Return journey to London with a stop into Stonehenge.
A small was still highlight Stonehenge at the completion of our journey to Cornwall.

The Early Enclosure (1)
The tunnel from the visitor centre emerges a little distance from the stones, outside the boundary formed by the circular ditch and bank. These earthworks are now grassed over but are clearly visible as the path crosses over them on its way to the inner part of the monument. This is the first Stonehenge, constructed between 3000 and 2920 BC in the period known as the Neolithic or New Stone Age. In this, its first form, Stonehenge was similar to a number of other sites known as causewayed enclosures. Another example called Robin Hood's Ball lies about a mile to the north-west.
The first Stonehenge was a roughly circular enclosure of about 110m (360ft) in diameter, defined by a ditch, an inner bank made of the chalk excavated from the ditch and, in places, a small outer bank known as a counterscarp.There were at least two entrances; one of these, still clearly visible today, faces north-east, towards the large stone by the roadside fence.This is the entrance that became the main way into the enclosure, but at this early stage in the construction of Stonehenge there was at least one other entrance, on the southern side of the enclosure.

When Colonel William Hawley excavated much of the eastern side of Stonehenge in the 1920s, he found the sifted-up ditch to be very irregular varying considerably in width, depth and shape. Hawley likened it to 'a string of badly-made sausages'.The ditch was originally dug using picks of red deer-antler and shovels made from cattle shoulder blades.The chalk to build the banks would most probably have been moved inbaskets or skins. Fragments of these antler picks, thrown away or perhaps deliberately left on the ditch floor have been radiocarbon dated to between 3000 and 2920 BC. But other older bones were also found on the ditch floor In the ends of some of the short segments of ditch, cattle bones, jaws and a skull had been carefully placed.
When dated they turned out to be much older than the ditch, perhaps by as much as 300 years. There must have been some special reason for burying bones this old in the bottom of the ditch; they may have been offerings of some kind, left

by the builders to mark the foundation of the important new temple of Stonehenge.
Although we can be certain about when the enclosure was built, it is less certain what else of Stonehenge was constructed at this time. One possibility is the circle of 56 circular pits, spaced between 4m and 5m (13ft and 16ft) apart, that lies just inside the inner edge of the
bank.These pits are known as the Aubrey Holes after their original discoverer, the 17th-century antiquary John Aubrey (1626-1697), who was one of the first to make systematic observations of Stonehenge.
Although 34 of the Aubrey Holes were excavated during the 20th century, not one provided samples that could be dated scientifically.The excavations did reveal that when these pits were first dug they held upright timbers, and that at a later date, after the timbers had either rotted away or been removed, they became places of burial. Cremated human bones were found, both in the tops of the Aubrey Holes and also in the bank and the ditch (which was by this time partly filled in). So, early in its life, Stonehenge was a cemetery, a place where
the remains of the dead could be laid to rest. This is extremely rare; only one other siteof this type, at Dorchester-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, is known from this period, about 5,000 years ago.lt is also possible that some of the many other post holes for upright timbers, which have been found within the area enclosed by the bank and ditch, might also belong to this early stage of Stonehenge, before the stones arrived.

