Stonehenge, England

The ancient Stonehenge is the most beautiful and attractive Neolithic monument, built on Salisbury Hill about 3,000 to 5,000 years ago.

It is one of the most famous prehistoric sites in the world and the Stonehenge is composed of earthworks surrounding a circular setting of large standing stones.

Archaeologists believe the standing stones were erected around 2200 BC and the surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. Stonehenge is a "henge monument" meaning that it consists of menhirs or the large rocks in a circular formation.

There are a series of standing stones, earth, and timber in a decorative form remodeled. Each stone is in different style.  A horseshoe plan of five trilithons, two vertical stones are supporting an immense lintel, and the height of the stone is 13.5 feet. Each stone weighs around 45 tons.

Beyond these blue stones, marker stones are most luring. The construction is so accurate that stones are well shaped, and connected. The knowledge and skills of Stonehenge makers is appreciative. The Stonehenge, rings of stone are isolated from the world for a long time. In 1986, the site and its surroundings were added to the UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites.

Location

The Stonehenge is situated in Salisbury Hill two miles away from Amesbury town, Wiltshire, in Southern England.
 
Historical Importance

The Stonehenge complex was built over a period of 3,000 years in several construction phases. Archaeologists have found four large Mesolithic postholes dating back to around 8000 BC.

The Stonehenge 1 is the first monument consisted of a circular bank and ditch enclosure made of Late Cretaceous (Santonian Age) Seaford Chalk, measuring around 110 m (360 feet) in diameter with a large entrance to the north east and a smaller one to the south. The Stonehenge 2 was built during the early 3rd millennium BC.

Stonehenge 3 is built around 2600 BC with timber being abandoned in favour of stone and two concentric crescents of holes (called the Q and R Holes) were dug in the centre of the site.

The holes held up to 80 standing stones 43 of which, the bluestones, were derived from the Preseli Hills, 250 km away in modern day Pembrokeshire in Wales. The Heelstone, Tertiary sandstone, was erected outside the north eastern entrance during this period.