The history of Stonehenge

_Elsa_

“Hello, can you help me please?” asks Jean-Luc. “Where am I?”

The man explains to him that he must have time travelled through the door because others have come here the same way. He tells Jean-Luc that he has time travelled back in time to Southern England where the Stonehenge was built. He asks Jean-Luc if he’d like to take a walk with him and he’ll tell him all about the history of Stonehenge. Jean-Luc really doesn’t have much of a choice so he follows him. The man begins to tell him about Stonehenge.

‘For centuries, historians and archaeologists have puzzled over the many mysteries of Stonehenge, the prehistoric monument that took Neolithic builders an estimated 1,500 years to erect. Located in southern England, it is comprised of roughly 100 massive upright stones placed in a circular layout. 

While many modern scholars now agree that Stonehenge was once a burial ground, they have yet to determine what other purposes it served and how a civilization without modern technology—or even the wheel—produced the mighty monument. Its construction is all the more baffling because, while the sandstone slabs of its outer ring hail from local quarries, scientists have traced the bluestones that make up its inner ring all the way to the Preseli Hills in Wales, some 200 miles from where Stonehenge sits on Salisbury Plain. 

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.

Did you know? In 1620, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, dug a large hole in the ground at the center of Stonehenge looking for buried treasure.

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. 

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. Radiocarbon dating suggests that work continued at Stonehenge until roughly 1600 B.C., with the bluestones in particularly being repositioned multiple times.’ (Source)

This is a lot for Jean-Luc to take in at one time. He gets this puzzled look on his face. The man asks him for his phone and he finds a video for him to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy0CfYd1hWg

Let’s continue - The Megaliths of Stonehenge

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