The History of Stonehenge
Deep in the heart of England, by the side of a road, stands a massive stone monument that has mystified visitors for millennia.
It is called Stonehenge, and it is an ancient stone circle, older than the pyramids of Giza.
What little is known about its history has been pieced together by archaeologists, because it is so old that there is no written record of its construction, or of its original purpose.
Stonehenge is probably between 4,000 and 5,000 years old, and its construction was spread across hundreds or even thousands of years.
It was used, among other things, as a place of burial.
Some think it may also have been used as a calendar, or as a place to study the movements of the stars and worship the Sun and Moon.
Although we may never know exactly why Stonehenge was built, most believe it was used for religious ceremonies.
The earliest versions of Stonehenge were made of earthworks and ditches dug with tools made of antlers.
This was eventually replaced by some kind of wooden structure, which was replaced in turn by circles of massive standing stones.
The stones at Stonehenge were brought there over a period of several hundred years.
The largest stones, called sarsens, measure up to 30 feet or 9 meters tall and weigh an average of 25 tons.
These stones were probably transported 20 miles or 32 kilometers to Stonehenge.
Some of the smaller stones, called bluestones, are believed to have been brought from Wales, more than 140 miles or 225 kilometers away.
Although they are smaller than the massive sarsens, the bluestones still weigh an average of 4 tons each, and archaeologists are baffled as to how they were transported so far without modern technology-or even the wheel!
Some people think the stones were rolled on tree trunks, or dragged in huge baskets pulled by oxen.
Others believe they were moved by boat, with the help of the nearby river Avon.
However the stones were moved, they were placed with incredible precision.
Certain stones in the ancient circle line up with the midsummer sunrise and the winter solstice sunset, marking the longest and shortest days of the year.
Today Stonehenge is a carefully protected World Heritage Site visited by about a million people each year,
and many people still visit Stonehenge at midsummer and midwinter to view the ancient phenomena that marks the rising and the setting of the sun, and wonder at the mysteries Stonehenge still hides.