Who Built Stonehenge, and What Was It Used For?/info

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).

Recent decades have witnessed transformative discoveries. Geochemical provenance studies have identified the specific quarry sources of both the bluestones (Preseli Hills, Pembrokeshire, approximately 230 kilometres distant) and the sarsens (West Woods, Wiltshire, approximately 25 kilometres distant). The discovery of the dismantled stone circle at Waun Mawn in Pembrokeshire suggests that Stonehenge may incorporate an earlier Welsh monument. Excavation of the nearby site of Durrington Walls has revealed a large Neolithic settlement interpreted as the builders' village. And the 2022 solar calendar hypothesis proposed by Timothy Darvill has reignited debate about the monument's astronomical functions.

What we know

Stonehenge's construction history spans approximately 1,500 years, conventionally divided into several phases. The earliest phase (Stonehenge 1, approximately 3000 BCE) consisted of a circular ditch-and-bank enclosure with the Aubrey Holes — 56 evenly spaced pits arranged in a circle just inside the bank. Human cremation burials were deposited in some of the Aubrey Holes, indicating a mortuary function from the monument's inception.

The second major phase (Stonehenge 2, approximately 2600–2400 BCE) involved the erection of the bluestones — spotted dolerite, rhyolite, and other igneous and sedimentary stones weighing 2–5 tonnes — transported from the Preseli Hills of Pembrokeshire, approximately 230 kilometres to the west. The identification of specific quarry sources at Carn Goedog (spotted dolerite) and Craig Rhos-y-felin (rhyolite) by the Parker Pearson team, with quarrying dates around 3000 BCE, suggests that the bluestones may have been quarried and erected at an intermediate site before being moved to Stonehenge.

The discovery of the Waun Mawn stone circle in Pembrokeshire — a dismantled circle of approximately 110 metres diameter with stone-hole shapes matching bluestone dimensions — has led Parker Pearson to hypothesise that the bluestones were originally erected in a Welsh monument that was subsequently dismantled and its stones transported to Stonehenge. This "second-hand monument" hypothesis implies that Stonehenge inherited its bluestones from an existing sacred site, potentially as part of a migration or cultural unification event.

The third phase (Stonehenge 3, approximately 2500–2200 BCE) saw the construction of the sarsen circle and trilithon horseshoe — the iconic features that define the monument. The sarsens are silicified sandstone blocks, the largest weighing approximately 25 tonnes. Nash et al. (2020) demonstrated through geochemical analysis that 50 of the 52 sarsens share a common chemical signature matching sarsen boulders from the West Woods area of Wiltshire, approximately 25 kilometres north of Stonehenge. Two outlying sarsens have different chemical signatures, indicating at least one additional source. The sarsens were shaped by pounding with mauls (hammerstone tools), mortise-and-tenon joints were carved to secure the lintels, and tongue-and-groove joints locked adjacent lintels together — techniques adapted from woodworking.

The Durrington Walls settlement, excavated by the Stonehenge Riverside Project under Parker Pearson's direction, is interpreted as a seasonal occupation site for the workforce that constructed Stonehenge's sarsen phase. The settlement's scale (hundreds of house foundations), faunal remains (dominated by pig and cattle bones with evidence of large-scale feasting), and temporal relationship to the sarsen phase support the interpretation of a construction village. A processional avenue connects Durrington Walls to the River Avon and thence to the Avenue leading to Stonehenge, suggesting a ritualised landscape linking the living community at Durrington Walls with the monument of the dead at Stonehenge.

Timothy Darvill's 2022 paper in Antiquity proposed that Stonehenge's sarsen circle functioned as a solar calendar, with the 30 uprights of the sarsen circle representing the days of a month, the 12 sections between the trilithons representing the months of the year, and the five trilithons representing the five epagomenal days needed to complete a 365.25-day solar year. This interpretation has been debated, with some researchers finding the numerical correspondences compelling and others arguing that they are coincidental.

The builders of Stonehenge have been characterised through ancient DNA analysis. Brace et al. (2019) demonstrated that the Neolithic populations of Britain — including those associated with the earliest phases of Stonehenge — were descended from Anatolian farmer migrants who had spread across Europe via the Mediterranean and Atlantic routes, largely replacing the preceding Mesolithic hunter-gatherer populations. The Beaker-period populations associated with Stonehenge's later phases showed substantial genetic contribution from Steppe pastoralist populations who migrated into Britain around 2500–2000 BCE.

The broader landscape surrounding Stonehenge contains a dense concentration of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments, including the super-henge at Durrington Walls, the cursus (a linear earthwork approximately 3 kilometres long), numerous barrow cemeteries, the Woodhenge timber circle, and recently discovered features identified through geophysical survey — including a massive ring of shafts approximately 2 kilometres in diameter surrounding Durrington Walls, discovered in 2020.

