Stonehenge has captivated humankind for millennia. The iconic stone circle was erected during the late Neolithic period (around 2500 BC) and today is the most famous prehistoric monument in Europe – if not the world. Despite their fame, the standing stones are so ancient that there's still much about them we don't know. Here, we delve into the many mysteries and secrets surrounding the stunning sacred site...
The first activity around Stonehenge dates back more than 9,000 years to Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, southwest England. Three totem-like tree trunks were raised by hunter-gatherers between 8500 BC and 7000 BC, not far from where the stone circle would later be built. At this time (the early Mesolithic period) most of southern England was woodland, so perhaps people were drawn to Salisbury Plain's unusually open landscape.
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The first 'bluestones' (the smaller stones) were placed roughly 5,000 years ago and perhaps served as a cremation cemetery, as the remains of up to 200 people may have been carried from west Wales alongside the stones and buried in pits. Then, 500 years later, the bluestones were rearranged and the 'sarsens' (the larger stones) were raised into place, yielding the iconic Stonehenge formation we know today.
Experts go back and forth over the exact purpose of these prehistoric pillars. Some 200 human cremations and remains have been found at Stonehenge so far, causing wide speculation that it was an ancient burial ground, ceremonial complex or temple of the dead. In recent years, archaeologists have noticed that the remains bear signs of illness and injury, suggesting it could also have been a place of healing, as bluestones were thought to have curative powers.
In March 2022, a study from Bournemouth University breathed new life into a longstanding theory that the monument served as a solar calendar. Stonehenge was designed to align with the movements of the sun, and the central axis perfectly frames the sunrise on the summer solstice and the sunset on the winter solstice, though how the calendar functioned is still unclear. According to the study, each sarsen stone may have represented a day within a month, but some observers criticised the findings for failing to account for all of the stones on site.
Durrington Walls, just two miles (3.2km) from Stonehenge, appears to archaeologists now as huge circular earthwork, but before that there was probably a village there. In the early 2000s, hundreds of house remains, timber circles and broad tracks flanked by banks and ditches were found, and most of the activity took place before Stonehenge was built. Pictured here is a reconstructed image showing what the settlement might have looked like.
The village likely housed the people that built Stonehenge, and pilgrims may have feasted here too. Analysis of animal bones found at the site showed that pigs had been brought from all over Britain, including remote parts of Wales and Scotland. This helps the theory that Stonehenge was a ceremonial gathering place, whereas Durrington Walls was where people lived en masse. Pictured here is a reconstructed image of Neolithic builders constructing nearby Woodhenge.
South of Durrington Walls was Woodhenge, an oval-shaped monument made up of six concentric rings of timber posts, with sarsens added later. Built around the same time as Stonehenge and also aligned with the solstices, it was only discovered in 1925 thanks to aerial photography. Offerings found at the site include pottery, carved chalk objects and at least one human cremation – in contrast to the very few items unearthed at Stonehenge. Pictured here are markers showing visitors where the pillars once stood.
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Around 3900 BC, both hunter-gatherers and farmers enjoyed a communal feast just southeast of Stonehenge. Based on an ancient 'rubbish pit' of animal bones, we know they ate farmed cattle and hunted deer, while chemical analysis showed the two groups had come from different places and had prepared their meats in different ways. The meeting was such an unusual find that it's dubbed the Coneybury Anomaly. Salisbury Plain has clearly been an important meeting place for many millennia.
We also know when the Durrington Walls feast was held because the bones showed that the pigs were around nine months old when they were slaughtered. Therefore, if they were born during the previous spring, it means the majority were killed in midwinter – further evidence that it was a significant time for feasts, ceremonies and celebrations.
You can get a glimpse of Neolithic life at Stonehenge with these reconstructed dwellings just outside the visitor centre. They’re based on remains found at Durrington Walls dating back to 2500 BC, around the same time Stonehenge’s sarsens were placed. The houses were surprisingly bright, airy spaces made up of single rooms, with white chalk walls and floors, wooden or woven furniture and thatched roofs.
While the sarsens came from closer to home, the bluestones made the long journey from quarries in west Wales. It was long believed they were rolled along log 'rails' from the Carn Goedog valley before floating on rafts along the Welsh coast and up the River Avon. But in 2019, another outcrop at Craig Rhos-y-felin matched rocks found at Stonehenge. Because this outcrop is on the northern side of the Preseli Hills, some archaeologists think they could have taken a long detour to avoid the water, travelling 180 miles (289km) overland instead.
While we already know Stonehenge’s bluestones came from the Preseli Hills in southwest Wales, in 2021 new evidence suggested part of the stone circle was first built at an ancient site there called Waun Mawn (pictured). Archaeologists found the same rock type at both sites, plus a unique pentagonal-shaped stone hole similar to one of Stonehenge’s bluestones. This has led some historians to think that parts of the monolith were built then dismantled at Waun Mawn, and reassembled some 173 miles (280km) away at Salisbury Plain.
With the average bluestone weighing two tonnes, the average sarsen 20 tonnes and the largest sarsen nearly double that, how on Earth did Neolithic people manoeuvre the stones into place? English Heritage reckons they were hauled upright using ropes and wooden A-frames, but some archaeologists argue they were positioned using a similar approach to the Moai statues (pictured) on Rapa Nui (Easter Island). The stones could have been repeatedly rocked from side to side with levers, placing wooden blocks beneath each lifted side to create rubble mounds, before tugging each almost-upright megalith the rest of the way.
