Stonehenge

• When was Stonehenge built and by whom?

  Stonehenge was built in multiple phases between roughly 3000 and 1600 BCE by Neolithic communities in Britain. Construction began with a circular earthwork and expanded over centuries into the stone settings visible today. The specific groups responsible and how they coordinated across generations and distances remain open questions.

• Where did Stonehenge's stones come from?

  The large sarsen stones came from Marlborough Downs about 25 kilometers away, while the smaller bluestones were quarried from the Preseli Hills in Wales, around 200 kilometers distant. A 2024 study in Nature traced the central Altar Stone to the Orcadian Basin in northeast Scotland — over 700 kilometers away — making it the longest known stone transport for any Neolithic monument.

• How did Neolithic builders move the stones to Stonehenge?

  The honest answer is: we don't know for certain. Experimental archaeology has shown that dragging stones on sledges or floating them on rafts is physically possible, but no actual transport equipment has been recovered. The Scottish origin of the Altar Stone suggests at least some material arrived by sea.

• What was Stonehenge used for?

  The archaeological record shows Stonehenge functioned as a cremation cemetery for centuries, with cremated human remains deposited at the site. It was also a ceremonial monument deliberately aligned to the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset. Whether it served additional purposes — calendar, ancestor veneration, political gathering — is inferred but not documented.

• What did the 2024 Altar Stone study find?

  Clarke et al., publishing in Nature in 2024, used mineral age-and-chemistry analysis to trace the Altar Stone's origin to the Orcadian Basin in northeast Scotland, more than 700 kilometers from Stonehenge. This makes it the longest confirmed stone transport for any Neolithic monument and suggests the builders had connections — or trade networks — reaching far beyond the local region.

• Is Stonehenge a UNESCO World Heritage Site?

  Yes. Stonehenge was inscribed as part of 'Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites' (UNESCO reference 373) under cultural criteria recognizing human creative genius, cultural interchange, and exceptional testimony to a Neolithic tradition. A minor boundary modification followed in 2008.

• UNESCO World Heritage Centre

  1986

  World Heritage Site — an outstanding prehistoric monument

  Inscribed as part of 'Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites' (ref. 373) under cultural criteria (i), (ii) and (iii); a minor boundary modification followed in 2008.

• English Heritage and the archaeological consensus

  current

  A human-built Neolithic monument — a ceremonial site and late-Neolithic cremation cemetery

  Construction is firmly dated to roughly 3000-1600 BCE; the solstice alignment and funerary use are well evidenced, while the stone-transport methods remain an open question.

• Clarke et al., Nature (peer-reviewed)

  2024-08-14

  The Altar Stone is provenanced to the Orcadian Basin of northeast Scotland

  Mineral age-and-chemistry analysis; the longest known stone transport for any Neolithic monument, over 700 km, most plausibly by sea.

• Stonehenge — WikipediaCreative Commons — reuse allowed with attribution, share-alike[cc-by-sa]accessed 2026-05-21
• History of Stonehenge — English HeritageQuoted or summarized under fair use — follow the link for the original[fair-use]accessed 2026-05-21
• Clarke et al. — A Scottish provenance for the Altar Stone of Stonehenge (Nature, 2024; PMC open-access)Creative Commons — reuse allowed with attribution[cc-by]accessed 2026-05-21
• The mysterious origin of Stonehenge's altar stone might have been solved — National GeographicQuoted or summarized under fair use — follow the link for the original[fair-use]accessed 2026-05-21
• Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites — UNESCO World Heritage Centre (ref. 373)Quoted or summarized under fair use — follow the link for the original[fair-use]accessed 2026-05-21

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• Mike Parker Pearson — Stonehenge (Amazon)

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