Classification of theories

A. Plausible explanations (supported by evidence, not refuted):

1. Mortuary monument and ancestor shrine. Stonehenge was primarily a monument to the dead, serving as a cremation cemetery (evidenced by the Aubrey Hole burials) and as a site for ancestor veneration. The bluestones may have had specific associations with ancestral or healing properties, motivating their long-distance transport. This interpretation, favoured by Parker Pearson, is supported by the mortuary deposits and by the monument's position within a broader funerary landscape.

1. Astronomical observatory and calendrical device. Stonehenge was designed to track astronomical events — most notably the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset along its main axis — and may have functioned as a calendrical tool. The Darvill solar calendar hypothesis extends this interpretation to propose a specific 365.25-day calendar embedded in the monument's architecture. The astronomical alignments are well documented; the specific calendar interpretation is more speculative.

1. Centre of healing and pilgrimage. Stonehenge was a destination for pilgrimage and healing, with the bluestones believed to possess curative properties. This interpretation, proposed by Darvill and Wainwright, is supported by the high proportion of injuries and diseases observed in human remains from the surrounding landscape.

B. Possible explanations (raised by researchers, less well supported):

1. Monument of political unification. The transport of bluestones from Wales to Wiltshire symbolised the political or cultural unification of two distant communities, with Stonehenge serving as a neutral meeting ground or a monument to alliance. The Waun Mawn dismantlement hypothesis supports this interpretation but the evidence remains circumstantial.

C. Highly unlikely but argued by some:

1. Construction by non-human agents. Medieval legends attributed Stonehenge's construction to Merlin the wizard; modern fringe theories invoke extraterrestrial assistance or lost advanced civilisations. The extensive archaeological evidence for indigenous construction — quarry marks, construction tools, transport routes, the builders' settlement at Durrington Walls — comprehensively refutes these claims.

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Research Papers

Landmark Studies

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1. Parker Pearson, M. (2012). Stonehenge: Exploring the Greatest Stone Age Mystery. London: Simon & Schuster.

Full text: https://search.worldcat.org/title/778326916 [link unverified — may require institutional access]

[Agent-generated summary]

Parker Pearson, the director of the Stonehenge Riverside Project, presents a comprehensive synthesis of the monument's archaeology, incorporating results from his team's excavations at Durrington Walls, the Avenue, Bluestonehenge, and the surrounding landscape.

Full-text notes: This monograph represents the most comprehensive archaeological treatment of Stonehenge and its landscape. Parker Pearson's central argument — that Stonehenge was a monument to the dead, positioned within a ritualised landscape connecting the world of the living (Durrington Walls) to the world of the ancestors (Stonehenge) via the River Avon — provides a coherent interpretive framework for the monument's construction history, astronomical alignments, and mortuary deposits. The book synthesises decades of excavation data and places Stonehenge within the broader context of Neolithic Britain.

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2. Nash, D. J., Ciborowski, T. J. R., Ullyott, J. S., et al. (2020). "Origins of the Sarsen Megaliths at Stonehenge." Science Advances, 6(31), eabc0133. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abc0133

Full text: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abc0133 [open access]

[Publisher abstract]

Geochemical evidence suggests the large sarsen stones at Stonehenge originate from the vicinity of West Woods, Wiltshire.

Full-text notes: Nash et al. resolved a 300-year-old question about the origin of Stonehenge's sarsen stones using portable XRF and ICP-MS analysis of a core drilled from Stone 58 in 1958. The geochemical match to West Woods, Wiltshire (approximately 25 km from Stonehenge) demonstrated a more proximate source than previously assumed. The identification of two sarsens with different chemical signatures suggests at least one additional source location, potentially indicating different quarrying episodes or special significance for particular stones.

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3. Parker Pearson, M., Bevins, R., Ixer, R., et al. (2019). "Megalith Quarries for Stonehenge's Bluestones." Antiquity, 93(367), 45–62. DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2018.111

Full text: https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2018.111 [publisher paywall]

[Publisher abstract]

This paper identifies the specific quarry sources of Stonehenge's bluestones at Carn Goedog and Craig Rhos-y-felin in the Preseli Hills of Pembrokeshire, Wales, and dates quarrying activity to approximately 3000 BCE.

Full-text notes: This paper provides the definitive identification and dating of the bluestone quarry sources. The discovery of artificial quarrying platforms, loading bays, and hollow-way trackways at both Carn Goedog and Craig Rhos-y-felin demonstrates deliberate, systematic quarrying of specific stone types for transport to Stonehenge. The dating of quarrying activity to approximately 3000 BCE — several centuries before the bluestones were erected at Stonehenge — supports the hypothesis that the stones were initially erected at an intermediate location (possibly Waun Mawn) before being moved to their final position.

