Stonehenge Facts

It's been thousands of years now and people are still left dumbstruck with the structure of the marvelous and speculated Stonehenge monument. There are many questions that still remain unanswered like who built it, how were the stones carried to the place, etc. and the mystery of Stonehenge continues. The facts and information, that are known to the world in bits and pieces, are compiled for you in this article.

Facts About Stonehenge

• This historical monuments stands mysteriously in southern England in a region known as the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire.
• It is made of magnificent rough-cut stones, of which 30 Sarsen stones or sandstones with lintels weigh up to 25 tons; Bluestones, called Megaliths, weigh up to 4 tons and Trilithon: the most heaviest of all weighs about 45 tons.
• This structure has a circle of sarsens surrounding the inner horseshoe of giant Trilithons.
• These stones measure a height of approximately 3.5 to 7.5 meters.
• The circular construction of the Stonehenge is also known as sarsens and is comprised 30 huge stones joined by lintels at the top. There are 5 huge doors known as trilithons.
• In between these trilithons and the Altar stone there are smaller bluestones. These are known to exist in Preseli Hills in Wales around 240 kms from this site.
• An altar stone is situated right at the center of the Stonehenge, within the Bluestone horseshoe construction.
• The stones were placed in increasing order of its height towards the center of the structure to get an obelisk shape.
• The entrance is like a ceremonial approach to the Stones, where Heel Stone was the first stone to be placed during the construction, which itself was 16 ft tall. The Slaughter Stone was placed next to this stone.
• The construction of this monument has been estimated to have been more than 30 million hours of labor.
• Sophisticated mathematical and geometrical engineering plan is believed to be implemented by the builders to raise this magnificent monument.
• It is said that it's linked to the seasonal celebrations of the Bronze Age people.
• Few researchers also relate the structure of this monument as an astronomical event indicator.
• Some people often have mistaken this structure to be built by the Druids. But, the fact is that their mention in history is quite late after the Stonehenge was actually built. And, the Druids basically mostly conducted their rituals in sacred forest grove.
• Hundreds of people were employed to get the stones together from far of destinations to form this structure. Interestingly, the Stonehenge as the stones were assembled even before the wheels were invented.
• The Amesbury Archer is said to be the brain behind the concept of this monument.
• The ditches and embankments of the Stonehenge must have been dug by men using animal bones and deer antlers as pick-axes, and shoulder blades of cattle or oxen as shovels to clear away the stones.
• Sarsens are said to have been brought from Marlborough Downs, near Avebury in North Wiltshire about 30 kms and Bluestones from Preseli Mountains in Pembroke, South Wales about 240 kms away from the venue.

The imagination used and the masterpiece that was finally done, I doubt, can ever be matched with the current constructions. The Stonehenge of England is definitely worth visiting once in a lifetime! Ciao!