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The great and ancient stone circle of Stonehenge is one of the wonders of the world. What visitors see today are the
substantial remnants of the last in a sequence of such monuments erected between circa 3000BC and 1600BC. Each monument was a
circular structure, aligned with the rising of the sun at the midsummer solstice. Stonehenge is located at 51°10'43.9?N,
1°49'31.6?W. Stonehenge is a Neolithic and Bronze Age megalithic monument located near Amesbury in the English county of
Wiltshire, about 8 miles (13 km) northwest of Salisbury. It is composed of earthworks surrounding a circular setting of large
standing stones and is one of the most famous prehistoric sites in the world. Archaeologists think the standing stones were
erected between 2500 BC and 2000 BC although 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, and it is also a legally protected Scheduled
Ancient Monument. |
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The summer solstice (21st June) is the actual day on which the sun climbs to its highest point in the sky. This was
originally the day on which people celebrated midsummer. There is still a famous summer solstice celebration at Stonehenge,
the ancient stone circle on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. On the night before midsummer, a group of white-robed Druids gather
at Stonehenge to watch the sun rising. As it comes up, the sun rises exactly over the Heel Stone, one of the stones that lies
outside the main circle at Stonehenge. |
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Stonehenge itself is owned and managed by English Heritage whilst the surrounding downland is owned by the National Trust.
The Stonehenge complex was built in several construction phases spanning 2,000 years, although there is evidence for activity
both before and afterwards on the site. The recent history of Stonehenge has been the period from the nineteenth century
onwards when widespread literacy, affordable mass travel and a growing body of archaeological knowledge propelled the site
towards its role as an internationally famous, public monument that has been studied, adopted and exploited by numerous
different groups. Stonehenge is a place of pilgrimage for neo-druids and those following pagan or neo-pagan beliefs. The
midsummer sunrise began attracting modern visitors in 1870s, with the first record of recreated Druidic practices dating to
1905 when the Ancient Order of Druids enacted a ceremony. |
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Later the sun-worshipping Church of the Universal Bond adopted the site for their neo-Druidic rituals from 1912 until 1932
when their plans to scatter the ashes of cremated former members at the site were refused. Despite efforts by archaeologists
to stress the differences between the Iron Age Druidic religion, the much older monument, and modern Druidry, Stonehenge
became increasingly associated with abstruse rituals practised by white-robed wizards. By the beginning of the 20th century
many of the bluestones were leaning precariously, probably due to the increase in curious visitors clambering on them during
the nineteenth century. Additionally two of the trilithons had fallen over during the modern era. |
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Three phases of conservation work were undertaken which righted unstable or fallen stones and carefully replaced them in
their original positions using information from antiquarian drawings. If nothing else, this means that Stonehenge is not
quite as timeless as its tourist publicity would suggest and that as with most historic monuments, conservation work has been
undertaken.The first of the significant excavations at Stonehenge was led by Colonel William Hawley and his assistant Robert
Newall after the site had come into state hands in 1911. He excavated portions of most of the features at Stonehenge and were
the first to establish that it was a multi-phase site. After the Second World War, the Universal Bond was permitted to
re-commence its ceremonies although archaeologists such as Glyn Daniel and Stuart Piggott continued to campaign against what
they saw as bogus Druidry throughout the 1950s, 60s and 70s. In 1950, the Society of Antiquaries commissioned Richard
Atkinson, Stuart Piggott and John FS Stone to carry out further excavations. They recovered many cremations and developed the
phasing that still dominates much of what is written about Stonehenge. More recent minor excavations have been held to
mitigate the effects of electrical cables, sewage pipes, and a footpath through the site. |
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There has always been intense debate over quite what purpose Stonehenge served. Certainly, it was the focal point in a
landscape filled with prehistoric ceremonial structures. It also represented an enormous investment of labour and time. A
huge effort and great organisation was needed to carry the stones tens, and sometimes hundreds, of miles by land and water
and then to shape and raise them. Only a sophisticated society could have mustered so large a workforce and the design and
construction skills necessary to produce Stonehenge and its surrounding monuments. Stonehenge's orientation in relation to the
rising and setting sun has always been one of its most remarkable features. Whether this was because its builders came from a
sun-worshipping culture or because - as some scholars have asserted - the circle and its banks were part of a huge
astronomical calendar, remains a mystery. What cannot be denied is the ingenuity of the builders of Stonehenge. With only
very basic tools at their disposal, they shaped the stones and formed the mortises and tenons that linked uprights to
lintels. Using antlers and bones, they dug the pits to hold the stones and made the banks and ditches that enclosed them.
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There are direct links with the people who built Stonehenge in their tools, artefacts, pottery and even the contents of their
graves. Some of these are displayed in the museums at Salisbury and Devizes. Burial mounds, possibly containing the graves of
ruling families, are also integral to the landscape. Neolithic long barrows and the various types of circular barrows that
came later are still visible. So too are other earthworks and monuments. Some remain enigmatic, such as the long oval
earthwork to the north, the Cursus - once thought to be a chariot racecourse. You can visit the Cursus and other parts of the
Stonehenge landscape. Woodhenge, two miles to the north east, was a wooden oval-post structure, also aligned with the summer
solstice sunrise. It is believed to be contemporary with the first phase of Stonehenge. Now a World Heritage Site, Stonehenge
and all its surroundings remain powerful witnesses to the once great civilisations of the Stone and Bronze Ages, between
5,000 and 3,000 years ago. What visitors see today of Stonehenge are the remnants of the last in a sequence of monuments
erected between C. 3000BC and 1600BC. It is now a World Heritage Site.
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