Other theories

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'Recently a radical new theory has emerged—that Stonehenge served as a "prehistoric Lourdes" where people came to be healed. This idea revolves around the smaller bluestones, which, researchers argue, must have been credited with magical powers for them to have been floated, dragged, and hauled 145 miles (233 kilometers) from west Wales. A team lead by Tim Darvill of Bournemouth University, U.K., announced in 2005 that it had located the quarry the bluestones came from, only for another study to suggest the stones had made the journey earlier, powered naturally by ice age glaciers. Excavations at Stonehenge co-directed by Darvill in 2008 bolstered the hypothesis, also based on a number of Bronze Age skeletons unearthed in the area that show signs of bone deformities.

Competing to solve the enduring prehistoric puzzle is Sheffield University's Mike Parker Pearson, co-leader of the Stonehenge Riverside Project, which is partly funded by the National Geographic Society. Discoveries by the project team supported Parker Pearson's claim that Stonehenge was a center for ancestor worship linked by the River Avon and two ceremonial avenues to a matching wooden circle at nearby Durrington Walls. The two circles with their temporary and permanent structures represented, respectively, the domains of the living and the dead, according to Parker Pearson.

"Stonehenge isn't a monument in isolation," he says. "It is actually one of a pair—one in stone, one in timber. The theory is that Stonehenge is a kind of spirit home to the ancestors." (Source)

‘Magic - According to the 12th-century writer Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose tale of King Arthur and mythical account of English history were considered factual well into the Middle Ages, Stonehenge is the handiwork of the wizard Merlin. In the mid-fifth century, the story goes, hundreds of British nobles were slaughtered by the Saxons and buried on Salisbury Plain. Hoping to erect a memorial to his fallen subjects, King Aureoles Ambrosias sent an army to Ireland to retrieve a stone circle known as the Giants’ Ring, which ancient giants had built from magical African bluestones. The soldiers successfully defeated the Irish but failed to move the stones, so Merlin used his sorcery to spirit them across the sea and arrange them above the mass grave. Legend has it that Ambrosias and his brother Uther, King Arthur’s father, are buried there as well.

The suspension of disbelief requirement aside, modern science has shown that Stonehenge’s construction predates Merlin—or, at least, the real-life figures who are said to have inspired him—by several thousand years.

Ancient Aliens - In a modern take on the Merlin hypothesis, proponents of ancient alien theory—also known as the ancient astronaut theory—believe that extraterrestrials with superior knowledge of science and engineering landed on Earth thousands of years ago, sharing their expertise with early civilizations and helping them build architectural wonders such as Stonehenge. They also credit alien visitors for the construction of the Egyptian pyramids, Easter Island’s mysterious statues and a variety of other monuments.

The author Erich von Däniken, who is often considered the father of ancient alien theory, has suggested that Stonehenge is a model of our solar system. A number of other explanations have been offered for aliens’ alleged hand in Stonehenge’s creation, including that the stone circle served as a landing pad for spaceships or as an observatory for extraterrestrial activity in the skies.’ (Source)

Let’s continue - Facts about Stonehenge

Start at the beginning – Jean-Luc time travels to the Stonehenge