7/24/2023 0 Comments Equinox definition kidsIt looks like these huge stones may have stood in Wales for many years, before they were uprooted and dragged to Wiltshire to form the Stonehenge we know today. And voilà – job done!īrand new discovery! It seems that Stonehenge may have originally been built in Wales! Evidence of a stone circle suspiciously similar to Stonehenge has just been discovered in Wales, very near to the quarry where some of the bluestones originate from. They then used ropes and strong wooden poles and frames to raise them up, before packing the ditches with rocks and rubble to hold them in place. But how were the ginormous boulders lifted to their standing position? Well, it’s thought that first, the builders dug deep ditches for the base of the boulders. Shaping the stones would have required hundreds of hours of hard graft with stone hammers and chisels. The lighter bluestones weigh about 3,600kg each (that’s the same as two cars!), while the bigger sarsen stones each weigh a whopping 22 tonnes – that’s as heavy as four African elephants! Archaeologists believe that the sarsen stones were hauled to the site on big wooden sledges from 32km away, but the bluestones have been traced to rock outcrops 225km away in Wales! It’s thought they could have been dragged on sledges to a waterway and then floated on rafts to the building site. It’s a shame they didn’t really have a wizard to help them – they could have done with the help… It’s a question that has baffled people for centuries – and even to this day, no theory has been proven! How could people thousands of years ago have transported and arranged such colossal stones?Ī legend from the 12 th century claimed giants placed the monument on a mountain in Ireland, before a wizard named Merlin magically moved the stone circle to England. The entire site was surrounded by a circular ditch and bank, which also remains this day! There were also two circles made of smaller ‘ bluestones’ – one inside the outer circle and one inside the horseshoe – as well as four ‘ station stones’ positioned outside the central monument. Archaeological research shows that the structure of this amazing monument changed over time, as it was built and rebuilt by generations of ancient peoples.Ĥ,000 years ago, Stonehenge was made up of an outer circle of 30 standing stones called ‘ sarsens’, which surrounded five huge stone arches in a horseshoe shape. If you visit Stonehenge today, you’ll see many of the enormous stones still standing strong in a circular arrangement. Work started on this super stone circle around 5,000 years ago in the late Neolithic Age – but it took over 1,000 years to build, in four long stages! Archaeologists believe the final changes were made around 1,500BC, in the early Bronze Age. Built by our ancestors over many hundreds of years, it’s one of the world’s most famous prehistoric monuments… And one of it’s biggest mysteries, too! Calling all young historians and budding archaeologists – we’re off to investigate the mysteries behind a perplexing prehistoric puzzle! Up for joining? Then check out our fascinating Stonehenge facts…įound on England’s Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, Stonehenge is a huge man-made circle of standing stones.
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