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About 80 miles west of London, in Great Britain, there is a circle of tall stones. This group of stones is called Stonehenge. Stonehenge has fascinated people for thousands of years.
People have carefully studied Stonehenge. They write about it and talk about it. Every expert seems to have a theory about who built it. But no one knows for sure. We don’t know who built Stonehenge, or why.
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Stone Circles
There are many stone circles all over Europe. In Great Britain there are more than 900 other stone circles. Some of these other stone circles are bigger or older than Stonehenge. But
Stonehenge is the most famous.
The name Stonehenge means “hanging stones.” It got this name because some of the stones lie across other standing stones. The largest stones stand in sets of three. Each set has two upright stones with another stone resting flat across their tops. No other stone circle has sets of three stones like these.
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There are different sizes and kinds of stones at Stonehenge. There is a ditch around the outside circle of stones. The stones in this circle are large. They form the main circle. Some of these upright stones have stones lying flat across their tops. Inside the main circle is another circle of smaller stones. Inside that ring are the giant sets of three stones. Together, they form the shape of the letter U.
In the center are other small stones. These are also shaped in a U.
The stones no longer stand as they once did. Many are missing. Some have fallen. But the stones that remain show that Stonehenge was built with careful planning. So, who planned
Stonehenge? When was it built?
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Stonehenge Past to Present
Archaeologists have ways to discover how old things are. One way is by digging to find tools that the builders used. If all the tools are made of stone or bone, archaeologists know when the builders worked. They worked at a time before metal tools were used. Archaeologists

It took a very long time to build Stonehenge. Stones were set up in three main stages. These stages were many years apart. The stages are often called Stonehenge I, Stonehenge II, and
Stonehenge III.
7 also look for materials that were once part of living things, such as wood from trees or antlers from deer or elk. These materials can be tested to find out how old they are.
Archaeologists have used tests and careful digging to figure out when Stonehenge was built.
Stonehenge I
Some archaeologists think that workers first began building Stonehenge about 3100 B.C. That’s more than 5,000 years ago! They began by digging a round ditch. The ditch was about twenty feet wide and about six feet deep.
Inside the ditch, the workers dug 56 holes in a circle. Then they filled in the holes with dirt.
Many people have tried to understand the meaning of these holes. But nobody is sure why people dug them.
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Stonehenge II
The second building stage took place about 2100 B.C. During this stage, about 80 rocks were placed in the center of the site. These rocks are called bluestones because they are blue.
The bluestones are the smallest rocks in Stonehenge. But each one weighs several tons. They probably came from mountains in Wales, about 240 miles away. How did people get the bluestones to Stonehenge? There were no carts with wheels at this time. Maybe the bluestones were carried over water. Maybe the workers used log rollers to drag stones over land. No one is sure.
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Stonehenge III
Between 2000 B.C. and about 1550 B.C., people added more giant stone blocks.
Then workers built a circle of upright stones. They placed a ring of flat stones on top of the circle. One flat stone was placed on each pair of upright stones. Some of the stones from
Stonehenge II were moved to different places. No one knows why these stones were

moved.
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Stonehenge Today
Long ago, people took many of the Stonehenge stones to build houses. Now half of the stones have fallen or are missing. The remaining stones have been there for hundreds of years.
Today, these giant stones are a wonderful sight. Stonehenge seems like a mysterious gift from the past.
So, who built Stonehenge, and why?
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Who Built Stonehenge?
People have asked many questions about who built Stonehenge and why. But most people agree on one point. Stonehenge was not an ordinary building.
Stonehenge was carefully planned. Many workers were needed to carry, shape, and put up the stones. Why would people spend so much time building this monument?
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Stonehenge was probably a kind of temple for important religious events. But what else do we know about what happened there?
People tell strange stories to explain Stonehenge.
One story is that the giant rocks were once real giants. They turned to stone while dancing!
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Another story is more than 800 years old. This story says that Merlin, in King Arthur’s court, brought Stonehenge over from Ireland.
Today, there are many theories to explain Stonehenge. Most of them don’t “hold water.” That means that experts know that the theories are not correct. What do the experts think about these theories?
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Theory: What If …

