic, people built a
causewayed enclosure at
Robin Hood's Ball and
long barrow tombs in the surrounding landscape. In approximately 3500 BC, a
Stonehenge Cursus was built 700 metres (2,300 ft) north of the site as the first farmers began to clear the trees and develop the area.
Stonehenge 1 (ca. 3100 BC)
Stonehenge 1. After Cleal
et al.
The first monument consisted of a circular bank and ditch
enclosure made of
Late Cretaceous (
Santonian Age) Seaford
Chalk,
(7 and 8), measuring about 110 metres (360 ft) in diameter, with a large entrance to the north east and a smaller one to the south
(14). It stood in open
grassland on a slightly sloping spot.
The builders placed the bones of
deer and
oxen in the bottom of the ditch, as well as some worked
flint
tools. The bones were considerably older than the antler picks used to
dig the ditch, and the people who buried them had looked after them
for some time prior to burial. The ditch was continuous but had been
dug in sections, like the ditches of the earlier causewayed enclosures
in the area. The chalk dug from the ditch was piled up to form the
bank. This first stage is dated to around 3100 BC, after which the
ditch began to silt up naturally. Within the outer edge of the enclosed
area is a circle of 56 pits, each about a metre (3'3") in diameter
(13), known as the
Aubrey holes after
John Aubrey, the 17th-century
antiquarian who was thought to have first identified them. The pits may have contained standing timbers creating a
timber circle,
although there is no excavated evidence of them. A recent excavation
has suggested that the Aubrey Holes may have originally been used to
erect a bluestone circle.
If this were the case, it would advance the earliest known stone
structure at the monument by some 500 years. A small outer bank beyond
the ditch could also date to this period.
Stonehenge 2 (ca. 3000 BC)
Evidence of the second phase is no longer visible. The number of
postholes dating to the early 3rd millennium BC suggest that some form
of timber structure was built within the enclosure during this period.
Further standing timbers were placed at the northeast entrance, and a
parallel alignment of posts ran inwards from the southern entrance. The
postholes are smaller than the Aubrey Holes, being only around 0.4
metres (16 in) in diameter, and are much less regularly spaced. The bank
was purposely reduced in height and the ditch continued to silt up. At
least twenty-five of the Aubrey Holes are known to have contained
later, intrusive,
cremation
burials dating to the two centuries after the monument's inception. It
seems that whatever the holes' initial function, it changed to become a
funerary one during Phase 2. Thirty further cremations were placed in
the enclosure's ditch and at other points within the monument, mostly
in the eastern half. Stonehenge is therefore interpreted as functioning
as an
enclosed cremation cemetery
at this time, the earliest known cremation cemetery in the British
Isles. Fragments of unburnt human bone have also been found in the
ditch-fill. Dating evidence is provided by the late Neolithic
grooved ware pottery that has been found in connection with the features from this phase.
Stonehenge 3 I (ca. 2600 BC)
Stonehenge from the
heelstone in 2007 with the 'Slaughter Stone' in the foreground
Stonehenge at sunset in 2004
Stonehenge in the late afternoon in 2008.
Plan of the central stone structure today. After Johnson 2008
Fisheye image of Stonehenge showing the circular layout
The north-eastern entrance was widened at this time, with the result that it precisely matched the direction of the
midsummer sunrise and
midwinter
sunset of the period. This phase of the monument was abandoned
unfinished, however; the small standing stones were apparently removed
and the Q and R holes purposefully backfilled. Even so, the monument
appears to have eclipsed the site at
Avebury in importance towards the end of this phase.
The
Heelstone (5),
a tertiary sandstone, may also have been erected outside the
north-eastern entrance during this period. It cannot be accurately dated
and may have been installed at any time during phase 3. At first it
was accompanied by a second stone, which is no longer visible. Two, or
possibly three, large
portal stones were set up just inside the north-eastern entrance, of which only one, the fallen Slaughter Stone
(4), 4.9 metres (16 ft) long, now remains. Other features, loosely dated to phase 3, include the four
Station Stones (6), two of which stood atop mounds
(2 and 3). The mounds are known as "
barrows" although they do not contain burials.
