Stonehenge is a very old structure made of large stones located on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, about two miles (3 km) west of Amesbury. It has a circle of tall sarsen stones, each about 13 feet (4.0 m) high, seven feet (2.1 m) wide, and weighing about 25 tons. These stones are connected by horizontal stones called lintels, which are held together with special joints that are unique to this monument. Inside the circle are smaller bluestones arranged in a ring. Some of these stones form trilithons, which are two large vertical stones connected by one lintel. The monument, now partially ruined, is aligned with the sunrise on the summer solstice and the sunset on the winter solstice. The stones are placed within earthworks in the center of a large area with many ancient Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments, including hundreds of tumuli (burial mounds).
Stonehenge was built in several stages, starting around 3100 BC and continuing until about 1600 BC. The famous circle of large sarsen stones was placed between 2600 BC and 2400 BC. The earliest part of the monument, a circular earth bank and ditch, dates back to about 3100 BC. Radiocarbon dating shows that the bluestones were placed in their current positions between 2400 BC and 2200 BC, though they may have been at the site as early as 3000 BC.
Stonehenge is one of the most famous landmarks in the United Kingdom and is considered a symbol of British culture. It has been legally protected since the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882 was passed. The site and its surroundings were added to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites in 1986. Stonehenge is owned by the Crown Estate and managed by English Heritage. The land around it is owned by the National Trust.
Stonehenge may have been used as a burial place from the beginning. Bones found in the area date back to as early as 3000 BC, when the ditch and bank were first built, and this practice continued for at least 500 years.
Etymology
The Oxford English Dictionary references Ælfric's 10th-century dictionary, where "henge-cliff" is described as meaning "precipice" or "stone." This explains why 11th-century writers recorded "stanenges" or "Stanheng," near Salisbury, as "stones supported in the air." In 1740, William Stukeley wrote that "pendulous rocks" in Yorkshire were called "henges," and he believed the name "Stonehenge" in Old Saxon meant "hanging stones." Christopher Chippindale's book Stonehenge Complete explains that the name "Stonehenge" comes from the Old English words "stān" (meaning "stone") and either "hencg" (meaning "hinge," because the stone lintels rest on upright stones) or "hen(c)en" (meaning "to hang," "gallows," or "instrument of torture"). Chippindale also mentions that the name may derive from the idea of "suspended stones."
The word "henge" is used to describe a group of ancient monuments called henges. Archaeologists define henges as circular structures made of a banked wall and an inner ditch. This term comes from older descriptions used by early researchers, which are still used in archaeology today.
Early history
Mike Parker Pearson, leader of the Stonehenge Riverside Project based at Durrington Walls, noted that Stonehenge was used for burial from the time it was first built until its peak in the mid-third millennium B.C. The cremation burials found during the sarsen stones phase are likely one of many from that period, showing that Stonehenge remained a place connected to the dead.
Stonehenge was built in several stages over at least 1,500 years. Evidence suggests that construction and activity around the site may have begun as long as 6,500 years ago. However, understanding the timeline of these stages is difficult due to natural chalk changes, animal digging, poor early excavation records, and a lack of precise scientific dates. Most archaeologists agree on the following modern timeline, with features numbered and shown on a plan.
Archaeologists found four or possibly five large postholes from the Mesolithic period (around 8,000 B.C.) beneath the old tourist car park. These postholes held pine posts about 0.75 meters in diameter, which rotted in place over time. Three of the posts (and possibly four) were aligned east-west, which may have had ritual meaning. A similar ancient site in Britain, Warren Field in Aberdeenshire, is considered the world's oldest lunisolar calendar, corrected yearly by observing the midwinter solstice. Similar sites later appeared in Scandinavia. A settlement near Stonehenge, Blick Mead, may have existed at the same time as these posts.
Salisbury Plain was still wooded 4,000 years ago, but during the earlier Neolithic period, people built a causewayed enclosure at Robin Hood’s Ball and long barrow tombs nearby. In about 3500 B.C., a Stonehenge Cursus was built 700 meters north of the site as early farmers cleared trees and developed the area. Other structures and burial mounds may date back to 4000 B.C. Charcoal from Blick Mead has been dated to that time. The University of Buckingham’s Humanities Research Institute believes the people who built Stonehenge lived there for many centuries, making it a key place in the history of the Stonehenge landscape.
