Theories of Stonehenge

Stone henge is located in England, Wiltshire. Stone henge is made of tall standing rocks called Sarsen stones and smaller stones called blue stone. The large stones stand up right with either a smaller sarsen laying on top. The Sarsens are on the outside creating a full circle and the blue stones are inside the Sarsen circle creating a smaller blue stone circle.

                  This is a animated  Stonehenge       

 

This is what stone henge looks like 

today. As you can see some stones 

have been knocked down over the years.                                                                             

                                        

Now that you have an idea of what Stonehenge looks like I am going to tell you a few theories of why Stonehenge was built.

Mike Parker Pearson of the University of Sheffield has the theory that Stonehenge was built a sacred place for the dead while a different monument, Woodhenge, made of wooden pillars is a place for the living. He also believes that Stonehenge is a part of  bigger more complex monuments in the area.

A very different theory suggesting that Stonehenge was a place of healing. People visiting from far and wide believing that Stonehenge would cure them of their diseases. Many remains excavated from the ground show signs of people having injuries or illness. Some remains excavated were teeth and bones and when tested people found that these remains were of people from far away places such as Wales, Northern England and Ireland.

Amazingly one of the most popular theories is that is was created as an Astronomical Observatory used to mark mid-summer. Evidence shows that people visited in the summer but also during the winter solstice, when the sun sets between the largest of the central arches.

Others also suggest that Stonehenge was used to predict solar and lunar eclipses.

Lastly Stonehenge could have been used to demonstrate the movements of the moon. Lionel Syms of the University of East London proposed that the creation of Stonehenge marked a change in society, from hunting to agriculture. The change is similar to the change from lunar to solar worship. When observations of the sun and the moon were combined, our ancestors could have been trying to show that they were part of the same spiritual force. 

There is one specific theory that i found a bit wacky, was the UFO theory. People are convinced that they saw UFO'S and are positive that Stonehenge was a landing area for aliens.