Stonehenge Avenue,
(10), a parallel pair of ditches and banks leading 2 miles (3.2 km) to the
River Avon, was also added. Two ditches similar to
Heelstone Ditch circling the Heelstone (which was by then reduced to a single monolith) were later dug around the Station Stones.
Stonehenge 3 II (2600 BC to 2400 BC)
During the next major phase of activity, 30 enormous
Oligocene-
Miocene sarsen stones
(shown grey on the plan) were brought to the site. They may have come from a quarry, around 25 miles (40 km) north of Stonehenge on the
Marlborough Downs, or they may have been collected from a "litter" of sarsens on the
chalk downs, closer to hand. The stones were
dressed and fashioned with
mortise and tenon
joints before 30 were erected as a 33 metres (108 ft) diameter circle
of standing stones, with a ring of 30 lintel stones resting on top. The
lintels were fitted to one another using another woodworking method,
the
tongue and groove
joint. Each standing stone was around 4.1 metres (13 ft) high, 2.1
metres (6 ft 11 in) wide and weighed around 25 tons. Each had clearly
been worked with the final visual effect in mind; the
orthostats
widen slightly towards the top in order that their perspective remains
constant when viewed from the ground, while the lintel stones curve
slightly to continue the circular appearance of the earlier monument.
The inward-facing surfaces of the stones are smoother and more finely
worked than the outer surfaces. The average thickness of the stones is
1.1 metres (3 ft 7 in) and the average distance between them is 1 metre
(3 ft 3 in). A total of 75 stones would have been needed to complete
the circle (60 stones) and the trilithon horseshoe (15 stones). Unless
some of the sarsens have since been removed from the site, the ring
appears to have been left incomplete. The lintel stones are each around
3.2 metres (10 ft), 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) wide and 0.8 metres
(2 ft 7 in) thick. The tops of the lintels are 4.9 metres (16 ft) above
the ground.
Within this circle stood five
trilithons of dressed
sarsen
stone arranged in a horseshoe shape 13.7 metres (45 ft) across with
its open end facing north east. These huge stones, ten uprights and
five lintels, weigh up to 50 tons each. They were linked using complex
jointing. They are arranged symmetrically. The smallest pair of
trilithons were around 6 metres (20 ft) tall, the next pair a little
higher and the largest, single trilithon in the south west corner would
have been 7.3 metres (24 ft) tall. Only one upright from the Great
Trilithon still stands, of which 6.7 metres (22 ft) is visible and a
further 2.4 metres (7 ft 10 in) is below ground.
The images of a 'dagger' and 14 'axeheads' have been carved on one
of the sarsens, known as stone 53; further carvings of axeheads have
been seen on the outer faces of stones 3, 4, and 5. The carvings are
difficult to date, but are morphologically similar to late Bronze Age
weapons;
recent laser scanning work on the carvings
supports this interpretation. The pair of trilithons in the north east
are smallest, measuring around 6 metres (20 ft) in height; the
largest, which is in the south west of the horseshoe, is almost 7.5
metres (25 ft) tall.
This ambitious phase has been
radiocarbon dated to between 2600 and 2400 BC,
slightly earlier than the
Stonehenge Archer, discovered in the outer ditch of the monument in 1978, and the two sets of burials, known as the
Amesbury Archer and the
Boscombe Bowmen, discovered 3 miles (4.8 km) to the west. At about the same time, a large
timber circle and a second avenue were constructed 2 miles (3.2 km) away at
Durrington Walls
overlooking the River Avon. The timber circle was orientated towards
the rising sun on the midwinter solstice, opposing the solar alignments
at Stonehenge, whilst the avenue was aligned with the setting sun on
the
summer solstice
and led from the river to the timber circle. Evidence of huge fires on
the banks of the Avon between the two avenues also suggests that both
circles were linked, and they were perhaps used as a procession route
on the longest and shortest days of the year. Parker Pearson speculates
that the wooden circle at Durrington Walls was the centre of a 'land
of the living', whilst the stone circle represented a 'land of the
dead', with the Avon serving as a journey between the two.
