Of the hundreds of neolithic
ruins that dot the Dartmoor landscape,
the Scorhill Stone Circle is my favorite.
Tranquil and nearly forgotten,
erected some 4,000 years ago
by mysterious people for mysterious reasons,
it's yours alone,
the way a stone circle should be.
It's just you and your imagination.
Enjoy the quiet.
Ponder the 40 centuries of people who've made this
enchanting landscape their home
and the wisdom of today's English to protect it
and keep it pristine.
For a more tangible look
at the spiritual mystery of this countryside,
prehistoric stone circles
are scattered all across Britain.
These circles, many as old as Egypt's pyramids,
were sacred centers of ritual and worship.
They functioned as celestial calendars.
5,000 years ago, locals could tell when to plant
and when to party according to where the sun rose
and where the sun set.
It still works that way today.
At the Avebury Stone Circle,
you're free to wander among 100 stones.
Visitors ponder the cohesive ensemble of ditches,
mounds, and megaliths --
the work of people clearly on a mission
from thousands of years ago.
The huge circle, while cut in two by a busy road
and so big it contains a village,
retains its allure and wonder.
And nearby stands Silbury Hill,
a yet-to-be-explained man-made mountain of chalk.
For more than 4,000 years,
this largest man-made construction
from prehistoric Europe
is just another edifice from England's mysterious
and ancient religious landscape.
And exactly what's it all mean?
We'll never know for sure.
It's like looking at the ruins of a medieval church
and from that alone trying to understand Christianity.
Stonehenge is the most famous of Britain's stone circles.
A visit starts at the museum,
where you'll see artifacts
from the Stone Age people who built it.
A 360-degree theater demonstrates
how the structure is aligned with the heavens,
marking both the longest
and the shortest days of the year.
And outside, a thatched-hut hamlet helps you imagine
how its Neolithic builders once lived.
Huge stones like this replica were quarried,
carved and then moved for many miles,
some of them from as far away as Wales,
200 miles to the west.
They barged them down rivers;
they may have rolled them on logs like this --
nobody knows for sure.
After this introduction,
a bus shuttles you to the site.
Visitors are in awe as they ponder
the continuously debated purposes
and meaning of Stonehenge.
The major stones were erected
at the end of the Stone Age,
just before the advent of metal tools.
It's amazing to think that some of these cross stones
have been in place for 4,500 years.
Whatever its original purpose,
Stonehenge still functions as a celestial calendar.
Even in modern times,
the sun rises on the longest day of the year
in just the right spot.
And it retains its powerful sense of wonder
over those who gather.
For over 4,000 years in a row,
this ensemble of stones, so artfully assembled,
has silently done its duty.
Scotland is littered with reminders
of prehistoric people from an even earlier age.
At Clava Cairns, three Bronze Age burial chambers date
from about 4,000 years ago.
Each was once buried under turf-covered mounds
and surrounded by a stone circle.
The central "ring cairn" has an open space in its middle.
The two passage cairns each have an entrance shaft that,
on the winter solstice, lines up with the setting sun.
♪♪
[ Birds chirping ] ♪♪
Visitors are caught up in the peaceful wonder
of this ancient and sacred site.
Enjoy the mystery of this place.
Were these stone circles part of a celestial calendar?
Was the soul of the deceased transported into the next life
when the sun was just right?
Nobody really knows.
Hadrian's Wall was built by the Romans
during the reign of Emperor Hadrian
nearly 2,000 years ago.
This is one of England's most thought-provoking sights
and much loved by hikers.
This great stone wall stretched 73 miles
from coast to coast across the narrowest part
of northern England.
This was more than just a wall.
It was a cleverly designed military rampart
manned by 20,000 troops.
At every mile along the wall, a small fort guarded a gate.
Its actual purpose is still debated.
The wall, which often takes advantage of
natural contours in the land, likely defined
the northern edge of the empire
and helped defend Roman Britain to the south
from pesky, hard-to-conquer barbarians to the north.
Today's modern border between Scotland and England
still runs pretty close to this ancient wall.
A particularly well-preserved segment of the wall
leads to Housesteads Roman fort.
Roman forts had a standard design --
a rectangular shape
containing a commander's headquarters and barracks.
There's little more than stone foundations remaining.
These stones raised a floor to give stored grain ventilation,
and this was once a set of spartan barracks.
Pondering these desolate ruins, I can imagine the bleakness
of being a young Roman soldier stationed here 18 centuries ago.