The tallest remaining standing stone is Stone 56, measuring 28 feet (8.5m) from base to tip, though 7 feet (2m) of that remains buried underground. This vertical stone would have had another upright sarsen next to it, allowing the winter solstice sunset to peek through the gap. The round tenon on top connected to a lintel (a horizontal beam), which would have left it looking like the other three-piece formations in the circle.
The word 'Stonehenge' probably derives from the Anglo-Saxon phrase stan-hengen, meaning 'stone hanging' or even 'gallows'. The earliest known use of the name was in 1130 AD, when historian Henry of Huntingdon listed "stanenges" as one of the four wonders of Britain in his Historia Anglorum (pictured).
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One fantastical explanation for Stonehenge hails back to Arthurian legend. In 1136, Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain recounts that giants first transported the stone circle from Africa to Ireland, before the wizard Merlin had them move it to the Salisbury site. This version of events was apparently widely accepted until the 16th century.
While the origin of the bluestones has long been known, this July 2020 study sheds some light on the source of the sarsens. After chemically analysing the sandstone boulders, the authors determined that they were probably quarried just 15 miles (25km) north of Stonehenge in West Woods, Wiltshire (pictured). But while 50 of the 52 stones shared the same chemical structure, the origins of the two other boulders remain a mystery.
Pictured here is The Avenue, a grassy path constructed after 2500 BC connecting the River Avon to Stonehenge. It probably served as a ceremonial approach to the site, as it's also aligned to the solstice's sunsets and sunrises. It wasn't identified until the 18th century, and is still visible as an earthwork today.
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There’s reason to think the winter solstice was more important to Stonehenge's patrons than its summer equivalent. This is partly because the setting midwinter sun lies straight ahead in prime position when walking up The Avenue. It’s also to do with farmers needing to know when the seasons were changing, as the shorter (and colder) days might have affected their produce. Perhaps marking the turning of the yearly cycle was one of the reasons Stonehenge was constructed in the first place.
For centuries, people following pagan, Celtic and Earth-centric belief systems have flocked to Stonehenge to mark the summer and winter solstices – often considered celebrations of change, nature and fertility. Wearing flowing robes and playing ancient instruments, they still gather in huge numbers at dawn and dusk each year to watch the sun rise and set over the stones.
In 2014, scientists used new technology to map the area around Stonehenge – and the results suggested that it didn’t stand alone. In fact, it could have been part of a wider network of at least 17 structures, including a long barrow used for complex burial rituals like the removal of flesh and limbs. The surrounding area is now thought to be "teeming with previously unseen archaeology".
Another finding suggested there was once a ‘super henge’ at Durrington Walls. Researchers picked up signals bouncing off monolithic stones buried a metre beneath the earth, leading to theories that a massive hundred-stone circle once stood on the site some 4,500 years ago, measuring up to a whopping 15 feet (4.5m) tall.
Sadly, in 2016 archaeologists realised there was no such thing. Excavations instead revealed large pits that had once held timber posts, since filled in with chalk rubble and hidden beneath a massive bank. It's still unclear why the site was dismantled, and some have speculated that religious or cultural tumult could be to blame. In the end, researchers are still baffled – and probably a little disappointed.
In 3500 BC, a huge rectangular enclosure called a cursus was built near the stone circle. It once had glistening white chalk sides and, when discovered in the 18th century, archaeologists initially and erroneously thought it was a Roman racecourse (cursus means racecourse in Latin). The enclosure complex included two monuments (now earthworks), several long barrows and a causewayed enclosure. Its ditches, banks and barrows are still visible today, as pictured here.
The 18th and 19th centuries were a chaotic time for poor Stonehenge. Upper-class tourists with an interest in the ancient world flocked to the site for picnic parties, chipping off shards to take home as souvenirs and even etching graffiti into the stones. One major sarsen fell in 1900 and was re-erected in 1901, after which visits gradually became more monitored.
Despite having no contact with each other, there are startling parallels between prehistoric Britain and Japan. The Ōyu Stone Circles in northern Japan (pictured) were built in the middle and late Jōmon periods – around the same time that Stonehenge was built and used. Similar to Stonehenge, they carried heavy stones from a nearby river and, while they used different engineering techniques, it clearly marked an extraordinary community effort to procure and transport large slabs for a specific site.
Ōyu’s stones were arranged in clusters and likely marked out burial sites, just as cremated remains were placed in and around monuments at Stonehenge. There’s even evidence suggesting Ōyu’s ‘sundial’ standing stones were aligned with the two solstices. If you want to learn more, the Stonehenge visitor centre is currently hosting an exhibition on the Ōyu and Isedōtai stone circles, ending August 2023.
In 1802, a Bronze Age burial site was excavated some 12 miles (19km) from Stonehenge. A collection of polished stones were uncovered, along with pierced animal bones that archaeologists suggested came from the costume of a shaman (a spiritual practitioner). The unassuming axes and shaped cobbles went under the radar for decades, but in 2022 a re-analysis of the stones offered startlingly different results...
Thanks to new technology, scientists spotted tiny traces of gold and wear marks on the stone tools, leading archaeologists to believe they formed part of an ancient goldsmith's toolkit. Once used by a skilled craftsperson to hammer and smooth sheets of gold, the grave goods were dated to between 1850 and 1700 BC and are associated with the Wessex culture which flourished during Stonehenge's twilight years. Could the so-called 'shaman's costume' have belonged to an expert goldsmith instead?
Around 1500 BC, Stonehenge's influence began to fade. As the Bronze Age began, people started leaving metal valuables as offerings to spirits and gods instead, which led to fewer large gatherings at stone circles across Britain and Ireland. Cultural and religious expressions began to shift, and the Stonehenge monument may even have fallen into disrepair. But today, three and a half millennia later, Stonehenge's legacy lives on.