The first monument was a circular bank and ditch made of Late Cretaceous Seaford chalk, about 110 meters in diameter. It had a large entrance to the northeast and a smaller one to the south. The ditch was dug in sections and filled with deer and oxen bones, as well as flint tools. The bones were older than the antler picks used to dig the ditch, suggesting they were buried after being cared for. The chalk from the ditch formed the bank. This stage dates to around 3100 B.C., after which the ditch began to fill with soil. Inside the enclosed area were 56 pits, called Aubrey holes, named after John Aubrey. These pits, along with the bank and ditch, are known as the Palisade or Gate Ditch. The pits may have once held standing timbers, though no evidence of them has been found. Recent studies suggest the Aubrey holes may have originally held a bluestone circle, pushing the earliest known stone structure at Stonehenge back by 500 years.
In 2013, archaeologists led by Parker Pearson found over 50,000 cremated bone fragments from 63 individuals buried at Stonehenge. These remains were originally buried individually in the Aubrey holes but were later moved and reburied in one hole by William Hawley in 1935. Analysis showed the remains included men, women, and children. Evidence suggests the first bluestones from Wales were used as grave markers. Radiocarbon dating placed the site’s use around 3000 B.C., 500 years earlier than previously thought. A 2018 study found many of the buried individuals likely came from near the source of the bluestones in Wales.
Between 2017 and 2021, studies suggested the bluestones used at Stonehenge were moved from a stone circle at Waun Mawn in the Preseli Hills, Wales. This circle had the same size as the first known Stonehenge circle and was dismantled around 300–400 years after being built (about 3400–3200 B.C.). One stone from Waun Mawn was reused at Stonehenge, identified by its pentagonal shape and soil dating. The abandonment of that area around the same time as Stonehenge’s construction suggests migration may have occurred, though other stones may have come from different sources.
The second construction phase occurred between 2900 and 2600 B.C. Postholes from this period suggest timber structures were built within the enclosure. Additional timbers were placed at the northeast entrance, and posts lined the southern entrance. These postholes were smaller than the Aubrey holes and less regularly spaced. The bank was intentionally lowered, and the ditch continued to fill with soil.
At least 25 of the Aubrey holes later contained cremation burials from the two centuries after Stonehenge’s creation. This suggests the holes’ original purpose changed to funerary use during this phase. Thirty more cremations were found in the ditch and other areas of the monument, mostly in the eastern half. Stonehenge is now understood as an enclosed cremation cemetery, the earliest known in the British Isles. Unburnt human bone fragments were also found in the ditch. Dating evidence comes from late Neolithic grooved ware pottery found with features from this phase.
Archaeological work showed that around
Function and construction
Stonehenge was created by a culture that did not leave written records. Many details about Stonehenge, such as how it was built and what it was used for, are still debated by experts. Several myths exist about the stones. The site includes features like the great trilithon, the horseshoe arrangement of five central trilithons, the heel stone, and the embanked avenue. These features are aligned with the sunset of the winter solstice and the sunrise of the summer solstice. A natural landform at the site followed this line and may have influenced the monument’s design. It has been suggested that the monument’s design might have functioned as a celestial observatory, possibly helping people predict events like eclipses, solstices, and equinoxes that were important to their beliefs. Excavated animal bones suggest people may have gathered at the site during winter rather than summer.
There is little direct evidence about the methods used to build Stonehenge. Some people have claimed supernatural or advanced methods were used, arguing the stones could not have been moved because of their size. However, experiments have shown that simple Neolithic tools, such as shear legs, could move large stones. One common theory is that people used a track of logs to roll stones. Another theory involves a sleigh-like device on a greased track. In 1995, an experiment successfully moved a 40-ton stone slab over an 18-mile journey using this method, with more than 100 workers.
Possible purposes for Stonehenge include use as an astronomical observatory or a religious site. In the 1960s, Gerald Hawkins described how the site may have been used to track the Sun and Moon over a 56-year cycle. More recently, Geoffrey Wainwright and Timothy Darvill proposed that Stonehenge was a place of healing, similar to modern sites like Lourdes. They argue that the high number of burials and signs of injuries in some graves support this idea. They also suggest the site may have been used for ancestor worship. Isotope analysis shows some buried individuals came from other regions. A teenage boy buried around 1550 BC lived near the Mediterranean Sea. A metalworker from 2300 BC, called the "Amesbury Archer," grew up near the Alpine foothills of Germany. The "Boscombe Bowmen" likely came from Wales or Brittany, France.
