Stonehenge

During our trip to London we decided to use one of the days to see Stonehenge, Salisbury, and Bath. We used London Golden Tours to drive us between these sites, get our tickets into different venues, and provide us with some useful information and funny tidbits along the way.

It was about a 1.5 hour trip to Stonehenge from London, which you can see clearly from the highway that we were on. Once you're in with your ticket there's a path around the site so you're able to see it from all angles without getting too close. It wasn't anything like European Vacation where Chevy Chase backs his car into the stones.

Taken from paperblog.fr

We have to say that the main draw of Stonehenge is the mystery behind it. It's a very unique monument and an important part of prehistoric history. Some of the stones date back to 3100 BC and it was built it several stages demonstrating 2,000 years of continuous use. It began as a circular ditch and bank, which you can still see. The stones are large, with the heaviest weighing about 45 tons, and come from places up to 150 miles away. The stones are carefully fitted together and are leveled for alignment.

It is aligned with the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset, but it's exact purpose remains a mystery. There are many ideas as to what the area was used for. They know that it was used as a burial ground, finding 64 cremations and guessing that 150 individuals were buried there. They've also found objects that accompanied the burials such as a small ceramic piece, a stone macehead, flint tools, and bone skewer pins. They say it also appears to be have been a ceremonial site, a temple to mark the passing of time, seasons, and cycles of life and death. Various theories have been proposed about Stonehenge including that it was a place for Druid worship, a place for sun worship, a huge calendar, an astronomical computer, a center for ancestor worship, or as a cult place of healing.

A painting showing what Stonehenge would have looked like.

Along with this mystery includes the questions about how the people managed to carry these huge stones from so far away and then, using only primitive tools, build this amazing structure? The mystery remains at Stonehenge, but it will never fail to impress!