The Sarsen Stones and Bluestones (2)
In the form of its ditch and the animal bones that were carefully placed there, the first Stonehenge was not so different from many other enclosures of a similar date. Even cremated human bones have been found at one other site . What made Stonehenge so unusual is what happened next: the arrival of the stones.
Moving within the earthwork formed by the ditch and bank and closer to the central stones, it is immediately obvious that they fall into two different groups in terms of their size. Many of the stones are very large, including the uprights
closest to the path and, further in towards the centre, the pairs of uprights that support horizontal lintels. Others, nestled amongst the larger stones, are much smaller, some less than the height of an adult.These two groups of stones are quite different, both in their size and in the type of raw material from which they are formed.
The largest stones, some of which weigh over 40 tonnes, are known as sarsens. Sarsen is a type of extremely hard sandstone, small boulders of which can be found in the area around Stonehenge. But for larger sarsens the closest source lies more than 30km (19 miles) to the north of Stonehenge, on the Marlborough Downs in north Wiltshire. Here massive stones can still
be seen half-buried in the bottoms of shallow valleys, although many others have been broken up for building material or cleared away
to make cultivation easier.
The smaller stones at Stonehenge are known collectively as bluestones, although this group includes a variety of different types of rock. What unites them is their source, in the Preseli Hills of west Wales, over 240km (150 miles) to the west of Stonehenge.There is no doubt about their origin: the mineral composition of stones from Stonehenge can be matched precisely with samples from Preseli.lt is difficult to explain the peculiar mixture within the bluestone group, but perhaps it represents not simply a collection of building materials, but the components of an existing stone circle that stood in Wales before being uprooted and brought to Stonehenge.There were originally of least 80 bluestones at Stonehenge, some weighing up to five tonnes.
So how did both types of stones get to Salisbury Plain? The sarsens are bigger but are found closer to Stonehenge, and experiments have shown that stones this size can be dragged on a simplewooden sledge running on wooden rails by a team of about 200 people.To drag a stone from the Marlborough Downs to Stonehenge, using a route avoiding steep slopes wherever possible, would take about 12 days.
In the past there have been suggestions that the bluestones were found lying on Salisbury Plain where they had been carried by the movement of glaciers during the Ice Age.There is little geological evidence to support this idea and it is now generally accepted that it was human rather than glacial transport that moved them. Although the bluestones are smaller they had much further to travel and their route is still open to debate.The first part of their journey would have been by land, but water transport may also have been important.The River Avon, which flows close to Stonehenge, is often suggested as forming the final part of the bluestones' journey from Wales.

The Stone Settings (3)
Moving further along the path, parallel with the central stones, visitors get a clear view of the way in which the larger sarsens have been shaped and fitted together At most stone circles built at this time in prehistory, blocks of stone were left in their natural, rough state and simply raised upright, but at Stonehenge they were treated differently.The sarsens within the central settings have been carefully trimmed, sometimes to produce sharply defined rectangular blocks, and have also been shaped to produce simple joints that lock the stones tightly together. Some of the bluestones also show evidence of shaping and jointing, although in their current setting they all seem to have been freestanding.
Although the bluestones were the first stones to arrive at Stonehenge there is now no visible trace of their original setting, which may have been an incomplete circle of paired stones.This was removed before the larger sarsens that make up the inner structure arrived and the bluestones were only reintroduced at a later date. In their final arrangement, probably some time between 2280 and 1930 BC, the stones were arranged in four concentric settings, two circles and two of horseshoe shape. Even after more than 4,000 years of decay, these structures can still be recognised today.The outermost setting was originally a circle of 30 upright sarsens, capped by horizontal lintel stones. Of these 30 uprights only 17 still stand while only five of the lintels are still in place, leaving the best preserved section on the north-eastern side, facing the entrance to the enclosure.The surviving uprights are closely spaced, with gaps of less than I.5m (5ft) between the individual stones.The uprights and the lintels are locked together by means of a joint more commonly used in woodworking: the mortise and tenon. A protruding peg, or tenon, on the top of each upright fits into a corresponding hole, or mortise, hollowed out of the underside of the lintel.The ends of the lintels are locked together by tongue and groove joints (also derived from carpentry), where a vertical tongue fits into a corresponding vertical groove. The sophistication of this part of the structure is increased by the shaping of the horizontal lintels: these are not rectangular as might be expected, but gently curved on both inner and outer faces. If this outer

