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• Stonehenge is a several millennia-old prehistoric monument of mysterious origin located on the Salisbury Plain in southern England. Consisting of a circle of large standing stones, many weighing 30 tons or more, Stonehenge is today a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

• Fast Facts

  1. Location on Salisbury Plain used to be heavily forested
  2. Built in phases
  3. Consists of a circle of large standing stones
  4. Apparently erected many miles from where the stones came from
  5. Believed to have been constructed around 2300 B.C.BBC News: Dig pinpoints Stonehenge origins (September 21, 2008)
  6. Builders unknown
  7. Believed by have been used as an astronomical device related to the Summer Solstice.
  8. Recent research shows the site was used in part as a place of healing for healing of sick and injured due to the use of Bluestones and their believed healing propertiesBBC News: Dig pinpoints Stonehenge origins (September 21, 2008) http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/...
  9. During the summer solstice visitors are allowed to walk among the stones

• Background

  Historians believe that three different prehistoric cultures in what is today England constructed and maintained the site. Excavations of the area by John Aubrey in the 17th Century revealed the existence of postholes surrounding the site, leading researchers to believe that they once contained standing timbers which acted in some way in conjunction with the stones. Today, many neo-pagan and Druidic sects regard Stonehenge as a religious location of high power and make regular pilgrimages to the site on significant days in the solar calendar. The stones have attracted attention throughout history; in Arthurian legend, the wizard Merlin was said to have brought the stones from Ireland, where they had originally been brought by Giants who constructed them in Africa.

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