The ancient structure Stonehenge, located in Salisbury Plains, England has stood silent for over thousands of years. Through the years, people have always marveled how this massive structure was built? Who built it? What was the purpose?
Archaeologists have been trying to answer the underlying mystery of the Stonehenge with modern tools and new perspectives. Several theories about the Stonehenge have emerged over decades of years of study. The documentary Secrets of Stonehenge shows how to the mystery of this engineering feat is unearthed by a group of distinguished experts.
The Stonehenge date back about 4500 years ago, before the Egyptians started to build the pyramids. Experts suggested that the royal family ordered the people to build the structure, and other families or clans build their own stone circles. This scenario probably indicates an aristocratic patriarchal society (Secrets of Stonehenge).
There is a circular ditch and bank around the stones. It was believed that antler picks were used to excavate ditches and pits. The stone towers rise more than 20 feet high, each weighing around 45 tons. Huge pillars were adorned with horizontal slabs known as lintels. Sarsen is a local sandstone which is harder than granite. It was used as the main material to build the structure. Tapering uprights topped with knobs fit the cavities below the lintels while curved lintels that are joined by tongue-and-groove formed a nearly perfect circle. There are also smaller stones that lie together with the sarsen called bluestones that were transported from Wales at least 150 miles away from Salisbury (Secrets of Stonehenge; Snodgrass).
According to reports, masons used stones to shape the sarsen at the quarry site. The idea of a wheel has been manifested through the use of timbers slathered with grease to pull the giant stones as experts have suggested. Giant stones were tipped into giant holes. The ramps and levers may have been used to raised lintels and put them into place. However, there were no evidence to prove the techniques used (Secrets of Stonehenge).
Andrew Young proposed a new theory that people during the Stone Age use ball-bearing technology to move the giant stones. He proposed that Douglas fir and oak wood were probably used as rails to move the blue stones and sarsen to the pits. Each rail has a cut to hold granite balls. While some theories claim that hundreds of people were involved in pulling giant stones, Andrew Young suggested that oxen were the ones that labored for the most difficult part (Secrets of Stonehenge).
Many theories associated the alignment of Stonehenge to an astronomical observatory while others suggested that the alignment at Stonehenge indicates the significance of solstices. Mike Parker Pearson supported the idea and had made an effort to unearth evidences relating the significance of solstices to the people who built the monument (Secrets of Stonehenge).
In the documentary Stonehenge Decoded, Pearson theorized that the stone circle was at the center of one of the biggest prehistoric religious complexes all over the world. His theory suggests that the stone circle was at the centre of one of the largest prehistoric religious complexes in the world.
The first evidence of the lost settlement 4500 years ago consisted of at least 300 houses. This has been the largest Stone Age settlement in Northern Europe. Remains of a near replica of Stonehenge made of wood lies at the center of the circle. Parker also believed that the Stonehenge was designed to house the spirits of the dead while the wood circle indicates the living people. During the summer and winter solstice thousands of people gather around the area (Stonehenge Decoded).
References
Snodgrass, E. (3 Jun. 2008). Stonehenge. National Geographic. National Geographic Society. Web. 27 January 2014. <http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/geopedia/Stonehenge>.
"Stonehenge Decoded." Writ. C. Swash and C. Spencer. Dir. C. Spencer. National Geographic Society, 2010. DVD.
"Secrets of Stonehenge." Writ. G. Willumsen. Dir. G. Willumsen. WGBH Education Foundation, 2008. DVD.