circle — now much ruined — was ever complete, then its lintels would have formed a perfect ring of stone suspended high above the ground.Inside and concentric with these sarsens lay a circular setting of as many as 60 small, upright bluestones, the majority of which show no sign of having been worked or shaped in any way. Within this circle, though, are two finely worked stones with mortise holes which were clearly shaped as horizontal lintels before being reused as upright pillars.This circle is now fragmentary.
Moving inwards, the next setting was the most impressive: a horseshoe of five massive sarsen structures known as trilithons (from the Greek for three stones). Each trilithon resembled a great doorway with two huge uprights and an equally huge horizontal lintel.These again used mortise and tenon joints to fix the lintels firmly onto the uprights.Three complete trilithons still stand (although one of them, the one closest to the tarmac path, was re-erected in 1958). Among their uprights are the biggest individual stones at Stonehenge, weighing in at well over 40 tonnes.
As rough stones when first found, before they considerably more.This sarsen horseshoe is an extremely sophisticated structure, as the individual trilithons were originally graded in height, with the tallest, known as the GreatTrilithon, standing at the closed end of the horseshoe. Only one stone of this magnificent structure still stands, the tallest standing stone in Britain, over 7.3m (24ft) high.
The innermost setting is another horseshoe, this time of bluestone pillars.There were originally 19 stones, larger than those in the bluestone circle and including a number that were elegantly shaped. Some bear evidence that they once had tenons, suggesting that they supported lintels, although not where they stand today.
Finally, at the closed end of the innermost horseshoe, in the shadow of the tallest trilithon and now partly buried beneath its fallen upright, lies a stone known as the Altar Stone.This is the largest of the non-sarsen stones, a greenish sandstone from south Wales.
Not only were the stones carefully shaped and jointed together but the two horseshoes, of sarsen and bluestone, were lined up precisely so that their open ends pointed directly towards the entrance to Stonehenge.

Raising The Stones (4)
As the path leads back over the bank and ditch, note the pale concrete spots in the grass.These mark the position of excavated Aubrey Holes, the pits that once held upright timbers.The path then curves round the outside of the enclosure.
Having moved their building materials to Stonehenge, how did our prehistoric ancestors, without the benefit of the wheel or initially, any metal tools, shape and erect these stones? Both the sarsens and bluestones could only have been shaped by using round balls of sarsen known as mauls. Several have been found at Stonehenge, ranging from the size of an orange to some as big as footballs. Shaping the stones, and creating the joints by which they were fixed together, must have been a long and uncomfortable process. Once shaped, the stones intended as uprights could be raised. Holes were dug into the chalk, the depth of each one calculated in order to level up the tops of the stones (it was easier to dig out more chalk than to remove bits from the stone).
Excavation has shown that most of the holes in which the uprights are set have one straight side and one that slopes. lt seems likely that the stone was slid into the hole and initially rested at an angle against the sloping side. Experiments have shown that this can be done by balancing the stone on a ramp, with its end poised over the hole. Smaller stones can then be dragged along the length of the stone until their weight causes it to overbalance, pivot on the solid end of the ramp and drop into the hole.The stone can then be hauled upright against the vertical face using ropes of hide or vegetable fibre.The hole can then be backfilled with chalk, fragments of stone, bits of broken deer-antler picks and mauls, all rammed down firmly to hold the stone in place.

There are several theories as to how the lintels were raised into position. Experiments have shown that it is possible to drag a 10 tonne stone sideways up a sloping ramp made of earth or timber Alternatively the lintels could have been raised on a platform of interlocking timbers. Each end of the lintel would have been raised in turn, using levers. As each end of the lintel was levered up, supporting timbers would have been inserted and the stone lifted as the platform grew in height. Either of these methods is possible and would have left no trace for archaeologists to find.

Although Stonehenge was constructed during a time when stone tools were gradually being replaced by copper and bronze, these new metals were too soft to have been used to shape the hard sarsens or bluestones. Most of what is carved on the surface of the stones is of a recent date — the names of visitors who must have come prepared with a hammer and chisel; but some decoration is much older.The shallow outlines of daggers and axes of prehistoric form lay undiscovered until spotted by a sharp-eyed archaeologist in I953.These carvings cannot be directly dated, but the shapes of the weapons and tools suggest that they date to the earlier part of the Bronze Age, some time in about 2000 BC.

