|
STONEHENGE
SALISBURY PLAIN, ENGLAND
STONEHENGE
SALISBURY PLAIN, ENGLAND
Stonehenge, prehistoric ritual monument, situated on Salisbury Plain in
south-western England and dating from the Neolithic (late Stone Age) and
Bronze Age. It is the most celebrated of the megalithic monuments in
England, and the most important prehistoric structure in Europe. Although
its precise purpose is unknown, it is likely to have been a tribal
gathering place or religious centre connected with astronomical
observations.
CONFIGURATION
Stonehenge consists of four concentric ranges of stones. In the outermost
range, large rectangular sandstone blocks (sarsen stones), 4 m (13 ft) high
above the ground, form a circle 33 m (108 ft) in diameter; they were
originally capped with lintel stones (only a few of which remain in place
today) that also formed a continuous circle. Within this outer range is a
circle of smaller bluestones (consisting mainly of dolerite, a coarse
basaltic rock having a bluish colour). They enclose a horseshoe-shaped
arrangement of bluestones capped with lintels. These trilithons (an
assemblage of two uprights capped by a lintel) are 6.5 m (21 ft) high.
Within the trilithons stands a slab of micaceous sandstone known as the
Altar Stone.
[pic]
Stonehenge, England
Stonehenge was built in three stages between about 3200 BC and 1000 BC.
In its size, complexity, and evident importance, it is unique among
Bronze Age henge monuments. An outer circle of sarsen stones once
supported a continuous curving lintel which in turn enclosed a u-shaped
arrangement of five trilithons (two uprights and a lintel).
The entire assemblage is surrounded by a circular ditch 104 m (340 ft) in
diameter. On its inner side the ditch rises into a bank within which is a
ring of 56 pits known as Aubrey holes (after their discoverer, the
antiquarian John Aubrey) and used at a later stage as cremation burial
pits. On the north-eastern side, the bank and ditch are intersected by the
Avenue, a processional causeway 23 m (75 ft) wide and nearly 3 km (2 mi)
long, bordered by a ditch. Near the entrance to the Avenue is the Slaughter
Stone, a sarsen stone that may originally have stood upright. Almost
opposite, and set within the Avenue, is the Heel Stone, which may have
played a part in sightings of the sunrise at the summer solstice.
hISTORY
Stonehenge was built in several stages, probably beginning as a henge
monument (ritual enclosure) surrounded by a bank and ditch and similar to
many others in southern England. It was around 2200 BC that it |