Introduction

We have heard of many historical places such as the Parthenon, Borobudur complex, Easter island, The sphinx, Stonehenge and many more. But do you really know every piece of story behind these magnificent monuments? This report shall take you through the mystery and the wonders of the Stonehenge. The mystery buried for thousands of years.
Stonehenge during summer soltice

The magnificent beauty, cultures, the philosophies and sacrifices involved or found in this Stonehenge monument. You will be awed by the awesomeness of its architecture, the beauty of it. Read and you will find an interesting history surrounding it, cultures unknown to us. Read deeper and you will find many mythologies regarding its mysterious background Once you have finished reading this document, you will know a Stonehenge you have never known before.
The Stonehenge monument are stones that are aligned in a circular manner around a stone. The Stonehenge is a mystical monument with no exact theory to its creation and purpose

Description of the Stonehenge: Location

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about 3.2 kilometres (2.0 mi) west of Amesbury and 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of earthworks surrounding a circular setting of large standing stones and sits at the centre of the densest complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred burial mounds. The area around the stonehenge are flatlands and are used for agriculture.
The site and its surroundings were added to the UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1986 in a co-listing with Avebury henge monument, and it is also a legally protected Scheduled Ancient Monument. Stonehenge itself is owned by the Crown and managed by English Heritage while the surrounding land is owned by the National Trust.

Aerial view of the Stonehenge

Description of the Stonehenge: Brief Description

The stonehenge is an ancient monument that is made of stones. The stones in the Stonehenge is placed in a circular manner and is composed of stones with a variety of sizes. The Stonehenge estimated to be built between the Neolithic age and the bronze age. The tallest of the upright stones found in the Stonehenge is estimated to be 6.7m (22ft) high, with another 2.4m (8ft) below ground.

Description of the Stonehenge: Features

The most prominent features found in the Stonehenge is the heel stone which is a slanted stone found in the interior of the Stonehenge, the Heel stone is believed to be bought by the devil from a woman. The second feature is the slaughter stone which is a rusty stone. The third feature is called the station stone and the last feature is the Aubrey holes which was believed to be used to calculate time and date.

Description of the Stonehenge: Location of Stonehenge features

Top view and location of stones of stonehenge

Station Stone

Heel Stone

Aubrey Holes

Slaughter Stone

Theories of the Stonehenge: Functions

Theory of Norman Lockyer
Joseph Norman Lockyer researched on Parthenon, the temple of Karnak and the Stonehenge. According to his research, he states that the three monuments are interrelated to each other. During the 20th century, astro- archaeologist, Norman Lockyer, raised some theories about the Stonehenge. According to his theories, he states that Stonehenge and other megalithic1 constructions were used as ancient observatories. He also made a theory that mid-summer was determined based on the Heelstone.
From his research on Stonehenge, Sir Norman Lockyer tried to calculate back from the point where the sun rose on the year 1901 and determined whether the heel stone is still in the correct position. He then made the necessary calculations. However, the calculations he made was flawed and the results was considered meaningless.
Norman Lockyer

Theory of Mark Parker Pearson
According to Mark Parker Pearson, the leader of the Stonehenge Riverside Project, he claimed that the Stonehenge was associated with the burial of people ever since it was created. He claimed people was buried in the Stonehenge since the beginning of the creation of the Stonehenge up to the third millennium BC.
Mark Parker Pearson

Theory of Hawkins, G. S
According to professor Gerald Stanley Hawkins, the Aubrey holes located at the Stonehenge were used to count the years of a 56-year cycle, the motion of the moon, and the occurrence of eclipses. However, there are several controversies of how the Stonehenge was used to calculate the period of years. Some other archaeologist disagree with the theory of Hawkins and states that the Stonehenge was used to count the years in a period of a 56-month cycle and not a period of 56-year cycle.

Theories of the Stonehenge: Background of the theories

Archaeoastronomy
Archaeoastronomy which is also called archaeoastronomy is the study of how past people understand the phenomena in the sky, how they used the phenomenon in the sky, and what role the sky played in their culture. Archeoastronomy is in relation to ethnoastronomy which is the anthropological study of sky watching in the society today.
Archaeoastronomy is also related to historical astronomy which is the study which uses historical records of events to answer astronomical problems of the past.