THE AXIS OF STONEHENGE

This is a good point from which to view the main alignment, or axis, of the whole temple. Look past the tallest surviving upright with its pronounced teflon, through the stones and out towards the enclosure entrance, marked by
the Heel Stone by the side of the road.This is the direction in which the sun rises at midsummer.

The Station Stones and South and North Barrows (5)

As the path continues around the perimeter of the enclosure, it passes a small sarsen stone close to the inner edge of the bank.This is one of four known as the Station Stones that originally stood on roughly the same line as the Aubrey Holes. Of the four, two still survive: one upright, the other fallen, and both showing some small signs of having been shaped.The two missing stones were each surrounded by a circular ditch, creating the appearance of low mounds that became known as the North and South Barrows. Despite this name they are not burial mounds.
The Station Stones were most probably put in place at the same time that the central sarsen stones were raised, and their precise position was very carefully calculated.They mark the corners of a perfect rectangle with its central point in the exact centre of the monument.The reason for this is uncertain, although it has been suggested that the Station Stones were survey markers for the original builders.
lt is important to remember that there are other elements of Stonehenge that can no longer be seen on the ground: structures of timber and arrangements of pits that have only been rediscovered by excavation.The Aubrey Holes, discovered by John Aubrey in the 17th century and excavated by Colonel William Hawley in the early 1920s, have already been mentioned. But there were two other circles of pits, both of which lay closer to the central stone settings. Colonel Hawley discovered these in 1923 and they were named the Y Holes and the Z Holes. Each circle originally consisted of 30 pits, oblong and about Im (3ft) deep.They appear to have been dug late in the period of Stonehenge's construction, almost as an afterthought, but there is no evidence that they ever held uprights of stone or timber so their purpose is unknown.

THE LANDSCAPE OF STONEHENGE

As the path curves round the outside of the enclosure, it provides visitors with a good view of the wider landscape. Stonehenge lies of the heart of an area rich in archaeology, within which are several more henges, as well os other ceremonial sites, traces of prehistoric settlements, fields, boundaries, flint-working sites and, perhaps most obvious, burial mounds.
On every hilltop visible from Stonehenge there are low grassy mounds, some within woodland, others fenced or unfenced within fields. These are round barrows, each the burial place of someone of wealth and status in the early part of the Bronze Age, the time when the building of Stonehenge was nearing its completion.The position of these barrows is quite deliberate, many of them strung out along the crests of low ridges where they would have been most visible and most able to advertise the power of the people who lay beneath them.When first built, their mounds of chalk, dug out from a surrounding ditch, would have gleamed white against the gross.
The landscape surrounding Stonehenge contains one of the highest concentrations of Bronze-Age round barrows in the country.The mounds that can be seen today have survived centuries of landscape change that saw the deliberate destruction of many barrows and the gradual erosion, through ploughing, of many more, Originally there were more than 300 round barrows within a 3km (2 mile) radius of Stonehenge.This was a huge attraction for antiquaries and early archaeologists in the 18th and 19th centuries, with the result that nearly every barrow that can be seen has been at least partially excavated at some point in its history. Many of the magnificent finds of pottery, amber, bronze and gold can be seen in the Wiltshire Heritage Museum in Devizes and the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum in Salisbury. Much
of the surrounding landscape can also be explored on foot from Stonehenge.

The Heel Stone, Slaughter Stone and Avenue (6)

