The Construction of Stonehenge
Created | Updated Apr 1, 2004
Many people, on seeing Stonehenge for the first time, are staggered by the immensity and age of the monument. They immediately imagine that it was constructed in one fell swoop. The reality is that it developed its present form over a series of constructions covering well over a thousand years.
The first phase consisted of the circular ditch and inner bank, set in a wooded landscape. Red deer antler picks and ox bone scrapers found discarded in the earthwork were the tools used. Current dating methods on these have narrowed its probable date of construction to between 3000 and 2920 BC.
The second phase, only indicated by post holes, was the erection of wooden posts to produce something similar to Woodhenge. The circle of sixty or so 'Aubrey holes' just within the bank is also an early feature. It is thought that these holes were in someway used to predict lunar eclipses, as these early phases are certainly lunar orientated.
The third phase, dated around 2150 BC, was the transport and erection of the 'bluestones' in a horseshoe shape central to the ditch and bank, which replaced the wooden construction, that had stood for nearly 700 years. The bluestones were brought to this site in the middle of Salisbury Plain from the Preseli Mountains in Wales. This rock, which has a blue hue when freshly cut and polished, is a spotted dolerite, which was quarried at Carn Meini. By quarried, the mountain top there is a mass of naturally fractured dolerite and large pieces could be hauled down with very little effort. They were then selected and sliced down to the size required. The oval of bluestones erected here may have been the inspiration for that at Stonehenge.
This was probably followed by an influx of people of the Bronze Age Beaker Culture. These peoples were named after the decorated beakers that are found as grave goods. With the population increase, farming became intensified and the woodlands were disappearing. They are known to have constructed large stone fortifications, although none have been found in England. Near Torres Vedras, in Portugal, the stone walls of the Beaker settlement at Zambujal have been dated to 2500 BC.
Phase four covers a further 500 years and this involved the greatest construction effort. The five huge trilithons(2) of stone, with their tenon and mortice joints were built round the bluestone horseshoe, carpentry in stone. Two further circles, one of more of the smaller bluestones and the outer of lintelled Sarsens(1) were then erected.
The last phase was the Avenue. This emphasised the bilateral symmetry that focused on the largest Trilithon, over seven metres high.
The latitude of Stonehenge is unique in that the extreme sunrises and sunsets of summer and winter are at right angles. The four 'station stones' form a rectangle. At any other latitude in the Northern Hemisphere the markers of these astrological events would form a skewed parallelogram. For this reason many of the astrological alignments can be reversed. Where the mid-summer sunrise could be assumed as the purpose of the sightline, it could equally be the mid-winter sunset, both viewed in opposite directions through the arch of the Great Trilithon. Despite the gathering of modern-day Druids(4) at the mid-Summer solstice, it is more likely that the builders of the final stage of this great monument gathered to watch the setting of the mid-winter sun and the coming and promise of the new year.
Notes.
Silbury Hill is contemporary with phase one.
The fourth phase is thought to post date the megalithic(3) circles at Avebury, just eighteen miles away.
Footnotes.
1. The Sarsens is the name of the large grey stones that were brought to the site from the Marlborough Downs some twenty miles away.
2. Trilithon - The large arches constructed from three stones, from Tri three and lith stone.
3. Megalith - giant stone.
4. Druid - An ancient pagan priesthood known to have been active around 50 AD, and hence, purely on the knowledge that they were pre-Roman, associated in many minds with this monument.
References.
The Stone Circles of the British Isles, Aubrey Burl.
Ancesters. BBC2 29/03/04
The first phase consisted of the circular ditch and inner bank, set in a wooded landscape. Red deer antler picks and ox bone scrapers found discarded in the earthwork were the tools used. Current dating methods on these have narrowed its probable date of construction to between 3000 and 2920 BC.
The second phase, only indicated by post holes, was the erection of wooden posts to produce something similar to Woodhenge. The circle of sixty or so 'Aubrey holes' just within the bank is also an early feature. It is thought that these holes were in someway used to predict lunar eclipses, as these early phases are certainly lunar orientated.
The third phase, dated around 2150 BC, was the transport and erection of the 'bluestones' in a horseshoe shape central to the ditch and bank, which replaced the wooden construction, that had stood for nearly 700 years. The bluestones were brought to this site in the middle of Salisbury Plain from the Preseli Mountains in Wales. This rock, which has a blue hue when freshly cut and polished, is a spotted dolerite, which was quarried at Carn Meini. By quarried, the mountain top there is a mass of naturally fractured dolerite and large pieces could be hauled down with very little effort. They were then selected and sliced down to the size required. The oval of bluestones erected here may have been the inspiration for that at Stonehenge.
This was probably followed by an influx of people of the Bronze Age Beaker Culture. These peoples were named after the decorated beakers that are found as grave goods. With the population increase, farming became intensified and the woodlands were disappearing. They are known to have constructed large stone fortifications, although none have been found in England. Near Torres Vedras, in Portugal, the stone walls of the Beaker settlement at Zambujal have been dated to 2500 BC.
Phase four covers a further 500 years and this involved the greatest construction effort. The five huge trilithons(2) of stone, with their tenon and mortice joints were built round the bluestone horseshoe, carpentry in stone. Two further circles, one of more of the smaller bluestones and the outer of lintelled Sarsens(1) were then erected.
The last phase was the Avenue. This emphasised the bilateral symmetry that focused on the largest Trilithon, over seven metres high.
The latitude of Stonehenge is unique in that the extreme sunrises and sunsets of summer and winter are at right angles. The four 'station stones' form a rectangle. At any other latitude in the Northern Hemisphere the markers of these astrological events would form a skewed parallelogram. For this reason many of the astrological alignments can be reversed. Where the mid-summer sunrise could be assumed as the purpose of the sightline, it could equally be the mid-winter sunset, both viewed in opposite directions through the arch of the Great Trilithon. Despite the gathering of modern-day Druids(4) at the mid-Summer solstice, it is more likely that the builders of the final stage of this great monument gathered to watch the setting of the mid-winter sun and the coming and promise of the new year.
Notes.
Silbury Hill is contemporary with phase one.
The fourth phase is thought to post date the megalithic(3) circles at Avebury, just eighteen miles away.
Footnotes.
1. The Sarsens is the name of the large grey stones that were brought to the site from the Marlborough Downs some twenty miles away.
2. Trilithon - The large arches constructed from three stones, from Tri three and lith stone.
3. Megalith - giant stone.
4. Druid - An ancient pagan priesthood known to have been active around 50 AD, and hence, purely on the knowledge that they were pre-Roman, associated in many minds with this monument.
References.
The Stone Circles of the British Isles, Aubrey Burl.
Ancesters. BBC2 29/03/04