Stonehenge 3 III
Later in the Bronze Age, although the exact details of activities
during this period are still unclear, the bluestones appear to have been
re-erected. They were placed within the outer sarsen circle and may
have been trimmed in some way. Like the sarsens, a few have
timber-working style cuts in them suggesting that, during this phase,
they may have been linked with lintels and were part of a larger
structure.
Stonehenge 3 IV (2280 BC to 1930 BC)
This phase saw further rearrangement of the bluestones. They were
arranged in a circle between the two rings of sarsens and in an oval at
the centre of the inner ring. Some archaeologists argue that some of
these bluestones were from a second group brought from Wales. All the
stones formed well-spaced uprights without any of the linking lintels
inferred in Stonehenge 3 III. The Altar Stone may have been moved within
the oval at this time and re-erected vertically. Although this would
seem the most impressive phase of work, Stonehenge 3 IV was rather
shabbily built compared to its immediate predecessors, as the newly
re-installed bluestones were not well-founded and began to fall over.
However, only minor changes were made after this phase.
Stonehenge 3 V (1930 BC to 1600 BC)
Soon afterwards, the north eastern section of the Phase 3 IV bluestone
circle was removed, creating a horseshoe-shaped setting (the Bluestone
Horseshoe) which mirrored the shape of the central sarsen Trilithons.
This phase is contemporary with the
Seahenge site in Norfolk.
After the monument (1600 BC on)
The last known construction at Stonehenge was about 1600 BC (see '
Y and Z Holes'), and the last usage of it was probably during the
Iron Age. Roman coins and
medieval
artefacts have all been found in or around the monument but it is
unknown if the monument was in continuous use throughout prehistory and
beyond, or exactly how it would have been used. Notable is the massive
Iron Age
hillfort Vespasian's Camp built alongside the Avenue near the Avon. A decapitated 7th century
Saxon man was excavated from Stonehenge in 1923.
The site was known to scholars during the
Middle Ages and since then it has been studied and adopted by numerous groups.
Stonehenge was produced by a culture that left no written records.
Many aspects of Stonehenge remain subject to debate. This multiplicity
of theories, some of them very colourful, are often called the "mystery
of Stonehenge".
There is little or no direct evidence for the construction
techniques used by the Stonehenge builders. Over the years, various
authors have suggested that supernatural or anachronistic methods were
used, usually asserting that the stones were impossible to move
otherwise. However, conventional techniques using Neolithic technology
have been demonstrably effective at moving and placing stones of a
similar size. Proposed functions for the site include usage as an
astronomical observatory, or as a religious site.
More recently two major new theories have been proposed. Professor
Geoffrey Wainwright OBE, FSA, president of the
Society of Antiquaries of London, and Professor
Timothy Darvill, OBE of
Bournemouth University have suggested that Stonehenge was a place of healing – the primeval equivalent of
Lourdes.
They argue that this accounts for the high number of burials in the
area and for the evidence of trauma deformity in some of the graves.
However they do concede that the site was probably multifunctional and
used for ancestor worship as well.
Isotope analysis indicates that some of the buried individuals were
from other regions. A teenage boy buried approximately 1550 BC was
raised near the Mediterranean Sea; a metal worker from 2300 BC dubbed
the "Amesbury Archer" grew up near the alpine foothills of Germany; and
the "Boscombe Bowmen" probably arrived from Wales or Brittany, France.
On the other hand, Professor Mike Parker Pearson of
Sheffield University
has suggested that Stonehenge was part of a ritual landscape and was
joined to Durrington Walls by their corresponding avenues and the River
Avon. He suggests that the area around Durrington Walls Henge was a
place of the living, whilst Stonehenge was a domain of the dead. A
journey along the Avon to reach Stonehenge was part of a ritual passage
from life to death, to celebrate past ancestors and the recently
deceased.
It should be pointed out that both explanations were mooted in the
12th century by Geoffrey of Monmouth (below), who extolled the curative
properties of the stones and was also the first to advance the idea
that Stonehenge was constructed as a funerary monument. Whatever
religious, mystical or spiritual elements were central to Stonehenge,
its design includes a celestial observatory function, which might have
allowed prediction of eclipse, solstice, equinox and other celestial
events important to a contemporary religion
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