Construction of Stonehenge

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The construction of the Stonehenge was a result of great engineering skills and impressive manual labor. In its first phase, it was a large earthwork; a bank and ditch arrangement called a henge, constructed approximately 5000 years ago. The ditch was dug with tools made of antlers of red deer and wood and the underlying chalk was loosened with picks and spades made of bones of cattle. Than it was carried away in baskets. 

The Bluestones

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The first stone circle was set up about 2000 BC and was made of bluestones. Archeologists says that these stones are from the Prescelly Mountains, located something about 240 miles away, at the southwest of Wales. Each bluestone weighs up to 4 tons and about 80 stones were used in structure. And the most difficult problem was to transport it. It is said that they were dragged by roller and sledge from the inland mountains to the headwaters of Milford Haven. Then they were loaded onto rafts, barges and boats and sailed along the south coast of Wales, then up the Rivers Avon and Frome to a point near present-day Frome in Somerset. Then the stones were hauled overland to a place near Warminster in Wiltshire, approximately 6 miles away. From there, it's back into the pool for a slow float down the River Wylye to Salisbury, then up the Salisbury Avon to West Amesbury, leaving only a short 2 mile drag from West Amesbury to the Stonehenge.

Construction of the Outer Ring.

The outer ring consisted of sarsen stones which weigh is about 50 tons each. To transport them from the Marlborough Downs to the north, was far more greater problem than dragging the bluestones. Most part of the way stones were transported the same way as bluestones, but it was completely different when they reach Redhom Hill. Modern work studies estimate that at least 600 men would have been needed just to get each stone past this hill.
A sarsen stone was prepared to accommodate stone lintels along its top surface. It was then dragged until the end was over the opening of the hole. Great levers were put under the stone and it was raised until it slide into the hole. At this point, the stone stood on about a 30° angle from the ground. Ropes were attached to the top and teams of men pulled from the other side to raise it into the full upright position. It was secured by filling the hole at its base with small, round packing stones. At this point, the lintels were lowered into place and secured vertically by mortice and tenon joints and horizontally by tongue and groove joints. Stonehenge was probably finally completed around 1500 BC.

This is the film Who Built Stonehenge from National Geographic's Naked Science series. It talks about the theories concerning the construction of Stonehenge. 

Stonehenge

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If you want to look at this mysterious stone circle, you have to walk (or drive if you are able to) from Amesbury westwards about 2 miles. Stonehenge consists of two circles of standing stones set within earthworks. Although the structure seems to look very simple, it leaves a lot of questions concerning the prehistoric monument.

Historians and archaeologists found out with some complicated age detemination methods that Stonehenge must have been erected between 3000 to 2000 BC, but some theories suggest that the actual date of bluestones raising may be earlier than 3000 BC. This is the only historical fact that can be somehow calculated or logically found out. The way Stonehenge was built, the purposes it was used for – everything of it remains in different extents unknown, and everything historians speculate about is just theories and hypotheses, having some evidences but not these which could prove all the things.

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First theories were born under the influence of supernatural folktales, mostly about the legendary wizard Merlin who could have transported the stones from Irish Mount Killaraus. Some historians of that times held the Devil responsible for the appearance of the henge. There were some more beliefs like the place was a former Roman temple, built following the Tuscan order, or it is a product of the tribe of Danes.

The first effort to understand the monument academically, made by John Aubrey in 17^th century, stated that Stonehenge was the work of druids. Bronze object found nearby made it able to attribute the henge to the Bronze age. In a hundred years it was interpreted as a place of pagan ritual by John wood; the supposition found no backing amongst the contemporary historians because druids were biblical partiarchs, not pagans.

At the beginning of the 20^th century one more supposition appeared: Joseph Lockyer pointed out the practical value of the monument, because it could have been used in astronomical observations as the only way to establish precise calendar dates at that times. The new method of radiocarbon dating was presented to the world in 1949, and it make a great progress in research of the history of Stonehenge. The method indicates the period of construction from approximately 3100 BC till 1600 BC. However, points of view concerning the way the monument was used keep being insufficiently proved nowadays.

Stonehenge Rediscovered is a documentary about Stonehenge. The facts it talks about are scientifically affirmed, so there is no conspiracy in the film. The authors are Barry Cuncliffe of the university of Oxford and Social anthropologist Lionel Sims.