Who built Stonehenge? Why?

@satlove (1110)
India
December 12, 2006 10:59pm CST
This ancient monument of huge stones solitarily standing on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England has captured imaginations for centuries. Theories about who built it have included the Druids, Greeks, Phoenicians, and Atlanteans. Speculation on the reason it was built range from human sacrifice to astronomy. Investigations over the last 100 years have revealed that Stonehenge was built in several stages from 2800 - 1800 BC. It seems to have been designed to allow for observation of astronomical phenomena - summer and winter solstices, eclipses, and more. mysteries are sometimes sweet until they are resolved......
3 responses
@nazsajid (63)
• Canada
13 Dec 06
i don't know . anybody plz let me know
@joy139 (58)
• India
13 Dec 06
can anyone say (atleast in theory) that if the humans build it, what kind of machinery wud have been used to erect it up like this? The stones are monolithic and what power wud the machine have had to lift it
@geevee (884)
• India
13 Dec 06
Stonehenge - Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a Neolithic and Bronze Age megalithic monument located near Amesbury in the English county of Wiltshire, about 8 miles (13 km) north of Salisbury. Its geographical location is 51°10'44,85?N, 1°49'35,13?W[1]. It is composed of earthworks surrounding a circular setting of large standing stones and is one of the most famous prehistoric sites in the world. Archaeologists think that the standing stones were erected between 2500 BC and 2000 BC although the surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. The site and its surroundings were added to the UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1986 in a co-listing with Avebury henge monument, and it is also a legally protected Scheduled Ancient Monument. Stonehenge itself is owned and managed by English Heritage while the surrounding land is owned by the National Trust. The first monument consisted of a circular bank and ditch enclosure (7 and 8) measuring around 110 m (360 feet) in diameter with a large entrance to the north east and a smaller one to the south (14). It stood in open grassland on a slightly sloping but not especially remarkable spot. The builders placed the bones of deer and oxen in the bottom of the ditch as well as some worked flint tools. The bones were considerably older than the antler picks used to dig the ditch and the people who buried them had looked after them for some time prior to burial. The ditch itself was continuous but had been dug in sections, like the ditches of the earlier causewayed enclosures in the area. The chalk dug from the ditch was piled up to form the bank. This first stage is dated to around 3100 BC after which the ditch began to silt up naturally and was not cleared out by the builders. Within the outer edge of the enclosed area was dug a circle of 56 pits, each around 1m in diameter (13), known as the Aubrey holes after John Aubrey, the seventeenth century antiquarian who was thought to have first identified them. The pits may have contained standing timbers, creating a timber circle although there is no excavated evidence of them. A small outer bank beyond the ditch could also date to this period
@Darkwing (21583)
26 Apr 07
Cut and paste? Can't you find your own words for Stonehenge?
@Darkwing (21583)
26 Apr 07
Legend has it that Merlin was involved in the building of Stonehenge, but that could be true or just myth. The stones are blue stone, apparently imported from Wales, and this must have been quite some feat in those days, so how exactly they managed to get them from Wales and then atop that hill, goodness only knows. Stonehenge is a very intriguing place. I go there often as it isn't that far from where I live, and I like to go when it's not too busy, as I like my private moments there. Brightest Blessings.