Stonehenge
The story of stonehenge is a fascinating tale of ancient peoples, modern vandalism, religios battles, death, disease, culture and the meaning of Englishness.
There are some great books about the ancient monument that are definitely worth reading if you want to get a handle on this well known but little understood piece of the past.
Acclaimed authors like Aubrey Burl and Julian Richards are now telling the complete story of stonehenge, including the less than palateable truth, that much of what we see today is the result of well intentioned rebuilding at the start of the last century.
The first Stonehenge was constructed 3100 BC comprising a large earthwork ditch and bank. Archaeologists say Stonehenge was abandoned for over 1000 years after its initial construction.
Then in a second phase of the site around 2100 BC great bluestones from the Preseli mountains, in south-west Wales were transported to the site. 82 stones, some weighing as much as 4 tonnes each were dragged all the way to Wiltshire.
The massive central Sarsen stones diddn't arrive at Stonehenge for another 150 years. They came from the Avebury area and were erected in the centre of the site.
1500 BC the bluestones were uprooted and rearranged into roughly the configuration we see today.
However, I say roughly because it now seems that in modern restoration work, many fallen stones were 'put back' by archaeologists attempting to rebuild the henge monument.