Grade 4 J.Brown

 Before Main Construction  Stage 1  Stage 2  Stage 3  Stage 4, 5, & 6  Related Sites  Who Built Stonehenge and Why?  Stonehenge Today

 Mesolithic and Neolithic (8,000-7,000 BCE) Mesolithic  Hunter-gathers dug pits and erected pine posts  650 ft. from current location  Unusual for hunter-gathers to build monuments Neolithic  Within 3 mi. radius  17 barrows  By Bronze Age (2,200-1,700 BCE), over 1,000 barrows surrounded Stonehenge area  2 cursus monuments

 3,000-2,935 BCE  Oldest part of Stonehenge  Circular enclosure 330 foot diameter ditch  Flanked inside by a high bank  Flanked outside by low bank  Bottom filled red deer antler picks and at-time century old cattle and deer bones Entrances  Main entrance facing northeast  Second entrance facing south  Aubrey Holes Pits named after John Aubrey  Discovered by Aubrey in 1666  Purpose officially unknown, but suggested they have astronomical meaning 56 Aubrey Holes form a ring inside the circular enclosure

 2,640-2,480 BCE  Bluestones British (term for foreign stones) Each 2-4 tons Believed total of 80, but only 43 remain From Preseli Hills in southwest Wales  240 miles away Original configuration most likely a ring

 Sarsen Stones Each about 18 ft. tall and 25 tons From Marlborough Downs  20 miles away Horseshoe shape  5 trilithons  Giant trilithon  Largest and middle trilithon  One 29 ft. tall, other 32 ft. tall  45 tons each Ring  Circle around horseshoe  30 stones  Linked by 7-ton, curved lintels

 2,470-2,280 BCE  Ceremonial avenue 2 miles long Flanked by ditches and banks Width varies from ft. wide Runs to the River Avon where it connects to a 100 foot diameter henge  Built after bluestones removed First 1,600 ft. leading away from Stonehenge aligns with the summer solstice sunrise/sunset  In 2008, was discovered to lay on top of a natural chalk ridge

 2,280-1,520 BCE  Stage 4 Bluestones reconstructed Ring between the sarsen ring and horseshoe  Oval inside sarsen horseshoe  Believed to have been altered into horseshoe by the Romans  Stage 5 Ring of pits constructed around sarsen circle Called the Z holes  Stage 6 Ring of pits around the Z holes Called the Y holes

 Durrington Walls Built 2,500 BCE Large earthen circle 2 miles NE of Stonehenge Also has an avenue  560 ft. long  100 ft. wide  Aligns with the summer solstice sunset  Southern Circle Also known as Woodhenge Consists of 6 wooden circles Entrance aligns with the winter solstice sunrise  Possible that Stonehenge, Durrington Walls, and Southern Circle may all be part of one complex

 Officially unknown who built it or why  Past assumptions John Aubrey (17 th Century) and William Stukeley (18 th Century)  Believed that Druids written about by Julius Caesar built it  But modern testing shows that Stonehenge is was already built by than 1963, Gerald Hawkins  Believed was a type of “computer” for solar and lunar eclipses Point boundary between ancient territories A seasonal gathering place 1998, Ramilisonia  Believed to be a monument to dead with the stones symbolizing the eternal afterlife  Generally accepted importance Burial mound Astronomical connection

 Protected English Heritage UNESCO (1986)  United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization  Many of the original stones have fallen or been removed throughout history  Damaged by visitors  A highway was built only 100 yards away