STONEHENGE: AN INTRODUCTION

 

When we talk about Stonehenge, we are actually talking about several separate elements that combine to make up the archaeological site. These include: the "henge", the circular bank and ditch; the sarsen monument within the henge; the bluestone arrangements; the Station Stones and the so-called Slaughter Stone; the Heel Stone; numerous arrangements of pits and postholes; and the Avenue leading from the henge to the Avon. They were not all built or used at the same time: indeed, the construction of the monument spans almost a thousand years! It is important to understand that it did not take this long to build: Stonehenge was built in a number of phases, sometimes separated from one another by hundreds of years. The current thinking about the construction sequence goes like this:

1. 3000BC - 2700BC: The Bank and Ditch, the Aubrey Holes, the cremation cemetery, posthole arrangements around the north-east and south entrances through the ditch. Based on numerous radiocarbon dates.

2a. 2500BC: the Sarsen Stone Circle and the five Sarsen Trilithons. The first physical evidence for the Bluestones comes from this same period, from features known as the "Q & R Holes".

2b. 2300BC: the Bluestone circle between the Sarsen circle and the trilithons, and an oval arrangement of bluestones within the five trilithons. The Avenue may have been built at this time or slightly later.

2c. 2100BC: rearrangement of the bluestones which gave us the final bluestone circle and a 'horseshoe' of larger bluestones in place of the earlier oval.

2d.  2100BC - 1700BC: Two more rings of pits just outside the Sarsen circle (known as the 'Y' & 'Z' Holes), the carvings of Bronze Age style axe-heads and daggers on some of the Sarsens.

 

1. The Bank and Ditch 

These were the earliest features on the site, along with a ring of 56 pits, known as the Aubrey Holes, just inside the bank. The ditch was dug around 2950BC  in a series of joined segments, and the Bank was made up from the chalk and soil removed from the Ditch. There is overwhelming evidence that the Aubrey Holes held some form of pillars, either wooden posts or large stones. The latest thinking among a number of archaeologists is that these pillars were in reality the first arrangement of the Welsh Bluestones [see The Bluestone Controversy below], pushing the links between Stonehenge and western Wales back to the very beginning of the story.

     At this time the site was used as a cemetery for cremation burials. At least 67 cremations are known from the 34 Aubrey holes excavated so far, while estimates for the total number vary between 100 and 180. It is the largest Neolithic cremation cemetery known in Britain. Only a few of the cremations have been dated, and they show a cluster in the two centuries after the Aubrey holes were dug. But at least one dates from close to the start of phase two, which has been used to suggest continuous use of the cemetery. I think it more likely that there was a renewed interest in the site around the time the new Sarsen circle was built, and that perhaps a few burials were interred as part of the construction of phase 2.

 

2. The Sarsen Temple, 

This structure, comprising the 60 stones of the Sarsen circle and the 15 stones forming the five trilithons, was almost certainly built as a single project, meticulously planned and executed - I say this because there are no broken or half finished stones around the site, there are no clear signs of mistakes on the stones - and quite possibly it was completed within a single lifetime. If as few as three stones were brought in, shaped, and erected each year, the temple would be essentially complete within 25 years; if just five were put up every year, it would take only 15 years to complete.

The stones vary in weight between about 12 tons and 40 tons, the lintels being at the lighter end of the range. They were brought from the Marlborough Downs, from a site today known as West Woods, across the Wiltshire countryside to Stonehenge, a distance of 17 - 20 miles (depending on the chosen route). There is still a theory that they may have travelled part of the way by water, but the land route is fairly direct and the problems inherent in transferring these massive blocks from land to water and back again for such a brief transit makes it seem more trouble than it was worth. That's assuming you could find a way to float a 30 ton sarsen in such shallow water in the first place.

The structure they built is unique among Megalithic monuments across Europe for two reasons: the stones have been shaped into roughly rectangular blocks, and they and their lintels are locked together by a series of joints borrowed from carpentry. It is precisely because of this link to carpentry techniques that it has been suggested that some of the many timber circles may have had lintels as well. The idea of using the technique on stone was pioneered at Stonehenge, but was never used afterwards, quite possibly because Stonehenge was one of the last of the great stone temples to be built. Or perhaps, after the project was completed, the masons dispersed around the land telling all their colleagues that under NO circumstances should they try this one at home, if they wanted to preserve their health and sanity!

Dating evidence for the outlying stones and the two pit circles is slight. although it is generally considered that most of this activity post-dates the building of the temple. The exception usually is the Heel Stone, the only completely undressed sarsen on the monument. This stone, it is suggested, may have been erected during phase 1 or even before the construction of the bank and ditch. Recent evidence that the Heel Stone also came from West Woods may mean that this idea needs rethinking, although it is always possible that the West Woods site was simply the traditional place for people south of the downs to source large sarsen megaliths. It is known from elsewhere in the world that while rights to certain material sources belong to specific groups or tribes, other sites are considered open and available for anyone who can provide the logistics to transport them; a sort of Neolithic "Pick your own" field, if you like.