Stonehenge

A detailed Summary of Stonehenge

?Stonehenge is one of the worlds best known monuments of the ancient times. Stonehenge stood for over five thousand years, and still we do not know the full use of this mysterious arrangement of stones. Stonehenge remains as an ancient monument that still propose mysteries to it origin and purpose.

At first, scientists had no clue as to who built Stonehenge. The Romans, Egyptians, and the Phoenicians were all suggested to have been a possible creator of Stonehenge. Later study proved that none of these cultured built Stonehenge. The truth of Stonehenge is that three different cultures contributed to this megalithic monument. The first group began construction around 3100 B.C.. Neolithic herdsmen began the first step in the construction of Stonehenge.

The first part of this monument began as a modest circular ditch. Within this circle 56 holes were dug. These hole, later named Aubrey Holes after their discoverer, presented mysteries to scientists for years.

These strange holes served two purposes. The first, and more important reason, is that these holes acted as a lunar calender. The moon has a cycle for it's eclipses. Once a lunar eclipse occurs, another will not happen for nineteen years. After tho

Placing the stones took some thinking. First, a five foot deep pit was dug. One side of the pit was slanted to act as a sliding board for the stone when it was ready. A ramp was then built leading up to the pit. Large ropes were fastened to the stone and then heaved up the ramp and into the pit. Ropes, in conjunction with manpower, were used to upright the stones into their current position.

were chiseled into the side of the Sarsen Stones.

"Given the distance they had to travel, this presented quite a transportation problem."(Lacy, www.britannia.com/travel/magical/magic12.htm). The problem of getting the stones to the building site was large enough to stop most people from even attempting such a project. There were to ways used to deliver the massive stones to the building site. The first was by land. Giant carts were constructed to carry the smaller stones. The stones were loaded on the

stones. As an object gets taller, the top seems to get narrower. To eliminate this problem the shape of the pillar were distorted. The tops of the pillars were wider and thicker than at the bottom. So now when viewed from below, the stone appeared to be the symmetrical. Another problem the Wesset culture found was the look of the surface of the stone. The surface looked like it caved in a little. To fix this illusion, the sculptors made the surfaces convex. To make it easier to chisel, fire and water were applied to the stone to make the stones expand and contract.

harvest their crops, and Stonehenge was what they used. If one were to stand in the center of Stonehenge on June twenty-fourth and look out the opening of the horse-shoe, one would see the

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Approximate Word count = 1757
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Arts