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4. Darvill, T. (2022). "Keeping Time at Stonehenge." Antiquity, 96(386), 319–335. DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2022.5

Full text: https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2022.5 [publisher paywall]

[Publisher abstract]

This paper proposes that the sarsen elements of Stonehenge represent a solar calendar based on a 365.25-day year, with the 30 stones of the sarsen circle representing the days of each month.

Full-text notes: Darvill's calendar hypothesis is the most specific functional interpretation proposed for Stonehenge in recent years. He draws parallels with ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern solar calendars and argues that the numerical structure of Stonehenge's sarsen architecture (30 uprights × 12 months + 5 trilithons = 365) is too precise to be coincidental. The interpretation has been challenged by Ruggles and Barclay (2022), who argue that the monument's architecture can be explained by aesthetic and structural considerations without invoking a specific calendar system. The debate remains active.

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5. Brace, S., Diekmann, Y., Booth, T. J., et al. (2019). "Ancient Genomes Indicate Replacement of the Indigenous Mesolithic Population in Atlantic Europe by Neolithic Farmers." Nature Ecology & Evolution, 3(5), 765–771. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-019-0871-9

Full text: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0871-9 [publisher paywall]

[Publisher abstract]

Ancient genomes from British and Irish individuals spanning 8500–2500 BCE demonstrate that the Neolithic farming population that built monuments like Stonehenge was descended from Anatolian farmers who had migrated through Europe along Mediterranean and Atlantic routes.

Full-text notes: Brace et al.'s ancient DNA study demonstrates that the Neolithic populations of Britain — including the communities who initiated Stonehenge's construction — were genetically distinct from the preceding Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. The Neolithic farmers who arrived in Britain around 4000 BCE carried ancestry from Anatolian agricultural populations and largely replaced (genetically) the existing Mesolithic population. This finding has implications for understanding the cultural context of megalithic construction: the builders brought with them a package of cultural practices — including monumental architecture, farming, and funerary traditions — that transformed the British landscape.

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Recent Studies

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1. Gaffney, V., Garwood, P., Neubauer, W., et al. (2020). "A Massive, Late Neolithic Pit Structure Associated with Durrington Walls Henge." Internet Archaeology, 55. DOI: 10.11141/ia.55.4

Full text: https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.55.4 [open access]

[Publisher abstract]

Geophysical survey reveals a ring of massive pits approximately 2 kilometres in diameter surrounding Durrington Walls, representing the largest prehistoric structure ever found in Britain.

Full-text notes: The discovery of the Durrington Walls shaft ring — a circuit of approximately 20 shafts, each approximately 5 metres in diameter and 5 metres deep, arranged in an arc approximately 2 kilometres in diameter — demonstrates that the Stonehenge landscape contains structures of a scale and sophistication not previously suspected. The shafts appear to define a boundary around Durrington Walls and may have served a ritual or territorial function. The discovery was made using a combination of remote sensing technologies (ground-penetrating radar, electrical resistivity, magnetometry) and demonstrates the continued potential for new discoveries in one of the most intensively studied archaeological landscapes in the world.

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2. Parker Pearson, M., Pollard, J., Richards, C., et al. (2021). "The Original Stonehenge? A Dismantled Stone Circle in the Preseli Hills of West Wales." Antiquity, 95(379), 85–103. DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2020.239

Full text: https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2020.239 [publisher paywall]

[Publisher abstract]

Excavation of the Waun Mawn stone circle in Pembrokeshire reveals a dismantled circle whose dimensions and stone types match those of Stonehenge's earliest bluestone arrangement.

Full-text notes: The Waun Mawn excavation provides the strongest evidence to date for the "second-hand monument" hypothesis — that Stonehenge's bluestones were originally erected in a Welsh stone circle that was subsequently dismantled and its stones moved to Salisbury Plain. The Waun Mawn circle's diameter (approximately 110 metres) matches the diameter of the Stonehenge ditch enclosure, and the stone holes at Waun Mawn match the cross-sections of known bluestone types. Radiocarbon dates place the circle's use in the early third millennium BCE, broadly contemporary with the earliest phase of Stonehenge.

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3. Ciborowski, T. J. R., Nash, D. J., Darvill, T., et al. (2024). "Local and Exotic Sources of Sarsen Debitage at Stonehenge Revealed by Geochemical Provenancing." Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 53, 104406. DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104406

Full text: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104406 [publisher paywall]

[Publisher abstract]

Geochemical provenancing of sarsen debitage fragments from Stonehenge reveals both local and exotic sources, consistent with on-site stone working using material from multiple locations.

