Other seventeenth- and eighteenth-century visitors to the stone rings suggested that these monuments were constructed by the Romans, but this idea is even more lacking in historical possibility than the Druid theory because the Romans did not set foot on the British Isles until the final years of the first century BC, nearly 2000 years after the construction of the stone rings.
During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, prehistorians attributed Stonehenge and other stone rings to Egyptian and Mycenaean travelers who were thought to have came to Europe in the Bronze Age. But with the development of modern techniques of research this theory was also abandoned as the megalithic monuments of Britain and Europe were shown to predate those of the eastern Mediterranean, Egyptian, Mycenaean, and Greek cultures. After years of different theories now the more probable is that the stones were built by three different cultures- Windmill, First Wessex and the Beakers.
Here appears another question. How these prehistoric people without usage of modern tools could built such an incredible construction? It certainly required great power and vast amounts of manual labor. It’s important to say that everything was done before the wheel was invented. Over the years, various authors have suggested that supernatural or anachronistic methods were used, usually asserting that the stones were impossible to move otherwise. Although it seems to be impossible archeologists claim that they discovered how the Stonehenge was created. Those who built Stonehenge knew how to cut and move very large pieces of stone and place horizontal stone beams across the upright pillars. They also had authority to control large numbers of workers add fetch some of the stones from distant parts of Wales.
The site was built during three distinct periods. At the beginning Stonehenge was a circular ditch with an internal bank. The circle had a single entrance, 56 mysterious holes around its perimeter and a wooden sanctuary in the middle. It’s believed that the ditch was dug with tools made from the antlers of red deer and possibly wood. The underlying chalk was loosened with picks and shoveled with the shoulderblades of cattle. It was then loaded into baskets and carried away. Modern scientists recreated the process and found the prehistoric instruments to work almost as well as modern tools. During 2nd period dated on around 2500 BC the wooden sanctuary was replaced with two circles of eighty "bluestones” transported from the Prescelly Mountains in Wales, 240 miles away, some weighing as much as four tons. Since the bluestone quarry was so far away, this poses another question: how did the Beaker people, responsible for building the second stage of Stonehenge, transport them to Salisbury Plain? Scientists think they know the answer. The Beaker People first loaded the bluestones onto sledges with wooden runners on the bottom. Then they drug the sledges over a long line of rounded logs. Carried by roller and sledge across land to the headwaters of Milford Haven, they then floated on rafts to what is today Frome in Somerset. From there the Beaker peoples hauled the stones over land to Warminster in Wiltshire. Floating down the River Wylye, they went up the Salisbury Avon to West Arnesbury. From there the workers had only short 2 mile drag to the Stonehenge. In the final stage (2075 BC) the bluestones were taken down and the enormous stones which still stand today were erected. Each weighted as much as 50 tons. They probably were transported from near the Avebury stone rings twenty miles to the north. Between 1500 and 1100 BC sixty of the bluestones were placed in a circle immediately inside the first circle, and another nineteen were placed in a horseshoe pattern, also inside the circle. How they did it? One theory suggests that the Wessex peoples only transported stones when there was ice on the ground so the stones would just slide along. Stonehenge was probably completed around 1500 BC.
Despite years of archeological research it’s very hard to understand the motives behind the building of a monument such as Stonehenge. If the builders and to process of construction are somewhat a mystery to us, then the reasons to build Stonehenge can only be based on assumptions. Stonehenge is interpreted to be a structure with multiple purposes and there is no way we could say that one idea is better than other. Here comes the most known and popular theories about purpose of Stonehenge.
Many researchers have argued that Stonehenge was a site of religious rites of its time. Remains of pig bones found on the site emphasize that theory because no pig skulls were found among the bones. This means that the animals had to have brought to the site ready to cook which could be done for the sake of the gods or the clergymen. Some people believe that the Stonehenge was also the place of for human sacrifice. But what was the nature of the rituals performed at Stonehenge? Archeologists theorize that because Stonehenge is situated in an area rich in burial tombs, some burial rituals might take place there. Mike Parker Pearson, head of the Stonehenge Riverside Project, suggested that Stonehenge was part of a ritual landscape and was joined to Durrington Walls by their corresponding avenues and the River Avon. The area around Durrington Walls henge was a land of the living, while Stonehenge was a domain of the dead. A journey along the Avon to reach Stonehenge was part of a ritual passage from life to death, to celebrate past ancestors and the recently deceased. But was religion or sacrifice the main reason for building Stonehenge? The question derives from the fact that no verbal or written heritage has survived through the times about the ideas and motives of builders of the stones.
The other popular theory says that the stones served as an astronomical observatory. For some archeologists Stonehenge is like an astronomical computer- it is designed so that Midsummer sunrise and Midwinter moonrise fall within the horseshoe. So Stonehenge could also be used to mark or calculate other astronomical events such as the summer and winter solstice. Witch this information ancient people could establish where they were in the circle of seasons. Probably the best known study of "astronomical Stonehenge" is Gerald Hawkins’ Stonehenge Decoded in which he uses a modern computer to calculate all the sightlines (line of sight from one point in Stonehenge to a body of sky via landmarks such as stones) and their relation to objects of sky, mostly the Moon and the Sun, though. It means that Ancient people could measure the movements of the sun, the moon, and perhaps, the stars. Some archeologists claim that it can easily be called a calendar. Stonehenge offered a way to establish calendar dates when no other way existed. Accurate dating allowed for far more efficient and successful agriculture as well as marking important social and religious events.
In modern research new theory appears. Professors Darvill and Wainwright are not convinced that Stonehenge was a tool for calculating dates. Instead they believe that the site was a centre of healing to which the sick and injured travelled from far and wide, to be healed by the powers of the bluestones. They suggest that the smaller bluestones in the circle, rather that enormous sarsen stoneshad the power of healing. They were transported from about 250 km and there must be a good reason for it. Professors add that a huge number of the corpses found in tombs nearby Stonehenge display signs of serious physical injury and disease. What is more analysis of teeth recovered from graves show that around half of the corpses were from people who were not native to the Stonehenge area. That may suggest that Stonehenge would attract not only people who were unwell, but also people who were capable of healing them.
Every year a million of tourists make their way to Stonehenge. Although many of original stones have fallen or been removed by previous generations the monument still art act people from all over the world. There is a lot that have to be done to solve the mystery of the stones. After years of the research we are almost certain that the Stonehenge was built in several stages spanning over 1500 years. We know too that it was probably erected by three cultures- Windmill, First Wessex and the Beakers. Archeologists can also predict which tools were used. They have gone same way in answering the ‘how’, ‘what’ and ‘when’ of Stonehenge. But what we don’t know is perhaps the most important question of all. They’re still some way from a definitive answer to question ‘why’.
Taking into consideration time and effort involved in building of the construction we can be pretty sure that the Stonehenge was one of the most significant points on the landscape of of late Neolithic Europe and only something very important to ate ancients would have been worth the effort and investment that it took to construct the monument.
Perhaps some facts about Stonehenge will never be known but it is mystery that makes the site one of the most popular places in the world that attracts visitors and fascinates them.
