What is this?

Stonehenge

What is Stonehenge? Stonehenge is one of the most famous sites in the world located in Wiltshire, England. It’s an ancient stone circle that archaeologists think was built over 5,000 years ago, between 3000 BC and 2000 BC, the same time as the pyramids in Egypt were built. Some of the stones are called Bluestones and come from Preseli Hills in Wales, over 250km from Stonehenge.

We think that the stones were put on rafts and then sailed around the southern coast of England. Overall, thousands of men helped to build this circle using leather ropes and it is estimated that the monument took more than 30 million hours to build At Stonehenge, the big stones, called Sarsens, weigh between 25 and 45 tons and the Bluestones weigh between 2 and 4 tons each.

Unfortunately, nobody knows who built Stonehenge or why. Some people think it was used for people to worship the sun or the moon or as a place to heal sick people. Many people have been buried at Stonehenge and you can still see small hills where they were buried, so it could just have been a special type of cemetery. There are 900 stone circles in Britain but Stonehenge is the biggest.

Archaeologists think that the ancient builders had some knowledge about astronomy. On 21st June (the summer solstice, which is the longest day of the year), the sun rises above the Heel stone and then enters the circle through an arch and goes directly through the central trilithon. Many thousands of people go to Stonehenge on June 21st to watch this, but often the weather is too cloudy and you can’t see it.