Who Built Stonehenge, and What Was It Used For?
Stonehenge stands as England's most iconic prehistoric enigma, a circle of massive sarsen stones and smaller bluestones that has puzzled observers for millennia
Introduction
Stonehenge, located on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, is arguably the most recognisable prehistoric monument in the world. Its iconic circle of sarsen trilithons and inner horseshoe of bluestones have been the subject of sustained scholarly investigation since the seventeenth century, when John Aubrey and William Stukeley conducted the first systematic surveys. Despite centuries of research, fundamental questions remain contested: the identity and origins of the communities who built the monument, the methods by which stones weighing up to 25 tonnes were transported from distant sources, and the full range of functions the monument served over its approximately 1,500-year construction and use history (approximately 3000–1500 BCE).