Erin Hayashida
SDC 250
11/6/19
Stonehenge
Like a powerful magnet, Stonehenge has long attracted alluring theories as to the who,
what, why and how of this megalith structure. It predates the Egyptian Pyramids by five
centuries and holds the lead for mystery due to the absence of indigenous written language to
explain any of it. It is with the few clues of this structure that leads to an infinite amount of of
legends, science, technological innovation, spirituality, astronomical measurement, projection,
mythology, and nonsense to explain it, rising like so many scaffoldings visible only to the
believers.
At about 1500 BC, the Stonehenge consisted of a circular ditch with a raised bank on the
inside. Within the bank was a circle of 30 sarsen stones with lintels creating a raised circle,
today only 17 of those stones still stand and few of the lintels are still in position. Within the
ring were five trilithons arranged in a horseshoe. On the open side of the horseshoe, outside the
ditch, was the heel stone, approximately 120 feet from the ring. There are also four "station
stones" set in a rectangle outside the ring. The station stones may have been used to predict the
movement of the moon. Once a year during the summer solstice, people from around the world
travel to see the sun will rise in alignment with the heel stone illuminating the whole structure
creating an almost ethereal atmosphere.
One theory suggests that Stonehenge was used as a Late Neolithic burial site and a
monument to the dead due to the large number of sometimes burned skeletal remains found on
site. In recent excavations, there was an abnormally large number of bones exhibiting evidence
of distinct trauma or deformity, offering more credence to the theory that people traveled from
far and wide to Stonehenge in hopes of being healed by the power of the mythically magical
bluestones (Shabi, 2014). The evidence to support this theory is the burial mounds dotted all
around the landscape and monument.
Another theory states Stonehenge's celestial influence and apparent alignment with the
planetary bodies, reminiscent of an ancient scientific observatory that connected the Earth to the
sky. Researchers have studied the placement of the stones and believe they were carefully
positioned based on early astronomical knowledge. Researchers that studied this theory
concluded that it was likely to track the movement of the sun, moon and stars thousands of years
ago. Also, during Astronomer Gerald Hawkin's 1965 analysis, he identified 165 separate points
at Stonehenge that could be linked to astrological phenomena, which included the two solstices
and equinoxes, as well as lunar and solar eclipses (Evans, 2019). Learning how connected the
ancient civilizations were to the earth and sky, I believe this theory the most.
It is also theorized that the monument was a site of pilgrimage and healing. Due to the
size and mass of the stones used, the strategy of maneuvering them would have needed a very
good reason and motive. Chippings carved out