Stone Henge
Information
Construction
of the Henge
In its day,
the construction of Stonehenge was an impressive engineering feat, requiring
commitment, time and vast amounts of manual labor. In its first phase,
Stonehenge was a large earthwork; a bank and ditch arrangement called a henge,
constructed approximately 5,000 years ago. It is believed that the ditch was dug
with tools made from the antlers of red deer and wood. The underlying chalk was
loosened with picks and shoveled with the shoulderblades of cattle. It was then
loaded into baskets and carried away. Modern experiments have shown that these
tools were more than equal to the great task of earth digging and moving.
Heel Stone
The Heel
Stone is a stone which is not located in the main stone circle part. It was
named by John Aubrey for the "heel shaped dent", which relates to the
legend that the Devil threw the stone at the Friar's heel, which dented the
stone. Heel Shaped Dent is in quotation marks because experts on Stonehenge have
never found such a indention in the stone. If you ever get a chance to read
Stonehenge Decoded, by Gerald Hawkins, be sure to take a look at the sunrise
above the heel stone, taken June 20, 1964.
Slaughter
Stone
The Slaughter
Stone is another unique stone. It is in fact 21 feet long, but it is sunken so
deep that only the upper surface shows. It was originally placed upright.
Altar Stone:
The Altar
Stone is one of the most unique stones in Stonehenge. It is located near the
center, embeddded 15 feet within the great central sarsen trilithon. While all
of the other stones in Stonehenge are either sarsen or bluestone, the Altar
Stone is made up of sandstone
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