Stonehenge - the enigma but also the secrets

Oh Jimmy Christmas, it’s only day two of my A-Z Writing Challenge and I’ve already skipped the letters A through R, which is most definitely a recipe for disaster. That’s okay, we’ll circle back. Speaking of circling back, let’s turn our attention today to the iconic Stonehenge circle of stones, created back in the day (I think that’s one of my finest ever segues actually).

Today on the blog I discuss the mysteries and ambiguities of Stonehenge, that baffling prehistoric iconic circular monument on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England. 

One of the many things I treasure about England is you can have a 16^th Century church next door to a Sainsbury’s supermarket (or sometimes the Sainsbury's has its own fancy Grade II status endowed upon it by Historic England), or an ancient Roman ruin in the vacant block next door to Doris, an 86-year-old pensioner who lives on Hedge Row in Upper Brampton. The locals find all of this rather ordinary. The historic and the modern sitting side by side is quite perfect.

Look at all the mystery and intrigue dripping off the stone...hedges.

While Stonehenge has had no shortage of attention over its beginnings throughout innumerable periods from scientists, archaeologists, academics and other learned individuals who have had five pints at the local The Haunch of Venison pub in Salisbury, just up the road from the stones, we just don’t really know with any certainty why it is there or where it came from. A bit like the Kardashians really. 

Whoever built it was one of those people who steadfastly refused to advertise their breakfast, their activewear or their weekend stone projects on The Instagrams, thus denying us the truth.

What was its intended purpose? It has been theorised that Stonehenge was intended as a religious site, a cemetery, a celestial space to monitor the sun and moon, a clock, a giant solar calendar, a farming calendar, a site “dedicated to the world of the ancestors, separated from the world of the living" (yeah, that’s a cemetery, just say cemetery), a healing centre. But there is “no definite evidence” as to its intended purpose.

When was it built? This is mostly agreed - it was built in six stages from 3000 to 1520 B.C., from the New Stone Age period to the Bronze Age. It took 1,500 years to 'complete', which is coincidentally about the same amount of working life I have to endure before I retire, or die.  

How was it built? Look, I have no definitive answers here, and neither does anyone else. Were the stones magically transported by Merlin (the wizard of Arthurian legend) from Ireland – yes, magically - and put together by giants, as per the folklore? Did the Danes do it when they stormed into England uninvited? Was it constructed using pulleys and ropes and ye oldey lever things to hoick the stones up by the Romans? I want answers. 

In 2018, a man in the United States returned a piece of a core sample of one of the stones to England, that he had been holding on to for decades. Conventional wisdom and sciencey tests confirmed that the “geochemical fingerprint” (nerd alert, nerd alert!) on this core sample matched sandstone from all but two of the stones, to sandstone about 25 kilometres away! But more testing needs to take place. Of course it does. The ploteth thickeneth. 

All that is clear to me is that any self-respecting modern construction company would have their company emblem and ‘tough guy, build things’ slogan all over the stones had they built it. The scaffolding and surrounding construction site would be completely littered in their signage and livery and they would have charged an outrageous fee to move the giant stones from one county or country to the next. And we would not be left in the dark like this. Surely there are some old selfie photos in attics somewhere in England from 6,000 years ago that have a guy pushing a giant boulder through town in the background? Everyone check their attic please.

The builder of Stonehenge is a mystery. Look, there are no known knowns with this thing. Was it built by the druids (Celtic priests), aristocrats, chieftains, Merlin the wizard of Arthurian legend and his giants, the Romans, the Danes? Why did nobody take credit for it. 

Whoever built it left no records. Under modern Work Health & Safety Regulations, construction companies are required to erect a builder’s sign stating the builder and contact details at all building sites. If only they had this regulation 6,000 years ago we would have definitive answers. But maybe we all just love a bit of intrigue anyway. 

For scale - they are normal heighted people, not the alleged giants who built it under Arthurian folklore.