Interesting Facts About Stonehenge

     Stonehenge is found in the centre of a huge complex of monuments and near a few hundred burial mounds which date back to sometime between the Bronze and Neolithic ages.


     Here are a few interesting facts about Stonehenge which might make you want to visit this great monument.

• How old is Stonehenge? Radiocarbon dating measured it to an age of about 5,100 years old with construction beginning in 3100 B.C, 300 years before the Egyptians are thought to have built the first pyramids.
• The Olympic torch was ran almost 8,000 miles in 2012. The torch is an Olympic symbol. On July 12, 2012 at sunrise during the torches 2012 route, Gold Medalist ex-olympian Michael Johnson (one of the worlds greatest athletes ever) ran the torch around Stonehenge before passing it off to another athlete. Michael Johnson told reporters “it was amazing, It was a great experience to carry the torch around the iconic Stonehenge” Stonehenge can be found to the SW of London at about 137 km from it.
• It isn’t documented as a known archaeological fact right now who exactly the builders of Stonehenge are. Whoever erected it is suspected to have had a highly sophisticated level of mathematics such as geometry as well as a deep knowledge of astrology. Some of the theories which are discussed include Aliens, the Windmill Hill People, druids and the Greeks. Until recently, the closest known associates to stonehenge were believed to be the druids which were priests of the ancient Britons but carbon dating suggests stonehenge was completed around 1500 years before the druids were in the region. Today it’s thought that the first people to have most likely started work on stonehenge were the Neolithic Agrarians also known as the Windmill Hill People.
• In 1986, Stonehenge became a World Heritage Site of UNESCO which is protected as an ancient monument. English Heritage are the ones which manage it and the rights of ownership of the monument is held by the British Crown.
• Stonehenge is considered by many archeologists and astrologists as a flawless design from a geometrical and mathematical point of view. It’s design was extremely precise in it’s day, marking the alignment of the moon and the sun as well as certain weather periods.
• The stones used in the construction vary from a couple of tons on up to over 40 tons. They were brought from distances which varied between a couple of miles and two hundred and forty miles away.
• In total, over 900 stone rings can be found in the British Isles. Stonehenge is the most known and the most impressive but it’s not the only one.
• It’s likely that thousands of people would have been needed to work on the construction of Stonehenge over the years and that it would have taken over a million man hours of labor to complete.
• Check back soon for more interesting facts about stonehenge.
• I saw the facts about Stonehenge and thought I would share this one: I am from Washington State and we have the only full size replica of Stonehenge in the world. It is located in Maryhill, WA in Klickitat County, and was built in 1929 by a business man named Sam Hill as a memorial to those who died in WWI. It was the first monument built in the US to honor those who died in WWI. Sam Hill was also responsible for building the Peace Arch which is located on the Interstate 5 US/Canada border and symbolizes the peaceful, open border relation between the two countries.

Answer some of our questions:

1. How do you think the bluestones were transported from Wales to their current position
2. What do you think was the purpose of the monument? (Religious or practical)
3. How have the theories about the monument´s origin changed over the years?
4. Do you think the location of the monument has a relevance?
5. How do you think the monument was built?
6. Do you think that similar Scandinavian stone monuments (such as “Ale´s Stones”) have any connection to Stonehenge?