A few things to remember about Stonehenge:
1. It was built in stages. We mistakenly imagine a large group of primitive people getting together, drawing up a plan, and then spending a hundred years or so doing all the work, from start to finish. Then when they're finished, they have a festival and a dedication ceremony. It didn't happen that way. The construction was done in stages, over a period of about 1700 years, and involved more than one "people" or culture.
And the construction didn't progress in a "straight line." At various times, structures that had been erected were taken down, and later were put back up.
In other words, they kept wanting to remodel. Over and over again.
2. Nobody knows for certain why it was built, who built it, or what it was used for. "Stonehenge" (the word "henge" means
"a hanging thing" or "a circle," depending on whose book you read) is located in the plain of Salisbury in England, 80 miles west of London and 30 miles north of the English Channel.
3. What we are certain about is the dates of the various stages of construction, because of radiometric dating of the stones.
There are more than 1300 stone "rings" (most of them are not circles, but are elliptical, or are in other geometric shapes) in Britain, Ireland, and France.
Stonehenge has a long and complicated history.
Stonehenge I: The site was first established ca. 3200 BCE (making it two centuries older than the Great Pyramid of Egypt) by the building of two "structures:" (1) a large circular trench, 320 feet in diameter, with an opening toward the northeast, and with
a built-up bank around its inner edge, and (2) a concentric partial circle made up of 56 pits, the "Aubrey holes," named after the man who discovered them. These pits may have once held wooden posts to support a
fence or a wall. The bones of cremated humans were found in these holes, along with indications that the holes have been filled in and dug out more than once.
This is when the "Slaughter Stone" (located at the break in the big circle, slightly off to one side) and the "Heel Stone" (located outside the circle) were probably erected, along with the "Station Stones" (see diagram below).
At this point, "Stonehenge" was not a stone circle at all, and it wasn't very spectacular.
Near the site (outside the circles) are "barrows" (caves) containing skeletal human remains, some of which are oriented toward the north; the remains were placed there with small stones (possibly talismans).
"Stonehenge I" predates, by about 1000 years, the arrival of Druids in Britain. Although it is believed that the Druids may have used the site at one time, they certainly did not build Stonehenge.
Stonehenge II: Ca. 2800 BCE. Sometime during this period, a double circle of free-standing stones inside the large circle was erected and subsequently dismantled.
Stonehenge III: Ca. 2500 BCE, the "Wessex culture" took over the site, and brought stones from a site 20 miles north of Stonehenge - the "Sarcen stones." These stones (30 upright stones in all), twelve feet tall, form(ed) a "stone fence with stones on top," 100 feet in diameter and 16 feet high. This "fence" is still partially standing.
Inside the Sarcen stone circle, the Wessex people also set up the five "trilithons" (dolmens). A trilithon is two upright stones topped by a horizontal "lintel" stone. The five trilithons form a semicircle/horseshoe shape. In each trilithon, the upright stones are made up of one smooth and one rough stone. The trilithons are not of equal height, but "ascend" as one goes around the horseshoe. Inside the horseshoe is the so-called "Altar Stone."
The Wessex culture seems to have worshipped (or may have just been concerned with) the sun rather than the moon, judging by the orientation of the structures they erected. This particular group "worked on" the site for about a thousand years, from ca. 2500 BCE to ca. 1500 BCE.
During this time, the "Avenue" was built. It leads from the inside of the circle out the opening, toward the northeast.
It is believed that after 1500 BCE, there was no further construction done on Stonehenge.
Around 500 BCE the site was abandoned, and was never thereafter used in any meaningful way. It is believed that the Romans deliberately knocked down some of the trilithons, and that they would otherwise still be standing today.
From a great height, one can still see the "Avenue" leading into the structure from the northeast - on summer solstice day, if one looks "back" down the avenue (i.e.,toward the northeast), one sees the rising sun appearing "at the end of the road."
