It's just some really big rocks sticking up on the ground in the middle of farmland. Right? Right. But also wrong.
You're driving in, following the signs and directions and then you see it: Really tall rocks standing up on the ground, in the middle of a field. Right next to sheep grazing and across the road from a pig farm. And you think, "yeah, it really is just a pile of rocks in a field."But, you've taken the time to drive here (a little over an hour for us), so you may as well go on up and learn what the big deal is. And this is where it gets interesting.
Stonehenge is an ancient temple, aligned on the movements of the sun. It is believed to have been built between 5,000 and 4,000 years ago and that it forms only one part of a larger, complex sacred landscape
The day was damp, drizzly, windy and a little cold, but as we learned more and got closer to it, my curiosity was piqued even more. There were mounds all over the landscape and they obviously weren't naturally formed. I wanted to know what they were for. These mounds are burial mounds, some holding the remains of many people and going quite deep. It is believed that these mounds were built up, so that the dead would be within site of the Stonehenge temple.
The largest stones are called sarsens, are up to 30 feet tall and weigh up to 25 tons on average. Archaeologists believe they were brought from Marlborough Downs, a distance of 20 miles. Smaller stones, called bluestones, weigh up to 4 tons and come from western Wales, some having been transported as much as 140 miles. How did they do it?
The Heel Stone is set apart from the circle of stones, on the east (somewhat north-east) portion of the circle and when standing within the circle, looking out, the sun rises over it. Curious what this meant to the people who erected it. After all this time, it is unlikely we'll ever learn the missing details surrounding Stonehenge, but I can say for certain, that it is worth the visit.
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