Mike Parker Pearson of Sheffield University proposed that Stonehenge was part of a ritual landscape connected to Durrington Walls through their shared avenues and the River Avon. He suggests that Durrington Walls was a place for the living, while Stonehenge was a place for the dead. A journey along the River Avon to Stonehenge may have symbolized a passage from life to death, honoring ancestors and the recently deceased. These ideas were first mentioned in the 12th century by Geoffrey of Monmouth, who claimed the stones had healing powers and that Stonehenge was a funerary monument.
Other theories exist. A team led by Mike Parker Pearson suggests Stonehenge may have been built as a symbol of peace and unity, reflecting a time of cultural unity among Neolithic people in Britain.
Stonehenge includes smaller bluestones and larger sarsens, which are silicified sandstone boulders found in southern England. The bluestones are made of materials like dolerite, tuff, rhyolite, or sandstone. They likely came from the Preseli hills in southwestern Wales, about 140 miles away. The Altar Stone may have come from east Wales. A 2020 study found the sarsens originated from West Woods, about 16 miles from Stonehenge.
Researchers from the Royal College of Art in London discovered that the bluestones have unusual acoustic properties. When struck, they produce a loud, ringing sound. Similar rocks in the Preseli region were used as church bells until the 18th century. These acoustic properties may explain why such stones were transported long distances, as some ancient cultures believed ringing rocks had mystical or healing powers. This supports the theory that Stonehenge was a place for healing, as suggested by Timothy Darvill.
Stonehenge-builders and DNA studies
There is evidence that even after farming was introduced to the British Isles, people stopped growing cereals between 3300 and 1500 BC. Instead, many people focused on raising animals like pigs and cattle, and gathering hazelnuts. During this time, most major parts of Stonehenge were built. However, clear signs of large-scale farming from this period are not clearly present. Similar patterns of non-cereal farming and large stone structures are found at sites like Poverty Point and Sannai Maruyama.
Scientists studied DNA from Neolithic human remains in Britain and found that the people who built Stonehenge I and II were closely related to early farming groups from Iberia and Central Europe. These groups had about 75% ancestry from early farmers who originally came from the Eastern Mediterranean and moved westward, and 25% ancestry from hunter-gatherers in western Europe. These farmers first reached Iberia, then moved north to Britain around 4,000 BC. Most Neolithic farmers in Britain came from this route, with a smaller influence from groups who traveled through the Danube into Central and Western Europe. Their farming methods likely originated in Anatolia, and the mixing of these groups mostly happened on the continent before they moved to Britain.
When these farmers arrived in Britain, the island was already home to hunter-gatherer groups, who had lived there since the end of the last Ice Age about 11,700 years ago. The farmers largely replaced the hunter-gatherer population with little mixing between the groups.
Although these early farmers had mostly ancestry from the Aegean region, their male DNA lineages were mostly from Western Hunter-Gatherers. This pattern was also seen in other groups who built large stone structures in northwest Europe. This suggests that these groups were descended from hunter-gatherer men and farmer women. The dominance of Western Hunter-Gatherer male lineages in Britain and northwest Europe is also seen in a general increase in hunter-gatherer ancestry, mainly from males, across western and central Europe during the Middle Neolithic.
Around 2500 BC, the Bell Beaker people arrived in Britain from mainland Europe. They lived alongside the Neolithic people for about 500 years, and the Bell Beaker people likely included the henge structures in their beliefs. The earliest people in Britain connected to the Beaker culture, who likely spoke Indo-European languages and had ancestors from the Pontic–Caspian steppe, were similar to people from the Rhine region. Eventually, the Bell Beaker people replaced most of the Neolithic population in Britain. More than 90% of the Neolithic genetic makeup in Britain was replaced by the Bell Beaker people, who had about 50% ancestry from Western Steppe Herders.
Roman era
In 1979, Richard J. C. Atkinson used new methods for studying layers of soil and stone to prove that the theory about the Roman army trying to destroy the monument as a place of druidic resistance was incorrect. He found that stone pieces he had earlier thought were part of layers from the 4th or 5th century AD actually belonged to the original builders preparing the stones or to cutting stone for building during the Middle Bronze Age. An excavation in 2008, along with a review of earlier findings, showed that during the Roman period, the monument had a lot of activity, more than just occasional use. Items such as coins from the late 4th century, many Roman pottery pieces, and bones of animals buried in pits suggested the site was important for rituals or ceremonies. The end of a trench shaped like a square, which included a bluestone slab and a Roman coin, was thought to be a burial site.