Moving further round the path, the visitor comes to a huge unworked sarsen, known as the Heel Stone, that stands close to the fence at the edge of the A344 road.Today the Heel Stone stands in isolation, surrounded by a small circular ditch, although it originally had a companion stone, the hole for which was discovered in 1980 in the grass verge at the side of the road.The Heel Stone lies just outside the main entrance to the earthwork enclosure. From here the twin parallel banks and ditches of the Avenue run out across the downs, although today they are unfortunately cut off from Stonehenge by the road.
The route of the Avenue, which is interpreted as a ceremonial approach way to Stonehenge, starts on the banks of the River Avonat West Amesbury, over 2.5km (1.5 miles) away to the south-east. From here it curves up across the line of the A303 road beforecrossing the tree- and barrow-covered ridge to the east and running down into a shallow valley. Here it turns and the final section runs straight for a distance of over 500m (550yds) up t2-the entrance to the enclosure.
This final section of the Avenue is just visible in the field on the opposite side of the road, particularly when the ditch and bank are seen in the light from a low sun.The Avenue wasconstructed at the same time as the great stone structures were completed, some time shortly after 2300 BC.
Turning away from the Heel Stone back towards the centre of Stonehenge, visitors can see another stone lying in the entrance to the enclosure.This is known as the Slaughter Stone, its gruesome name a product of over-active Victorian imagination, lt originally stood upright and, like the Heel Stone, was flanked by additional stones that are now missing.The surviving stone now lies horizontal, and shallow depressions on its surface collect rain water which reacts with iron in the stone and turns a rusty red.This was thought by previous generations of visitors to be evidence of sacrifice — a relic of ancient blood spilt on a stone altar — hence the stone's lurid but highly inaccurate name.

THE ALIGNMENT OF STONEHENGE

This point, close to the Heel Stone, lies on the axis of Stonehenge.This is an alignment that runs north-east to south-west, up the final straight section of the Avenue and through the enclosure entrance. Within the central stones 'rt runs through the open ends of the horseshoes of sarsen and bluestone to where the Altar Stone lies at the base of the Great Trilithon.This axis, which was a part of Stonehenge from the time that the first enclosure was built, was carefully
chosen because it reflects the annual movements of the sun.
At Stonehenge on the longest day of the year, sometime around 21 June in the modern calendar, the sun rises behind the Heel Stone in the north-east part of the horizon and its first rays shine into the heart of Stonehenge.This cannot be a coincidence as this alignment is shared with many other henges — temples of earth and wood — that were built at the same time in prehistory.Within Stonehenge's immediate surroundings there are two good examples, Coneybury to the south-east and Woodhenge to the north-east.The careful way that Stonehenge is laid out has long been seen as evidence that it was designed to mark and, presumably, celebrate the middle point of summer — the Summer Solstice. But an alignment that marks a midsummer event in one direction can, in the other direction, point to a midwinter event.
Because of the way the sun moves through the sky during the course of the year the sunset of the Winter Solstice, on the shortest day of the year occurs on exactly the opposite side of the horizon from the midsummer sunrise. Observers at Stonehenge of the Winter Solstice (around 21 December), standing in the entrance to the enclosure and facing the centre of the stones, can watch the sun set in the south-west part of the horizon, just to one side of the only remaining upright of the Great Trilithon. When this magnificent structure stood intact this effect would have been very dramatic: the setting sun would have dropped rapidly down the narrow gap between the two upright stones. So Stonehenge may have been built to commemorate not so much the longest day, the Summer Solstice, but the shortest day, the Solstice in the depths of winter But why?

THE FIRST STONEHENGE

The first Stonehenge was an enclosure, its slightly sloping central area defined by an irregularly dug ditch with an interior bank of a more regular profile. Around parts of the ditch was a small outer or counterscarp, bank.There were two certain entrances. One faced north-east and remained in use throughout the active life of Stonehenge, while a smaller one faced south.There is also some evidence, just to the west of this second entrance, for an even smaller one, little more than a causeway between two ditch segments.The position of the main entrance was crucial to the function of Stonehenge, as it faced towards the midsummer sunrise in one direction, and aligned with the midwinter sunset in the other This alignment was deliberate, and suggests that Stonehenge, from its earliest phase, was concerned with the movements of the sun.
The size of the ditch and the volume of material that it would have produced suggest that the bank, a simple dump of chalk with no real structure, could have stood as much as 2m (6.5ft) high. As the ditch is so irregular it may have been dug merely as a quarry to provide chalk; the bank was probably the more important part of the enclosure.The digging of the ditch and the building of the bank can be radiocarbon dated with great precision to between 3000 and 2920 BC. Samples for dating were provided by antler picks discovered in the base of the ditch.
Cattle bones also found in the base of the ditch were thought to date to the time of its digging, but turned out to be as much as 300 years older. These bones, perhaps the relics from ancient ceremonies, suggest that there had been some kind of special activity close by even before the enclosure was built.
The construction of the enclosure, like that of all the other causewayed enclosures that had been built before this, was clearly a communal effort, and it is possible that individual sections of the ditch were dug by different groups of people. Small bands of individuals, families or extended families, or tribal groups from a variety of locations, may have come from some distance to work together on this great project. lt is less certain what, if anything, was taking place inside the enclosure at this time.

