STONEHENGE

by
Pamela Gamboa
Grace Vilcherrez
Alexia García
Fernanda Vasquez
History
Fernanda Vasquez
 DATE OF ORIGIN

Stonehenge, the world’s most famous prehistoric

monument, was built in several stages over 5,000
years ago.

Including the unique stone circle erected in the late

Neolithic period about 2500 BC, and burial mounds
built nearby during the early Bronze Age.
BEFORE THE STONHENGE

Mesolithic structures in the area

consisted of four or five pits,
three of which contained pine
posts resembling totem poles,
dating back to 8500-7000 BC.
 The sarsens were erected in two concentric
Two types of stone are used at arrangements – an inner horseshoe and an outer
Stonehenge – the larger sarsens and the circle – and the bluestones were set up between them
in a double arc.
smaller ‘bluestones’.

A complex of monuments dating back to 3500 BC,

including a causewayed enclosure, two cursus
STONEHENGE The construction of Stonehenge's stone
monuments, and several long barrows, is believed
settings coincided with a prehistoric change,
to have influenced the later location of marked by the arrival of new pottery styles,
Stonehenge. knowledge of metalworking, and changes to
burial practices.
NEW RESEARCH
 STONEHENGE

For centuries this prehistoric monument has

represented great enigmas, which has led great
researchers to try to solve the mysteries that Stonehenge
hides.
 DECEMBER 22, 2022
Professor Mike Parker Pearson and his team have been given permission
to analyze the bodies found under the stones at Stonehenge for the first
time.

His work completely changes the vision we had of this unique place.

 DECEMBER 22, 2022

The study of these bodies has been the subject of pioneering scientific
analysis that, together with new excavations and research, tells the story.

not through the stones, but through the bodies of the people buried
inside the monument to understand who They built it, they ruled, they
made pilgrimages, they celebrated festivals, they lived and grew up there.
 1919, THE FIRST DISCOVERIES
A team led by archaeologist William Hawley discovered the remains of
ancient bodies in an outer ring of holes in 1919 while excavating the
monument.

William Hawley dug many cremation graves at Stonehenge, but didn't

know what to do with their contents, so he left them in the hands of his
assistant, who bagged them up and buried them in 1935.
Curious facts
OF STONEHENGE
 Stonehenge is a UNESCO
Stonehenge was built
World Heritage Site since
about 4,500 years ago,
1986.
during the Bronze Age.

Stonehenge

In 2003, a circle of holes was

discovered near Stonehenge
The monument was damaged
that is believed to date from
during the Middle Ages, and some
the same time.
stones were knocked down or
stolen to build other buildings in the
area.
During World War I, Stonehenge Stonehenge is one of the most visited
was used as a training camp for places in the UK and has inspired
British soldiers. works of art, music and literature
throughout the centuries.

The stones used in the

Stonehenge It is believed that the builders of
construction of Stonehenge Stonehenge may have used
weigh up to 50 tons sledges and rails to transport the
stones to their present location.
and are believed to have
been brought from a quarry
some 25 miles away
It is believed that the stones were
transported in tree trunks and
showing that Bronze Age people
moved by rivers, before being
had advanced transportation
carried overland.
and construction skills
 Types of stones at Stonehenge

the capstones
the smaller stones the large upright
The capstones on top of the upright stones were set
called stones called
using mortise and tenon techniques, meaning the stones
"bluestones" were cut in such a way that they would fit perfectly. "sarsens"

Capstones also have inscriptions and symbols engraved

on them, but their exact meaning is unknown.
 The summer solstice is an important date
The bodies of people buried near the for Stonehenge, as the sun's rays pass
monument were found with ritual objects, through the stone blocks and create an
although its exact purpose remains a effect of light and shadow.
mystery.
Stonehenge
Curiousites This suggests that the builders of
Stonehenge is thought to have Stonehenge had an advanced
knowledge of astronomy and
had a religious and ceremonial
suggests that it may have been used
function
to observe the movement of the sun
and the seasons.
STONEHENGE
theories
 THEORIES t h e o r i e s

IT IS A PLACE IT'S AN ANCIENT

OF WORSHIP CRYSTAL BALL

One of the oldest theories Stonehenge allowed our

ancestors to predict celestial
states that Stonehenge was events, such as eclipses,
created as a place of solstices, and the equinox,
worship. The alignment of the much like an astronomical
stones and the way the observatory today. Knowing
henge opens in the direction what phase of the seasonal
of sunrise in summer, cycle they were in allowed
indicates that the monument them to plan agriculture and
was created as a place of social and religious events
ritual sun worship. more effectively.
 To reach this conclusion, the researchers spent months pounding
IT'S A GIANT stone fragments into thousands of rock types and recording the
INSTRUMENT sound they made. They found that while most produced a muffled

thud, the henge's bluestone monoliths sang when struck.

THEORIES
THEORIES

According to the theory, this was built to serve as a funerary monument.

The evidence found: exhumed bodies of men and women in equal
numbers, some children and incense containers suggest that it was an FUNERARY MONUMENT
elitist cemetery, not for any type of person, but for politicians, religious

or noble people.

 SANATORIUM

What this theory tells

us is that Stonehenge was a
sanatorium, that is, a
center with healing properties.
The basic argument is that most of the skeletons
found show signs of injury or disease. Pieces of the
blue stone with which the first megaliths of the
building were erected were found, which could
indicate their use as healing stones.

THEORIES
The theory of the space observatory is widely spread
and undoubtedly the place also held astronomical
functions. Proof of this is the fact that it was built
having the sun as a point of reference. During the
winter solstice the main avenue aligns with the sun.

SPACE OBSERVATORY

 l a s t t h e o r y

A UNIFICATION EXERCISE

The theory suggests that building Stonehenge

could originally have been an exercise in
unification. Historians and archaeologists
agree that the building began to be erected
at a time of union between the different
British Neolithic peoples.
THANKS