Fact-check log

English Heritage calls Stonehenge perhaps the world's most famous prehistoric monument.⁠¹

The first monument was an early henge, built about 5,000 years ago.⁠¹

The unique stone circle was erected in the late Neolithic period about 2500 BC.⁠¹

Today, together with Avebury, Stonehenge forms the heart of a World Heritage Site, with a unique concentration of prehistoric monuments.⁠¹

The earliest known major event was the construction of a circular ditch with an inner and outer bank, built about 3000 BC.⁠¹

This enclosed an area about 100 metres in diameter, and had two entrances.⁠¹

English Heritage describes that first earthwork as an early form of henge monument.⁠¹

Set just inside the bank were 56 pits, known as the Aubrey Holes.⁠¹

There has been much debate about what stood in these holes: the consensus for many years has been that they held upright timber posts, but recently the idea has re-emerged that some of them may have held stones.⁠¹

About 64 cremations have been found at Stonehenge.⁠¹

Perhaps as many as 150 individuals were originally buried at Stonehenge, making it the largest late Neolithic cemetery in the British Isles.⁠¹

In about 2500 BC the stones were set up in the centre of the monument.⁠¹

Two types of stone are used at Stonehenge: the larger sarsens and the smaller bluestones.⁠¹

The sarsens were erected in two concentric arrangements, an inner horseshoe and an outer circle, and the bluestones were set up between them in a double arc.⁠¹

Probably at the same time, the sarsens close to the entrance were raised, together with the four Station Stones on the periphery.⁠¹

About 200 or 300 years later the central bluestones were rearranged to form a circle and inner oval, which was again later altered to form a horseshoe.⁠¹

The earthwork Avenue was also built at this time, connecting Stonehenge with the river Avon.⁠¹

One of the last prehistoric activities at Stonehenge was the digging of two rings of concentric pits, the Y and Z holes, radiocarbon dated by antlers within them to between 1800 and 1500 BC.⁠¹

From about 2400 BC, well-furnished Beaker graves such as that of the Amesbury Archer are found nearby.⁠¹

Geoffrey of Monmouth, in his History of the Kings of Britain in 1136, explained the idea that the wizard Merlin built Stonehenge: an idea that, English Heritage notes, was widely accepted until as late as the 16th century.⁠¹

The monument remained in private ownership until 1918, when Cecil Chubb, a local man who had purchased Stonehenge from the Antrobus family at an auction three years previously, gave it to the nation.⁠¹

Thereafter, the duty to conserve the monument fell to the state, today a role performed on its behalf by English Heritage.⁠¹

From 1927, the National Trust began to acquire the land around Stonehenge to preserve it and restore it to grassland.⁠¹

The earliest structures known in the immediate area are four or five pits, three of which appear to have held large pine totem-pole-like posts erected in the Mesolithic period, between 8500 and 7000 BC.⁠¹

English Heritage calls Stonehenge a masterpiece of engineering, built using only simple tools and technologies, before the arrival of metals and the invention of the wheel.⁠²

The first monument at Stonehenge was a circular earthwork enclosure, built in about 3000 BC.⁠²

Within the ditch was a ring of 56 timber or stone posts. The monument was used as a cremation cemetery for several hundred years.⁠²

In about 2500 BC the site was transformed by the construction of the central stone settings.⁠²

The sarsen stones are a type of silcrete rock, which is found scattered naturally across southern England.⁠²

For many years most archaeologists believed that these stones were brought from the Marlborough Downs, 20 miles (32 km) away, but their exact origin remained a mystery.⁠²

Recent research has not only confirmed that the Marlborough Downs were indeed the source, but has pinpointed the specific area that the sarsens most likely came from: West Woods, south-west of Marlborough.⁠²

On average the sarsens weigh 25 tons, with the largest stone, the Heel Stone, weighing about 30 tons.⁠²

Bluestone is the term used for the smaller stones at Stonehenge. These are of varied geology but all came from the Preseli Hills in south-west Wales, in English Heritage wording on that page.⁠²

