Stonehenge is a huge stone monument you can find in a large grassy field north of Salisbury, England. This popular tourist site has evolved continuously for ten thousand years. The structure was built 2000 and 4000 years BC and is just one of the surviving parts of a much larger, complex structure that fills the landscape.
The biggest stones, which are called sarsens, are thirty feet tall and weigh in at an average of 25 tons. They were believed to have been brought to the site from Marlborough Downs, which is located 30 miles north. The smaller stones, which are called “bluestones” due to having a bluish colour when wet, weigh 4 tons and come from many varying sites in the neighbouring country of Wales.
What makes the site mysterious is the fact that it is still unknown how the people who lived there in the ancient times moved the stones from such a far distance for its construction. Scientists speculated that the stones used in making Stonehenge were moved naturally by glaciers, and that the people who made the monument did not need to move them from faraway locations at all. Another theory proposed states that the stones were transported to the site using land rafts, researchers however continue to question the feasibility of this method.
Aside from theories on how the huge stones reached the area from miles away, archaeologists and scientists have also proposed ideas on another of its mysteries – why the early humans who lived in the area made Stonehenge in the first place. What is undoubtedly true is that this construction and the plain on which it is built is sacred in nature. It is believed that once it may have been a vast burial ground and it is still a place of spiritual significance, pilgrimage and worship to this day for the neo-druid religion.
Best times to visit stone henge are sunrise and sunset, there is a hand car park close by, choose weekdays to avoid the crowds. However if you want to see some real activity at the site, one of its most popular events is the summer solstice or longest day of the year. On this day people travel from all over the UK to stay up all night and celebrate the coming of the morning sun. Equally if not more beautiful is the summer solstice or shortest day although only those that wish to brave the cold weather should attend.