THE TIMBER PHASE

The great earthwork enclosure did not stay empty for long. Many holes were dug in the chalk, into which timber posts were set. Around the inner edge of the bank were 56 regularly spaced pits, the Aubrey Holes, each of which appears to have held an upright post. In the main entrance to the enclosure and immediately outside this entrance were regular rows of smaller posts and from the second, southern entrance (still in use at this time) parallel rows of posts wound their way towards the centre of the enclosure.This is the area where it could reasonably be expected that the most important wooden structures would have been built. Unfortunately this is where, in later years, the raising of the stones obliterated the subtle traces of holes for wooden posts. What remains are post holes either in isolation or in clusters: the fragments of what may have been a circular structure. In other areas of the site, for example between the southern entrance and the centre of the enclosure, the rows of posts are so closely set that it has been suggested they may have been the uprights for an entrance passage of wattle fencing.

There are no useful radiocarbon dates from Stonehenge's timber phase, so it remains imprecisely dated to some time between 2900 and about 2600 BC. Its exact appearance and function are also difficult to understand, but what is clear is that, at some time during this phase, Stonehenge became a place of burial.
Over 50 deposits of cremated human bone have been found during excavations, almost all round the outside of the enclosure.They were found in the partly-filled ditch, cut into and just inside the bank, and in the upper levels of the Aubrey Holes which, by this time, appear to have had their posts removed.The majority of the cremations were found in the 1920s by Colonel William Hawley who, without any means of understanding their significance, reburied them. As these burial deposits included ash and charcoal from funeral pyres, it is likely that the actual cremations took place quite close by. Few objects accompany the cremated bones, but a number of long pins of antler or animal bone show evidence of having been burnt, presumably along with the body.There is also a highly polished macehead, clearly a much-prized possession.

THE EARLY STONE PHASE

The next stage in the development of Stonehenge saw the arrival, in about 2550 BC, of a small number of sarsen stones from the Marlborough Downs, and of a much greater number of bluestones from the Preseli Hills in Wales.They came to an earthwork enclosure that was already ancient, where circles and rows of timber posts had decayed or been removed.
Four small sarsens, now known as the Station Stones, were set upright just inside the inner edge of the bank. Immediately outside the enclosure entrance were two larger, unworked sarsens, the surviving example now known as the Heel Stone. The bluestones were first set up in a peculiar arrangement that is only known from the results of excavation.Two concentric arcs of stone holes, known as the Q and R Holes, were found on the northern and eastern sides of the central area of the site.The base of each hole showed the impression of a large stone, embedded in which were minute chips of bluestone.This setting is difficult to interpret.The arcs of stone holes may have been part of a circular structure, but few traces of it have been found on what would have
been its southern and western sides. lts precise date is also unknown, although it must have been the first stone setting at Stonehenge as both Q and R Holes are cut through by holes dug to take stones of the bluestone and sarsen circles.
Although geologically the bluestones all come from the Preseli Hills, they include a number of different types of rock. Some are attractive blue-greens or blue-greys, sometimes flecked with white; others are soft and dull-looking. So why was this miscellaneous collection of stones brought from Wales to Salisbury Plain? Perhaps what arrived was not simply a collection of building materials, but a complete stone circle that had stood in Wales. Here each stone, attractive or not, would have been special. In this and in all their subsequent rearrangements, the bluestones appear to have stood as single upright pillars. But evidence of worn mortise and teflon joints on some of them suggest that they may have stood as parts of miniature bluestone trilithons.
Whatever its precise form, this first stone monument appears to have been short-lived.The bluestones were removed and their holes packed with chalk. lt was time for bigger stones to arrive.

