It is estimated that over 50,000 stone megaliths were erected in a great arc around the coasts of Europe, from Sweden and the Shetland Islands in the north to Spain, Portugal and Malta in the south. The most famous megaliths are found at Stonehenge. They are located on the Salisbury Plain in southern England, a chalk grassland that stretches as far as the eye can see. In the middle are the megaliths, most of them more than 13 feet high. It is estimated that Stonehenge is 4,000 years old and there is evidence that the stones were shaped by tools. In 17th century, before the advent of archeology, historians imagined that Stonehenge had been built by the Druids, the white-robed Celtic priest of Britain and Gaul, of whom little was known However, history has shown than Stonehenge is more than 1000 years older than the Druids. Some have suggested that it was built by Phoenicians or Egyptians, but no proof has every uncovered to support this. Interestingly enough, there are more than 900 other stone circles found throughout the British Isles, and many more found throughout the world. Near Stonehenge, around 2 miles away archeologists uncovered Durrington Walls, where there is evidence of two huge circular wooden buildings one of them 127 feet in diameter.

Carbon dating has demonstrated that Stonehenge was built in three different phases, which covered almost 1000 years.

Phase One
The earliest phase dates from around 2,750 BC, and includes the Aubrey Holes, soon after the bank and ditch, which enclose the whole site, were dug. The Aubrey Holes were a circle of 56 holes made just inside the bank, which were filled in soon after they were dug. Two gateway stones marked the entry into the enclose and outside the Heel Stone was raised on about the axis of sunrise at summer solstice. Fourty wooden posts marked the most northerly position of the moon at different winter solstices, a position that changes over a cycle of 18:61 years. The four upright stones known as Station Stones mark out a rectangle in which solar and lunar sight-lines intersect. (Insert scan)

Phase Two
Around 2000 BC an avenue of nearly 2 miles was built to link the monument with the Hampshire Avon. Inside the enclosure, a double circle of bluestones was set up. The direction in which the sun rises at the summer solstice was marked much more clearly by eight stones, which were erected at the entrance to the double circle and two more stones on the centre-line of the avenue. The two stones which marked the entrance to the monument where removed. Small circular ditches were dug round the Heel Stone and two of the Station stones, perhaps to mark these astronomical observation points.