The most famous of Europe’s prehistoric monuments, after which a whole class of megaliths is named. Stonehenge lies on Salisbury Plain in southern England. Although the site itself is fairly small not more than a few hundred square yards it has won respect not only for its relative completeness but for the complexity of its construction as well. Archaeologists have divided Stonehenge’s construction into four distinct phases, beginning with Stonehenge I around 2750 B.C.E. and continuing through Stonehenge IV around 1,200 years later. The site also increased in complexity during that period, changing from a circular trough ringed with a series of small holes to a series of circles and semicircles of trilithons (two standing stones capped by a third). Some of these stones may have been imported from Wales, more than 100 miles away. Other holes, posts, and lintels were added to and subtracted from the site over the centuries.
The function and construction of the Stonehenge site has been a subject of much debate over the centuries. In the 12th century, the romance writer Geoffrey of Monmouth suggested that the stones were carried across the Irish Sea by the enchanter Merlin. Geoffrey explained that m 483 the British king Aurelius Ambrosius had defeated an invading army of Saxons and wished to commemorate the victory with a suitable monument. He asked Merlin to transport the Giant’s Dance a ring of stones, supposedly the remains of giants who had ossified while dancing from a mountain in Ireland to England and had them erected at Salisbury in honor of the British soldiers who had fallen in the fight. In the 17th century, architect Inigo Jones declared that Stonehenge was built by the Romans because they were the only ones with the technical skill to erect such a structure. Dr. Walter Charleton, physician to Charles II of England, believed that the Danish kings of Britain were responsible for Stonehenge and that it was meant as a polling place for the election and inauguration of kings. A century later, antiquarian William Stukeley declared that Stonehenge was erected by Druids, who used it as a place of worship.