The bluestones weigh between 2 and 5 tons each.⁠²

Although they may not appear blue, they do have a bluish tinge when freshly broken or when wet.⁠²

Some of the bluestones are likely to have previously stood in a stone circle on the bank of the river Avon at West Amesbury henge, 1 mile (1.7 km) to the south-east.⁠²

Some unspotted dolerite bluestones may originally have been part of a stone circle at Waun Mawn, in the Preseli Hills. Recent excavations there have uncovered empty stoneholes, showing that at least six bluestone pillars were removed from this site in prehistory.⁠²

English Heritage's building page still describes the Altar Stone as made of a type of sandstone found in south-east Wales, in the area of the Brecon Beacons or Black Mountains.⁠²

To fit the upright stones with the horizontal lintels, mortice holes and protruding tenons were created. The lintels were slotted together using tongue and groove joints. These types of joint are usually found only in woodworking.⁠²

To erect a stone, people dug a large hole with a sloping side. The stone was then moved into position and hauled upright using plant fibre ropes and probably a wooden A-frame.⁠²

The inner sarsen arrangement is a horseshoe of five trilithons: two vertical stones capped by a horizontal lintel.⁠³

Of these, three complete trilithons still stand (one fell in 1797 and was re-erected in 1958), and two are partly fallen.⁠³

Near the centre is the Altar Stone, which is mostly buried beneath the fallen stone of the tallest trilithon.⁠³

Around the horseshoe are the remains of the outer sarsen circle, capped with lintels. There were probably once 30 stones in this circle, but many have fallen and most of the lintels and a few uprights are missing from the site.⁠³

The Slaughter Stone sometimes has a reddish colour because rainwater reacts with the iron it contains. English Heritage says this may explain its name, given by Victorian visitors who imagined that Druids had practiced sacrifices here.⁠³

The main axis of the stones is aligned upon the solstitial axis.⁠³

At midsummer, the sun rises over the horizon to the north-east, close to the Heel Stone.⁠³

At midwinter, the sun sets in the south-west, in the gap between the two tallest trilithons, one of which has now fallen.⁠³

There were two original entrances to the enclosure: a wide one to the north-east and a smaller one on the southern side.⁠³

Immediately outside the north-east entrance is the Heel Stone, a huge unshaped sarsen boulder.⁠³

The first Stonehenge was built about 5,000 years ago, in the period of prehistory known as the Neolithic.⁠⁴

By about 2500 BC, more and much larger stones had been brought there, marking the start of over 800 years of building and alteration stretching into the Bronze Age.⁠⁴

The first Stonehenge is built as an earthwork enclosure about 100 metres across, enclosed by a circular ditch and two banks.⁠⁴

The timeline says the bluestones from the Preseli Hills in Wales, over 150 miles (250 km) away, may have arrived around 3000 BC.⁠⁴

Over 80 large sarsen stones are brought from the Marlborough Downs, 15 miles (25 km) away, and raised in the centre of the enclosure in two concentric arrangements.⁠⁴

Hundreds of burial mounds are raised in the Stonehenge landscape for rich, individual burials, forming the densest concentration of burial mounds in Britain.⁠⁴

In 1918 local landowner Cecil Chubb, who bought Stonehenge three years earlier from the Antrobus family, gives it to the nation.⁠⁴

In 2013 the road which ran close to the stones is closed. A new visitor centre is built 2 kilometres away from the monument.⁠⁴

English Heritage says Neolithic and Bronze Age people put an enormous effort into building this extraordinary structure, despite the fact that it serves no known practical function.⁠⁵

If you were to stand in the middle of the stone circle on Midsummer's Day, you would see the sun rise just to the left of the Heel Stone.⁠⁵

The whole layout of Stonehenge is therefore designed in relation to the solstices, which are the extreme limits of the sun's movement.⁠⁵

Excavations show that the area within the stone circle seems to have been kept clean of everyday debris.⁠⁵

English Heritage says Stonehenge is likely to have been much more than a calendar.⁠⁵

English Heritage also calls Stonehenge the world's best-known ancient stone circle.⁠⁶

The Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites World Heritage statement on that page says Stonehenge is the most architecturally sophisticated prehistoric stone circle in the world, while Avebury is the largest in the world.⁠⁶

On the significance page, the bluestones are said to have been brought from the Preseli Hills, over 150 miles (250 km) away, and the sarsens from West Woods, 15 miles (25 km) north of Stonehenge on the edge of the Marlborough Downs.⁠⁶

On the same page, English Heritage says the interpretation which is most generally accepted is that of a prehistoric temple aligned with the movements of the sun.⁠⁶

A 2024 study, published in the journal Nature and summarised by UCL, found that the Altar Stone came from northern Scotland, not Wales.⁠⁷

The findings show a remarkable similarity between the Old Red Sandstone of the Orcadian Basin in northeast Scotland and the Stonehenge Altar Stone.⁠⁷

The new discovery implies that the stone was moved much further than had been believed: at least 700 km (435 miles), in UCL's wording.⁠⁷

UCL quotes the co-author Richard Bevins: the hunt will still very much be on to pin down where exactly in the north-east of Scotland the Altar Stone came from.⁠⁷

Curtin University, which led the research, describes the Altar Stone as a six-tonne sandstone block.⁠⁸

Curtin's media release says the chemical fingerprint suggests the stone came from rocks in the Orcadian Basin, Scotland, at least 750 kilometres away from Stonehenge.⁠⁸

Curtin says transporting such massive cargo overland from Scotland to southern England would have been extremely challenging, indicating a likely marine shipping route along the coast of Britain.⁠⁸

UNESCO lists Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites as a World Heritage Site, with the date of inscription 1986.⁠⁹

UNESCO calls Stonehenge and Avebury, in Wiltshire, among the most famous groups of megaliths in the world.⁠⁹

UNESCO says the two sanctuaries consist of circles of menhirs arranged in a pattern whose astronomical significance is still being explored.⁠⁹

The property area given on the UNESCO page is 5,152.39 ha.⁠⁹

Britannica locates Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain, about 8 miles (13 km) north of Salisbury, Wiltshire, England.⁠¹⁰

Though there is no definite evidence as to the intended purpose of Stonehenge, Britannica says, it was presumably a religious site and an expression of the power and wealth of the chieftains, aristocrats, and priests who had it built.⁠¹⁰

Britannica says the monument called Stonehenge was built in six stages between 3000 and 1520 BCE.⁠¹⁰

The name of the monument probably derives from the Saxon stan-hengen, meaning "stone hanging" or "gallows."⁠¹⁰

Along with more than 350 nearby monuments and henges, including the kindred temple complex at Avebury, Stonehenge was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1986.⁠¹⁰

John Aubrey in the 17th century and William Stukeley in the 18th century both believed the structure to be a Druid temple. This idea has been rejected by more-recent scholars, as Stonehenge is now understood to have predated by some 2,000 years the Druids recorded by Julius Caesar.⁠¹⁰

In 1963 American astronomer Gerald Hawkins proposed that Stonehenge had been constructed as a "computer" to predict lunar and solar eclipses. Most of these speculations, too, have been rejected by experts.⁠¹⁰

In 2008 Tim Darvill and Geoffrey Wainwright suggested that Stonehenge was used in prehistory as a place of healing. However, analysis of human remains from around and within the monument shows no difference from other parts of Britain in terms of the population's health.⁠¹⁰

Stonehenge was not built by aliens. The claim gained popularity by way of the book Chariots of the Gods?, published in 1968, by Erich von Daniken. Britannica says von Daniken's claims and others like them have been debunked by scientists and other researchers.⁠¹⁰

As a prehistoric stone circle, Britannica says, it is unique because of its artificially shaped sarsen stones, arranged in post-and-lintel formation, and because of the remote origin of its smaller bluestones from 100-150 miles (160-240 km) away, in South Wales.⁠¹⁰

Whether it was used by the Druids (Celtic priests) is doubtful, but present-day Druids gather there every year to hail the midsummer sunrise.⁠¹⁰