Stonehenge

Overview

Located about 90 miles west of London, Stonehenge is one of the world’s most famous and mysterious prehistoric monuments. Built around the same time as Egypt’s Great Pyramid, this complex of giant stones, some weighing up to 30 tons, has captivated archaeologists and historians for more than a thousand years .

1440 Findings

Hours of research by our editors, distilled into minutes of clarity.

  • The strange theories around Stonehenge's origins

    Stonehenge was built before the wheel was even invented, making its construction even more mysterious. In response, some wild theories have sprung up. One text from the 12th century depicts a giant from the Nephilim race helping the wizard Merlin erect the stones. A popular book from the 1960s suggested that Stonehenge (along with the Egyptian and Mayan pyramids) was actually built using alien technology.

  • Archaeologist lays out how Stonehenge was built

    If you ask archaeologist Mike Pitts, the leading theories about how Stonehenge was built are all wrong. Instead of using wooden rollers to transport the sarsen stones, he suspects stone-age builders used sleds, and that they raised them not with long ropes but rather with the same technique islanders used to raise the big stone heads on Easter Island.

  • The battle of the beanfield at Stonehenge

    Back in the day, access to Stonehenge was free and open to all; families would picnic there, and there was even a Woodstock-inspired music festival that drew up to 100,000 attendees. Then, in 1985, Margaret Thatcher put the kibosh on the festival, blocking off road access and calling in 1,300 riot police to violently arrest festival goers. This documentary features footage from that day. People have been largely banned from the central part of the monument ever since, except on solstices and equinoxes.

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    The battle of the beanfield at Stonehenge

  • Solstice celebrations live from Stonehenge

    Every year, some 15,000 people make the pilgrimage to Stonehenge to watch the sunrise on the summer solstice. And hundreds of thousands more watch the event from home, live-streamed on YouTube. Among those that attend solstice celebrations in person are neo-druids in white hooded robes, performing spiritual ceremonies among the stones.

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    Solstice celebrations live from Stonehenge

  • A virtual tour of Stonehenge

    Prehistoric people approached Stonehenge via a route archaeologists call “The Avenue.” If they stood in the center of the circle and looked back down the Avenue on the summer solstice, they’d see the sunrise framed by the large sarsen stones. If you can’t visit Stonehenge in person, this interactive 3D virtual tour—complete with sidebars and video explainers—is the next best thing.

  • Breaking down the big questions around Stonehenge

    What is a henge anyway? Where did the theory that aliens built it come from? How did some guy manage to buy Stonehenge as a gift for his wife for only £6,000? Host Greg Jenner breaks down the big questions about Stonehenge on this comedic history podcast from BBC Radio 4, with help from stand-up comedian Richard Herring and archaeologist Susan Greaney.

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    BBC Radio 4 - You're Dead To Me Episode 13 Stonehenge巨石陣

  • How was Stonehenge built?

    If you can’t quite picture how human beings managed to lug 30-ton stones over miles of prehistoric English countryside and stand them up, this short animation from English Heritage can help. The Stone Age engineering involved using giant wooden rollers and carving precisely interlocking tongue-and-groove joints to hold the heavy stones in place.

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    How was Stonehenge built?

  • What did Stonehenge sound like?

    At the University of Salford, acoustics researcher Trevor Cox has been doing sound experiments on a scale model of Stonehenge that he keeps inside a soundproof studio. He found that the monument had concert-hall acoustics, which might tell us something about why it was built. A BBC video crew visited Cox’s office for a demonstration of its special sound.

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