Click here to go BACK to the main page

STONEHENGE - A megalithic monument dating from about 2800 BC on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England. It consisted originally of a circle of 30 upright stones, their tops linked by lintel stones to form a continuous circle about 30 meters across. Within the circle was a horseshoe arrangement of five trilithons (two uprights plus a lintel, set at five different entities), and a stone known as an "altar stone" - an upright pillar - on the axis of the horseshoe at the open end which faces North East into the rising sun. It has been suggested that the sight was used as an observatory. The main uprights are made of local sandstone and measure about 5.5m by 2m and weigh around 26 tonnes each. The secondary circle was made of bluestones and were brought from Pembrokeshire, Wales. The true purpose of Stonehenge may never be known.