Full-text notes: This follow-up to the Nash et al. (2020) sarsen provenance study extends the analysis to debitage (stone-working debris) found in the Stonehenge excavation archive. The identification of debitage from both the West Woods source and from other, more distant sources confirms that sarsen stones from multiple locations were worked on-site. This finding enriches the picture of Stonehenge's construction logistics and suggests that the procurement of building materials was a complex, multi-source operation.

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Current Discussions

1. English Heritage: Stonehenge. https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/ — The custodial organisation's website, providing visitor information and summaries of current research.

1. UCL News (July 2020). "New Research Reveals Origin of Stonehenge's Great Sarsen Stones." https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2020/jul/new-research-reveals-origin-stonehenges-great-sarsen-stones — Reports on the Nash et al. geochemical provenance study.

1. Sarsen.org. https://www.sarsen.org/ — A blog maintained by researchers studying sarsen stones, providing accessible accounts of current research on stone provenance and transport.

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Future Research Directions

The Waun Mawn excavation has opened a new research frontier: systematic survey of the Preseli Hills and surrounding areas for additional dismantled or surviving stone circles that may have served as source monuments for Stonehenge's bluestones. Geophysical survey and targeted excavation at promising locations could reveal the full extent of the Welsh megalithic landscape from which Stonehenge drew its materials.

Ancient DNA analysis of the cremated human remains from the Aubrey Holes — using recently developed techniques for extracting genetic information from cremated bone — could reveal the geographic origins, kinship relationships, and genetic affiliations of the individuals buried at Stonehenge during its earliest phase. Such data could test the hypothesis that the monument served as a unifying ancestor shrine for communities from both Wales and Wiltshire.

Computational landscape analysis, combining LiDAR survey, viewshed analysis, and agent-based movement modelling, could reconstruct the experiential and logistical dimensions of the Stonehenge landscape — including the processional routes connecting Durrington Walls, the Avenue, the cursus, and the monument itself. Such analysis could test hypotheses about how the landscape was perceived and used by its Neolithic inhabitants.

The Darvill calendar hypothesis can be tested through detailed astronomical modelling of the monument's sightlines at different construction phases, combined with comparative analysis of known solar calendars from the ancient Near East and Egypt. If the calendar interpretation is correct, specific sightlines should correspond to specific calendrical divisions — predictions that can be tested against precise astronomical calculations.

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Summary of Existing Research and Public Opinion

The past two decades have produced a revolution in Stonehenge studies. The identification of specific quarry sources for both bluestones and sarsens, the excavation of the builders' settlement at Durrington Walls, the discovery of the Durrington Walls shaft ring, the Waun Mawn dismantled circle, and the application of ancient DNA to British Neolithic populations have collectively transformed understanding of the monument's construction history, social context, and cultural significance. The monument is now understood as the focal point of a ritualised landscape connecting communities across hundreds of kilometres, rather than as an isolated enigma.

Public fascination with Stonehenge is enormous — the site receives approximately 1.5 million visitors annually — and ranges from informed archaeological interest to credulous engagement with fringe theories. The publication of major discoveries in high-impact journals (Nature, Science, Antiquity) and their communication through English Heritage's public programmes has generally maintained a healthy connection between scholarly research and public understanding.

Key unresolved questions include: the specific transport method for the bluestones over 230 kilometres (overland, by water, or a combination); the identity and social organisation of the communities who initiated the monument's construction; the precise functional significance of the sarsen architecture (astronomical, calendrical, purely ritual, or some combination); and the relationship between the Welsh and Wiltshire communities implied by the long-distance stone transport.

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Where Do I Come In?

For archaeologists and geoscientists: Stonehenge's research community is large and active, with multiple ongoing projects addressing stone provenance, landscape survey, ancient DNA, and construction engineering. Collaborative research — particularly interdisciplinary projects combining geology, archaeology, genetics, and astronomy — has proven the most productive approach. Specific opportunities include further geophysical survey of the Preseli Hills landscape, analysis of cremated remains from the Aubrey Holes, and experimental transport studies.

For astronomers and computational scientists: The Darvill calendar hypothesis and the broader question of Stonehenge's astronomical alignments can be tested through precise computational modelling. Collaboration between archaeoastronomers and computational scientists could produce definitive assessments of which alignments are statistically significant and which are likely coincidental.

For the general public: Visiting Stonehenge and its surrounding landscape — including the Durrington Walls site, the cursus, and the barrow cemeteries — provides direct engagement with one of the most remarkable achievements of Neolithic Britain. English Heritage's visitor centre and exhibition provide accessible summaries of current research. Engaging with the scholarly literature, rather than with simplified popular accounts, reveals a story far more complex and interesting than any mystery narrative could suggest.