Stonehenge
About Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, two miles (3 km) west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around 13 feet (4.0 m) high, seven feet (2.1 m) wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connecting horizontal lintel stones which are held in place with mortise and tenon joints—a feature unique among contemporary monuments. Inside is a ring of smaller bluestones. Inside, these are free-standing trilithons, two bulkier vertical sarsens joined by a single lintel. The whole monument, now in ruins, is aligned towards the sunrise on the summer solstice and sunset on the winter solstice. The stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the densest complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred tumuli.
On the show · 112 mentions total
Stonehenge is not officially a proper henge, as its main ditch is external to the main bank.
More facts about Stonehenge
They now think Stonehenge was actually built in Wales, then taken down Ikea-style and shipped over.
522: No Such Thing As Monet's Bog Cottons · listen
For 90 years archaeologists dug on the wrong hill looking for where Stonehenge's stones came from, until Dr Richard Bevins of the National Museum of Wales found the right one a mile away.
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Almost every single stone at Stonehenge has been moved between 1901 and 1964.
89: No Such Thing As Utah Fried Chicken · listen
In 1915 a wealthy barrister called Sir Cecil Chubb went to an auction in Salisbury intending to buy a pair of curtains, and bought Stonehenge instead.
522: No Such Thing As Monet's Bog Cottons · listen
One theory is that Stonehenge was a prehistoric glockenspiel, because if you hit the stones they ring in a really nice way and acoustically it is very good.
89: No Such Thing As Utah Fried Chicken · listen
There is evidence people were doing something at Stonehenge in every period from when it was built to now, apart from the late Iron Age, the very time the Druids were supposed to have been around.
89: No Such Thing As Utah Fried Chicken · listen
Stonehenge is late Neolithic, built between 3100 and 1600 BC, and it took about 1500 years to finish.
One theory is that Stonehenge was basically a meeting place and community centre, an attempt to get people together during a time of big population decline and dispersal.
550: No Such Thing as an Ice Cream at Stonehenge · listen
Another theory is that Stonehenge was a barbecue site, after animal bones found there showed burn marks suggesting they were turned like an Aussie barbecue.
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The Folkton drums, chalk cylinders about 5,000 years old, may be the original tape measures used for Stonehenge, each sized in multiples of 3.2 metres.
No Such Thing as an Ice Cream at Stonehenge · listen
They have given a couple of the stones at Stonehenge names, notably Adam and Eve.
No Such Thing as an Ice Cream at Stonehenge · listen
You used to be able to touch the stones at Stonehenge and even chip bits off, but now they really do not like it if you touch them.
No Such Thing As Monet's Bog Cottons · listen
There are replicas of Stonehenge all over the world, including Carhenge in Nebraska, Phonehenge in South Carolina, and one built by the Tasmanian town of Buckland.
89: No Such Thing As Utah Fried Chicken · listen
People have been complaining about the sheer number of Stonehenge theories since at least the early 1800s.
No Such Thing as an Ice Cream at Stonehenge · listen
One theory is that Stonehenge was a kind of service station, something to look at along an ancient trade route.
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Coordinates: 51.1789, -1.8261