Medieval period
In 1926, William Hawley discovered a headless skeleton of a man between 28 and 32 years old near Y-Hole 9, located on the central axis within the stone circles. Testing showed the skeleton dates to between 600 and 690 AD. The burial site was shallow, and the body had been pushed into the space tightly, causing most of the ribs to break. The head was placed on top of the body. Archaeologist Mike Pitts believes the remains suggest a sacrificial or judicial execution, showing that Stonehenge remained important during the Middle Ages. He notes that holes near the grave may have been part of a gallows, linking the site to the word "henge," which means "hanging." Aubrey Burl, however, argues that the name "henge" refers to the shape of the trilithons, which look like a frame for hanging multiple people.
Modern history
Throughout history, Stonehenge and nearby monuments have interested historians and archaeologists. Architect Inigo Jones believed Stonehenge was built during Roman times. In 1666, John Aubrey studied the site carefully and recorded pits now called the Aubrey holes. William Stukeley continued Aubrey's work in the early 1700s and studied other nearby monuments, such as the Cursus and the Avenue, though his identification of these was incorrect. He also dug into nearby barrows and linked the landscape to the Druids. Stukeley named some barrows "Druids' Barrows" because of his interest in Druids.
The most accurate early plan of Stonehenge was made by architect John Wood in 1740. His plan was drawn before the collapse of the southwest trilithon in 1797, which was later restored in 1958.
In the early 1800s, William Cunnington studied the area and dug into 24 barrows, finding charred wood, bones, pottery, and urns. He also found the hole where the Slaughter Stone once stood. Richard Colt Hoare helped Cunnington and dug 379 barrows on Salisbury Plain, including 200 near Stonehenge. They left metal tokens in each barrow to mark their work. Cunnington’s findings are now displayed at the Wiltshire Museum. In 1877, Charles Darwin studied the site to test how remains sink into the earth for his book on worms.
On December 31, 1900, Stone 22 fell during a storm. In 1901, William Gowland restored the monument, straightening and setting stone 56 in concrete. He also conducted a scientific excavation, learning more about how the stones were raised. In 1920, William Hawley excavated parts of the monument, found a bottle of wine in the Slaughter Stone socket, rediscovered Aubrey’s pits, and located the Y and Z Holes outside the Sarsen Circle.
In the 1940s and 1950s, Richard Atkinson, Stuart Piggott, and J.F.S. Stone re-examined Hawley’s work and found carved axes and daggers on the stones. Atkinson’s research helped clarify the monument’s three construction phases.
In 1958, three standing stones were re-erected and set in concrete. In 1963, stone 23 of the Sarsen Circle fell and was later restored. Later archaeologists, like Christopher Chippindale and Brian Edwards, pushed for public awareness of past restorations. In 2004, English Heritage included restoration photos in a book titled Stonehenge: A History in Photographs.
In 1966 and 1967, Faith and Lance Vatcher excavated land northwest of Stonehenge, finding postholes from 7000–8000 BC and a palisade ditch. Aerial surveys later showed this ditch ran near the Avenue.
In 1978, Atkinson and John Evans found the remains of the Stonehenge Archer in the outer ditch. In 1979, digging near the Heel Stone revealed a new stone hole.
In the 1980s, Julian C. Richards studied the surrounding landscape, dating features like the Lesser Cursus and Coneybury Henge.
In 1993, the House of Commons criticized how Stonehenge was presented to the public. English Heritage responded by compiling all past research, leading to the 1995 publication Stonehenge in its Landscape, which re-examined the monument’s history.
Between 2003 and 2008, the Stonehenge Riverside Project, led by Mike Parker Pearson, studied nearby monuments like Durrington Walls and found another Avenue leading to the River Avon. Excavations near the Stonehenge Avenue revealed a circular area that may have held four stones.
In 2008, Tim Darvill and Geoff Wainwright dug inside the stone circle, dating some bluestone pillars to 2300 BC. They also found organic material from 7000 BC, showing the site was used long before Stonehenge was built. Julian C. Richards and Mike Pitts removed cremated remains from Aubrey Hole 7, reinterring them in 1935. A licence allowed this removal, requiring the remains to be reinterred within two years.
In 2009, a new study found a small mound between stones 54 and 10, possibly part of the original monument. A shallow bank between the Y and Z Holes was also discovered.