Mythology: Arthurian

History of the Arthurian
Arthurian is a part of the “matter of Britain” which is a legendary history of Great Britain which are focused on King Arthur and The knights of the Round table. The Matter of Britain is a patriotic myth of the island of great Britain which includes a lot of mythical characters. The Matter of Britain also tries to link myths such as the founding of Rome to the Trojan War.
The Arthurian cycle is the best tale known of the “matter of Britain” it combines stories that has made many authors of later times interested. One of the tale concerns Camelot and other concerns the quest of various knights to achieve the holy grail.

Arthurian belief in relation to Stonehenge
IN the 12th century, Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote about how the Stonehenge was built. He wrote that the Stonehenge was removed from Ireland where the Stonehenge was built on Mount Killaraus by Giants who brought the stones from Africa. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, the stones were healing rocks called the giant dance.
Giants building stonehenge

Mythology: Vikings

Belief of the Vikings
Vikings belief in many myths and many ideas of their creation, They believe in many gods, such as Odin, Thor and Freya. They believe in afterlife but in a similar manner to the belief of the ancient Greeks. The Vikings belief that when a person dies, his soul would go to a place called ‘hel’ which was then called ’hell’ by modern people. The Vikings believe that this place was a very cold and damp underground place where souls of the dead were kept.
Odin, The god of the vikings

Vikings in relation to Stonehenge
Vikings belief that the Stonehenge is an ancient sun temple. At certain rituals, Vikings would do sacred dances in the Stonehenge which portraits the earth’s orbit around the sun. The dances that the Vikings acted was told in stories and customs of Swedes, Danes, North Germans and English.

Mythology: Druids

Belief of the Druids

Druids was believed to carry its teachings in secrets and only in words of mouth which gives no written evidence to historians. Training of Druids take place in forests and caves and would take up to 20 years to complete one teaching. It was also believed that all druids were men.
Druids believe in human sacrifices and thought of themselves as intermediaries. They would try to bring peace even when there is a war going on. Druids also thought of themselves as philosophers whose teachings could bring immorality to ones soul in such a way that it will reincarnate to another when a person dies.An Example of a druid ritual

Druid in relation to Stonehenge
The druids believe that the Stonehenge is an astronomical and ritual sites that is used for certain events such as Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox. In June 20 to 21, Druids would celebrate Summer Solstice in the Stonehenge. In the 22nd to the 23rd of September, the druids celebrate autumn solstice. The druids believe that these celebrations are a very important event of our planed in relationship to the sun. Scientifically, Summer Solstice is an event where the sun directly strikes the two tropical latitude lines as a sign of the beginning of summer and autumn solstice is the celebration of the first day of autumn

During a summer solstice event which druids celebrate, the druids celebrating the event would stay inside the inner circle of the stone near the altar stone. They would wait up till a point in which the sun would shine in between the heel stone and in a certain angle that would strike the altar stone with light as a symbol of a new season known as summer.

Summer solstice in Stonehenge

Stonehenge today: Restoration

The Stonehenge was used for religious ceremonies and burial sites until the 1600 where it was abandoned. The first excavations of the Stonehenge was led by Colonel William Hawley 1and his assistant Robert Newall 2at 1911. Their excavation shows that the Stonehenge was a multi-phase construction.
Excavation of the Stonehenge continued in 1950 by Richard Atkinson, Stuart Piggot, John FS Stone3. They found cremations or people which are cremated after death. More cremations are also found during recent excavations.
Excavations in 2005 as part of the Stonehenge Riverside Project uncovered the remains of what may have been a village for workers or festival-goers near Stonehenge. The site, next to Durrington Walls, about two miles from Stonehenge is also the location of a large timber monument. The floors of several homes have since been discovered, as well as tools, animal bones, arrowheads and several more monuments. Archeologist speculate that the people living around Durrington Walls took their villages as the “domain of the living” and the Stonehenge as the “domain of the dead”

The most accurate early plan of the Stonehenge was made by Bath architect John Wood in 1740. Using his plans, restoration of the area was made. Stonehenge Pre-Restoration

William Gowland oversaw the first major restoration of the monument in 1901– the straightening and concrete setting of sarsen stone number 56 which was in danger of falling. Unfortunately in straightening it he also moved it about half a metre from its original position. He also took the opportunity to further excavate the monument in what was the most scientific dig to date, revealing more about the erection of the stones than the previous 100 years of work had done.

