What you see today is about
half of the original monument, some of the stones have fallen
down, others have been carried away to be used for building
or to repair farm tracks and over centuries visitors have
added their damage too. It was quite normal to hire a hammer
from the blacksmith in Amesbury and come to Stonehenge to
chip bits off. As you can imagine this practice is no longer
permitted!
There are some wonderful myths and legends and you can hear
them on the audio tour at Stonehenge in nine different languages,
English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Swedish,
Russian and Japanese.
Stonehenge was formerly owned by a local man, Sir Cecil Chubb,
and he gave it to the nation in 1918 and it is now managed
by English Heritage on behalf of the Government. In 1986,
it was inscribed as a World Heritage Site and you can learn
more about this on the World Heritage Site section. It is
without doubt one of the finest prehistoric monuments in existence
and an even more remarkable mystery.
The area is not special just because of the stones or the
archaeologically rich landscape it sits in, but because of
the plants that grow there. There is rare sedge grass and
even the yellow and grey patches on the stones are tiny, slow
growing plants called lichens.
It's thought that the name Stonehenge originates from the
Anglo-Saxon period – the old English word ‘henge'
meaning hanging or gibbet. So what we have is literally ‘the
hanging stones', derived probably from the lintels of the
trilithons which appear to be suspended above their massive
uprights. Today the word ‘henge' has a specific archaeological
meaning: a circular enclosure surrounding settings of stones
and timber uprights, or pits.
Three kilometres to the north-east of Stonehenge, Woodhenge
is another henge monument. Dated to around 2,300BC, originally
it comprised six concentric rings of wooden post. It was probably
covered with a roof, or perhaps the wooden posts were joined
in the Stonehenge fashion. Now, although there is no evidence
for animal or human sacrifice at Stonehenge, some believe
that the presence of the grave of a young child, found at
Woodhenge, would seem to indicate a ritual sacrifice, possibly
a dedicatory burial.
Another feature which is worth mentioning, which was built
before the stone settings, is the Cursus – which lies
to the north. It consists of two straight banks and ditches
90-130 metres apart running 2.8 kilometres in length, from
east to west. When it was called the Cursus in the eighteenth
century, it was thought to be some sort of racetrack. Some
people also think that it has a processional ritual use. However,
its true function remains a mystery.
Stonehenge and Avebury were inscribed on the World Heritage
List in 1986 for their outstanding prehistoric monuments.
At Stonehenge, the unparalleled stone circle (3000 BC-1600
BC) is surrounded by a ceremonial landscape comprising more
than 300 burial mounds and many other prehistoric remains.
Altogether, the Stonehenge World Heritage Site covers 2,600
hectares owned by English Heritage, the National Trust, the
Ministry of Defence, farmers and householders. Click here
to view a map of the area.
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