THE LATE STONE PHASE

Some time later, minor changes took place around the outer parts of the monument. A circular ditch was dug around the Heel Stone and its companion stone was removed.Three stones were raised in a line across the entrance causeway, the Slaughter Stone, now fallen, being the sole survivor.Two of the Station Stones were also surrounded by slight, ditched mounds known as the North and South Barrows.
The major change to the appearance of Stonehenge was the arrival, shaping and raising of the 75 sarsens that go to make the outer circle and the horseshoe of massive trilithons.There is no precise dating for these structures; they were raised between 2440 BC and 2100 BC, but most probably closer to 2300 BC. There is also a lack of archaeological evidence to show in which order the two main structures were built. Logic suggests that the horseshoe of trilithons was built first, or at least before the outer circle was finished — whether it ever was completed is uncertain. Much of it is now missing and there is one upright on its southern side that would never have reached the required height to support a
lintel. Perhaps the supply of suitable stones simply ran out before the structure was completed. Finished or not, in its original form the outer circle must have been an extremely elegant structure. The gently curved lintels were beautifully shaped and jointed and the upper surface of the stone ring that they formed was almost exactly level, even though Stonehenge is built on a slope.
Equally elegant and even more massive were the five sarsen trilithons, graduated in size from the shortest that lay at the open end of the horseshoe to the tallest, the Great Trilithon that stood facing the enclosure entrance.This horseshoe re-emphasised the alignment of the whole temple, originally established by the position of the entrance into the earthwork enclosure.There is little evidence of the bluestones from this phase of construction; these had been removed from their original settings in the Q and R Holes.
The completion of the two sarsen structures marked the end of a massive undertaking for the builders of Stonehenge.Their engineering cn a monumental scale had created the most iconic prehistoric structure in the world.

THE FINAL PHASE

Further changes took place between 2280 and 1930 BC. Once again the stones that lay in and close to the enclosure's entrance were repositioned, and the line of the entrance was extended down the sloping hillside by the twin ditches and banks of the Avenue.The bluestones reappeared: as many as 60 of them were set up in a circle lying just inside and concentric with the outer sarsen circle. Inside the horseshoe of sarsen trilithons more bluestones were set up, initially to form an oval.Then those stones that stood at the north-eastern end of the oval, towards the entrance, were removed, leaving an inner bluestone horseshoe.This setting, which may originally have contained 19 stones, includes some of the tallest and most elegantly shaped of the bluestone pillars.
Finally, at the closed end of the bluestone horseshoe, in the shadow of the Great Trilithon, the Altar Stone was placed.This finely worked slab of greenish sandstone from south Wales, the largest of the non-sarsen stones, now lies buried beneath the wreckage of the Great Trilithon. lt may have stood as a wide pillar at the focal point of the central stone settings but equally ft may have been placed flat, as a real altar With the exception of the Y and Z Holes, dug just outside the sarsen circle perhaps as late as 1600 BC, this was the end of construction at Stonehenge.
All this effort, over more than 1,000 years, was to create a temple to the sun. Built into the structure of Stonehenge from the very beginning was one fundamental alignment.The line that runs out from the open end of the stone horseshoes, through the entrance and down the first part of the Avenue, marks the position of the rising sun at midsummer and of the setting sun at midwinter. These were the times of the year that Stonehenge was built to celebrate, although the emphasis was perhaps more on midwinter when the year turned from dark to light and when there was hope for new life.What rituals may have been carried out at these times can only be guessed at, but it is likely that only the most important people would have been allowed within the stones themselves. Here, partly hidden from those who had travelled to be part of the great occasion, they would have carried out ceremonies to ensure that the seasons changed.

At 2:30 pm we brought back the car to Sixt nearby Heathrow.

Temperature: ca. 15 - 20°C - mixed weather

Driven miles: 285 = 459 km