Astronomers Built Stonehenge?
Astronomers are people who study objects in the sky, such as stars, planets, the sun, and the moon. Some people say ancient astronomers built Stonehenge to study the sunrise. Some people believe that the sun rises over one of the stones on the first day of summer (also the longest day of the year).
Doesn’t Hold Water
The sun does not (and never did) rise directly over that stone on the first day of summer. The sun actually rises off-center at Stonehenge.
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Theory: What If …
Stonehenge Was Our First Computer?
Some people think that the 56 holes that were dug during Stonehenge I were part of the world’s first computer. Maybe ancient astronomers used the stones to predict eclipses of the moon.
They watched how the moon lined up with the stones. Then they would know if there would be an eclipse that year.
Doesn’t Hold Water
Most experts don’t agree with the computer theory. The ancient astronomers would have needed other information to predict an eclipse.
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Theory: What If …
The Egyptians Built Stonehenge?
Another theory is that Egyptians built Stonehenge. Some people think that because the
Egyptians built the pyramids, they knew how to move large stones. Also, some people found beads at Stonehenge that seemed to come from Egypt.
Doesn’t Hold Water

Archaeologists now think that the work on Stonehenge began before the time of the great pyramids.
The Egyptians built their Great Pyramid of Giza in 2550 B.C. Stonehenge was started in 3200 B.C., nearly 650 years earlier. Also, experts now know that the beads found at Stonehenge were actually from Europe — not Egypt.
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Theory: What if …
The Romans Built Stonehenge?
Some people believe that Stonehenge was a Roman temple. Like the Egyptians, Roman architects had the skill to build Stonehenge. Some parts of Stonehenge even look a lot like
Roman buildings.
Doesn’t Hold Water
The Romans probably did not build Stonehenge. Stonehenge is simpler than Roman temples.
Roman temples usually had more detail.
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Theory: What If …
The Danes Built Stonehenge?
Another theory is that Vikings from Denmark built Stonehenge. The Vikings once ruled what is now Britain. Maybe they used Stonehenge as a place to crown kings. From above,
Stonehenge does look like a crown.
Doesn’t Hold Water
Archaeologists now know that Stonehenge was built more than 2,000 years before the Vikings arrived.
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Theory: What If …

The French Built Stonehenge?
Some people believe the French built Stonehenge. There are carvings on one of the stones in
Stonehenge. These carvings look a lot like carvings on stone circles in France. Also, the boulders are arranged in the shape of the letter U — just like stone circles in France.
Doesn’t Hold Water
Modern research suggests that the French stone circles are more than 1,000 years older than
Stonehenge. The French probably did not travel to Britain at a later date to build stone circles.
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Theory: What If …
The Druids Built Stonehenge?
The Druids were the religious leaders of the ancient people of Britain called the Britons. Many people still believe that Stonehenge was a Druid temple. In fact, some people go to
Stonehenge once a year to celebrate ancient Druid customs.
Doesn’t Hold Water
It is true that early Druids may have used Stonehenge as a temple. However, they did not build it. Archaeologists have learned that most of Stonehenge was built before 1500 B.C. That is hundreds of years before the Druids ever came to Britain.
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Theory: What If …
The Greeks Built Stonehenge?
Some people think that ancient Greeks traveled to England and built Stonehenge. There are pictures of ancient Greek daggers carved on some of the stones.
Doesn’t Hold Water

It is possible that the pictures on the stones are of daggers from Greece. It is even possible that ancient Greeks carved them. The ancient Greeks did travel to Britain. But now most experts think the carvings were drawn by other people hundreds of years before the Greeks arrived.
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We’ll Probably Never Know
Today we know a lot about Stonehenge. But many more mysteries still remain. Will anyone ever know for sure who built Stonehenge? Probably not. Will people continue to create new theories to explain Stonehenge? Of course!
But we will probably never know the real truth.
“Most of what has been written about Stonehenge is nonsense or speculation [opinion].”
Professor Richard Atkinson archaeologist and leading
Stonehenge expert