One of the most famous and intriguing monuments in the world is Stonehenge.
To say it's impressive is an understatement: The largest of the stones is estimated to
weigh 40 tons and measures 24 feet high.
But, what is it?
A religious site… or something else?
Stonehenge definitely qualifies as ancient: According to History, it was first started
as much as 5,000 years ago, and wasn't completed until around 1600 B.C.
In other words, construction at Stonehenge went on for a whopping 1,400 years or so.
As part of this construction, a lot of labor-intensive work was carried out, including digging a
large ditch, cutting and carrying massive stones from miles away, and arranging these
stones in place.
With the rocks weighing between 4 and 40 tons and laborers working without the benefit of
modern machinery, this transport was clearly no easy feat, and precisely how it was done
remains a topic of speculation.
Over the years, many different archaeologists have surveyed the site.
According to English Heritage, these included John Aubrey in 1666.
Aubrey was an antiquarian, and after exploring Stonehenge, he came to believe that the monument
was a religious site which had been created by the Druids.
More than simply a nature-based religious group, Britannica says the Druids were also
ancient scholars, serving as judges and teachers.
They were prominent in England from around the 3rd century B.C. until the Romans invaded.
And honestly, this druidic connection does make sense… on the surface.
This theory would later be disproved when the stones were dated to many thousands of
years before the Druids arrived on the scene, and historians were all the way back to square one.
"One of man's most curious creations.
Since modern people started to study Stonehenge, they've tried to work out just why it was built.
Clearly, it was pretty important: And, it's kind of incredible that it was worth hundreds
of years of back-breaking labor, and today, History says we have no idea why those generations
of builders did it.
Though scientists have been able to use scientific techniques like carbon dating to identify
details about when the monument was built, the purpose of the monument remains a mystery.
National Geographic says that some of the earliest theories about Stonehenge include
the myth that it was built by the wizard Merlin.
According to this theory, the stones were moved to England from Ireland at the command
of King Arthur's uncle, King Ambrosium Aurelianus.
Why?
To create a memorial to honor slain warriors.
Honestly?
It'd make a great movie.
Even stranger theories have been touted in modern times, including speculation by some
who believe the monument was built by aliens.
According to The New York Times, believers say that it was created to be "a landing pad
for spacecraft."
Other interpretations have come straight from the mouths of educated experts, including
a theory from a gynecologist who says Stonehenge is meant to represent Mother Earth's birth canal.
Would we watch that movie?
Still, for every strange theory, there's a scientifically-backed alternative.
For instance, one of the popular theories about Stonehenge is that it was once a cemetery.
That's according to the New Scientist and The New York Times: This theory is supported
by scientific evidence which suggests that bodies were buried in the area around Stonehenge
about 5,000 years ago.
Well over 200 bodies are thought to have been buried at the site, but still, that's a lot
of work for a relatively small number of people.
Other experts think that Stonehenge was meant to be a place for the dead in a broader sense.
This theory relies on the closeness of a nearby monument, Woodhenge, which dates back to around
4,500 years ago.
Woodhenge had a similar form to Stonehenge, and the theory says that where Stonehenge
was used in ceremonies to represent the dead, Woodhenge may have been used to represent
the living, according to NPR.
The sites could have been important features of the summer and winter solstice ceremonies.
But one set of theories has often stood above the crowd.
These popular and seemingly intuitive theories suggest that Stonehenge may have been a massive calendar.
Stonehenge has several features which have made experts wonder if it was some sort of
astronomical calendar, including orientation of stones with the summer and winter solstices.
Now, new evidence from a research study out of Bournemouth University in the U.K. gives
more weight to the theory.
"So.
You know henges.
Well, this is a stone one."
In the study, features of Stonehenge are explained with relation to the solar calendar, including
analysis of how the arrangement of the stones may be designed to line up with the longest
and shortest days of the year.
Additionally, the study's authors suggest that the original formation of Stonehenge,
which once held 30 massive stones, was designed to reflect the number of days in a month.
This would have created a calendar of 360 days, split into 12 separate months.
Additional features of Stonehenge were also identified in the study as potentially related to leap years.
If Stonehenge truly was a solar calendar, it would be far from the only one of its kind.
Similar solar calendars can be found all over the globe from around the same time period,
including Egypt.
Still, it would be a novel example within the United Kingdom.
However, the study hasn't gone unchallenged.
Some experts have said that the findings remain largely speculative, and point out logical
flaws in the argument.
NBC News reports that some experts have noted that the building of such a time- and labor-intensive
clock makes little sense.
Others have identified holes in the evidence behind the study, including the lack of any
stones indicating the separation of the 12 months, supposedly a key feature of the Stonehenge calendar.
As Stonehenge is constantly being investigated, other studies in recent years have also popped
up, providing new evidence and information about the site.
One recent analysis revealed that the land Stonehenge is built on was actually an open
plain when the site was first created, rather than a forested region, as Express says experts
originally believed.
These plains would have been traversed by hunter-gatherers for millennia before Stonehenge was built.
Though the complete implications of this new information aren't immediately clear, the
continual development of new evidence over time will likely spawn newer and more defined
theories about Stonehenge's origins.
Who knows?
Eventually, someone may discover evidence that determines, once and for all, why exactly
Stonehenge was built.