The Mysteries of Stonehenge

One of the major mysteries of Stonehenge was how it was built.

The ditch and bank itself would have been dug with antler picks about 6 feet deep and piled up to make a bank about 6 feet high. At the time of creating the bright white fresh chalk would have contrasted vividly against the surrounding grassland.

The first stones - the bluestones from the Preseli Hills

The first stones, the bluestones (weighing around 4 tons each) were sourced from the only place in the UK where such stone exists, in the Preseli Hills in north Pembrokeshire in Wales, nearly 200 miles away. There is much archaeological debate surrounding the theories of how the stones got from Wales to Salisbury Plain.

A popular theory with some academics is that these stones were quarried from the spot in Wales and then transported largely by water, and then by log roller systems over land to the site of Stonehenge. However nobody has even today successfully re-enacted this feat with the technologies available at the time. Nor found any evidence along the way to support this. The other major and perhaps more plausible theory suggests the stones were moved naturally to Stonehenge by glaciers during the Ice Age.

The big ones - the Sarsen stones

The larger stones the Sarsen stones came from only about 20 miles away, but again with no modern machinery and before the wheel this would have been a huge undertaking, through the undulating countryside. The sarsens would have been roughly cut where they were found, and then dragged on top of tree trunks, working as rollers, to Stonehenge. It has been estimated that as many as one thousand people would have been needed for the man-power to haul these gigantic stones, and perhaps taking ten years to complete.

An elite group of knowledge

Due to the complexity of organising such a mammoth task, it seems likely that an elite group of people possessed and passed on specialist building knowledge, like a guild today, organising the engineering within local - and more distant - communities. Leaders over many generations must have been able to inspire the masses into the concepts and beliefs that drove them to attempt such a monument.

Stonehenge itself is put together like woodwork. Joints and sockets have been carved into the stone so each stone fits into each other precisely. Stonehenge is unique in that it has horizontal stones to form arches. These horizontal stones have been engineered so they were flat, on a sloping site. Stonehenge is also unique in that the stones have been shaped into flat sided blocks.

An army of people

Without metal, it would have been very labour intensive to shape these vast stones using stone on stone. A whole army of people would have been required on site to perform the shaping. We know this as the land around Stonehenge is full of the chippings.

How did they get those huge stones up there?

Erecting the stones also would have been problematic without modern aids. Ditches would have been dug into which the stones would be sited. The uprights we see at Stonehenge have about a third of their length concealed below ground. The most common theory is that large earthen ramps would have been erected and the stones toppled over the top into their prepared holes and somehow pulled vertical, perhaps with primitive A frames for leverage.

The evidence supporting the sacred burial site idea, is all around the area, you only have to visit and see the in the wider Stonehenge landscape the burial mounds all around. Archaeological finds have turned up skeletons too, such as the archer, the Bronze Age man discovered in 1978 in the outer ditch of Stonehenge.

The evidence seems to suggest that Stonehenge was a sacred area, people lived away from the site and came to worship. In recent years more than bone fragments of 63 people have been discovered at Stonehenge. More recently archaeological evidence seems to point to Stonehenge being a burial place for the elite only- the 'royals'.

The other archaeological finds around Stonehenge show evidence of a large settlement of houses nearby. Theories are that Stonehenge formed part of a larger ceremonial complex along the nearby Avon that also included the vast earth mound at Silbury Hill, as well as Durrington Walls, and Woodhenge. The River Avon is thought to have been a conduit between the world of the living (Woodhenge) and the world of the dead (Stonehenge). Academics say that a pre service took place at Woodhenge and then the people proceeded for a final service at Stonehenge.

The existence of a ceremonial route up to Stonehenge suggests an organised procession where some kind of ritual took place within the inner sanctum of Stonehenge by the Altar Stone. The fact that Stonehenge had banks 6 foot high surrounding it precluding viewing into it raises the spectre that perhaps only the highest echelon were part of the ceremony.