Definition: Stonehenge is a megalithic rock monument of 150 enormous stones set in a purposeful circular pattern, located on the Salisbury Plain of southern England, the main portion of it built about 2000 BC. The outside circle of Stonehenge includes 17 enormous upright trimmed stones of hard sandstone called sarsen; some paired with a lintel over the top. This circle is about 30 meters (100 feet) in diameter, and, stands about 5 meters (16 feet) tall.
Inside the circle are five more paired-and-linteled stones of sarsen, called trilithons, each of these weighing 50-60 tons and the tallest 7 meters (23 feet) high. Inside that, a few smaller stones of bluestone, quarried 200 kilometers away in the Preseli Mountains of western Wales, are set in two horseshoe patterns. Finally, one large block of Welsh sandstone marks the center of the monument.
Stonehenge has been the focus of archaeological investigations for a very long time indeed, beginning with the likes of William Harvey and John Aubrey in the 17th century. Although claims for Stonehenge's 'computer' have been pretty wild, the alignment of the stones is widely accepted as intended to mark the summer solstice.
Because of its location near two major British arteries, the site has also been subject to development issues since the 1970s.
Sources
See Solstices at Stonehenge for photos and ancient observatories for others.
Baxter, Ian and Christopher Chippendale 2003 Stonehenge: The brownfield approach. Current Archaeology 18:394-97.
Bewley, R. H., S. P. Crutchley, and C. A. Shell 2005 New light on an ancient landscape: Lidar survey in the Stonehenge World Heritage Site. Antiquity 79:636-647.
Chippindale, Christopher 1994 Stonehenge Complete. New York: Thames and Hudson.
Johnson, Anthony. 2008. Solving Stonehenge. Thames and Hudson: Lond.
Common Misspellings: Stone henge
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