In 1958 the stones were restored again, using concrete settings to re-erect three of the standing sarsens. The very last restoration was carried out in 1963 when stone 23 of the Sarsen Circle fell over and was once more re-erected, and the opportunity taken to concrete three more stones. Later archaeologists, including Christopher Chippindale of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge and Brian Edwards of the University of the West of England campaigned to give the public more knowledge of the various restorations and in 2004 English Heritage included pictures of the works in progress in its new book Stonehenge. Stonehenge Post-Reconstruction

Stonehenge today: Accessibility

Stonehenge is affected by the traffic and the two roads which are built closely on the both the sides of the Stonehenge. The government have planned to close down highway A 344 which is found in a side of the Stonehenge as the monument was considered a world heritage site and to rebuild the vista stones. On December 6th 2007, the government approved 23 million euro to close A344 and to fund a smalled visitor centre.

When the Stonehenge was first open to the public, visitors are allowed to walk among the stones and even climb and sit on top of the stones. However, from 1977 onwards, visitors are no longer allowed to touch nor sit on top of the stones as some of the stones were put out of place. Today, visitors were only allowed to walk around the monument a distance from the Stonehenge monument. However, visitors are only allowed to enter on summer and winter solstice, the spring and autumn equinox, or if they make special bookings to access the stones.

Stonehenge today: Ownership

Stonehenge has several was owned by several people before it was then given to the nation. Stonehenge was first owned by King Henry the 8th and in 1540, he then gave the historical landmark to the Earl of Hertford. The earl of Hertford then passed it on to Lord Carleton and then to the Marquis of Queensbury. The Stonehenge was then sold to the Antrobus family of Chesire. During the first world war, an airfield was built on the west of the circle and in the dry valley at the bottom of the Stonehenge. The Antrobus family sold the site since the last of their heir was killed during the first world war. The Stonehenge was then auctioned on the 21st of September 1915 and was sold to Cecil Chubb for 6600 euros. He then sold it to the nation.

Conclusion

The Stonehenge is filled with many interesting and unique mysteries. The purpose of the rock formation and their placement still very vague however, archaeologists and astroarchaeologists can predict on how Stonehenge was built and erected. In our groups opinion, the Stonehenge was erected in place by the lever. Arthurian, Norse and Druid mythologies surrounding it are still many and mysterious. No one knows the whole truth on the Stonehenge.
What we presented today are the evidences, it is up to you to determine and chose what the Stonehenge's alignment's purpose and the formations reason, how they could move the large stones to the area and erect it, and which mythologies were originally made or made up after it was built. All we can do in the meantime is to just investigate and find more archaeological evidences on this marvelous world-heritage site and to dig deeper both physically and through study into the Stonehenge.
We also need to give our respects to the people who have helped study, preserve, and keep alive this wonderful site. The archaeologists, the UK parliament, the pagan and neo-pagan worshipers. They protect the site (UK parliament), Investigate more on it (Archaeologists) and keep old traditions alive (Pagan and Neo-Pagan Worshipers). These people should deserve the most Honor and respect for their dedication to the site.
The Stonehenge today is a tourist hotspot where thousands of people visit the mystical Stonehenge to admire its beauty and culture. However, they can only come to a certain distance from the Stonehenge and they cannot touch the stones unless it’s a special celebration
Now that the journey has ended, we can finally see the extent and deepness of stories behind the building of these marvelous, wonderful, incredible stone formation, the Stonehenge. The People who made it. The Reasons for it's creation. The Purpose it serves. The Mythologies related to it. The People dedicated to it. This journey, is a journey of a lifetime. A journey that takes us to the past and explore this Heritage site. If you are reading this, you have understood the mysteries of the Stonehenge.