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School guide: Welcome, dear students, to the archaeological site of Stonehenge, in the country of Wiltshire, in south-west of England. I’ m Federico: nice to meet you!!!
1 This is a megalith, and more exactly, is a cromlech, a word that derives to the
Breton and means “circular place”: also the name “Stonehenge” derives to the
Breton and means “stone ring” or “stone gallows”. So, Stonehenge is circular structure, composed by many sub-structures of three blue stones, followed by a secondary horseshoe structure, made such as the main one, with the Slaughter
Stone, a pillar that’s aligned with the sunrise during the summer solstice. There’s any question?
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Student1: Excuse me, sir: when was built Stonehenge?
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School guide: So, the first structure, similar to the actual site, was built around 3000
BC and was only a circular ditch and inside it there were 56 shallow holes. In a second structural phase, around 2100 BC, the stones of the main structure were erected in a semicircle within the original bank and ditch circles. In the third and last phase, the horseshoe structure was erected with the Slaughter Stone and…
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Student2: Excuse me if I interrupt you, but how was used this structure?
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School guide: Well, no one knows exactly why it was built, but exist some hypothesis: some archaeologists believe that Stonehenge was an ancient religious site or a place where people worshipped ancient gods: in fact, the blue of the stones was considered to the prehistoric people as a sacred color. Other scientists, instead, think that Stonehenge was a kind of observatory and probably also used as an astronomical calendar: indeed, the Slaughter Stone is a pillar that is aligned with the sunrise of the summer solstice.
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Student2: Who did use and build the site?
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School guide: The site was built by the Iberians, a prehistoric people that lived around 2100 BC in Great Britain. The structure, instead, was built by the Celts, a people that lived in Britain from 7000 BC to 43 AD. They were tall and muscular, had fair skin, blue eyes and blond hair. They were also farmers, hunters, fishermen and metal workers. Besides, they made the forerunner of the Scottish tartan. One of the most famous leaders of the Celts was a woman, Boudicca, that fought the
Romans to avenge her husband’s death and the…
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Student3: How was built this structure?
1 Federico Forgione 1° G 31/03/2012

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School guide: This site was probably built and erected with a team of at least sixteen men per ton –and each stones weighs up to five tons- to be shifted on land through the use of many trunks and wooden “scaffolding”, with a long trunk that was used as a fulcrum. This is one of the most interesting mystery of Stonehenge.
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Student1: Really? The re’s any mystery about this site?
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School guide: Well, there are many mysteries about the building of Stonehenge: first of all, the choose of the stone. This rocks, indeed, come from the Prescelly mountains in South Wales, about 250 miles away here: so, the mystery is the mode whit which the stones was taken as far as here. Otherwise, another mystery is the purpose of the site, a mystery that still survives.