Art History: Stonehenge

Although not necessarily created as a piece of art, Stonehenge could be considered early architecture, which is a branch of art. I have not been to the real Stonehenge, but there is a replica of a complete Stonehenge that I have been to in Maryhill,Washington, near the Columbia River. It's very interesting.

What exactly is Stonehenge, you ask? There are a few theories, including being a perpetual calendar, a site for rituals, or perhaps worship of the sun or astrology. In the Middle Ages, it was believed that it was created by Merlin the Magician, or was created by giants.

Stonehenge is believed to have been built about 4,500 years ago, in the Neolithic age, which means new stone age. It can be found in Wiltshire, England, and is open to the public to visit. It is a masterpiece of engineering, and using simple tools, and must have taken much time and effort, unless they had some giants or large animals handy to help with the work.

Stonehenge is a group of stones placed in a circle known as a cromlech. It is surrounded by a stone bank or mound, almost a mile in diameter. The stones that make up Stonehenge are rough cut sarsen ( a hard rock created from sand and silica cement) stones and smaller bluestones (many varieties of igneous rock). On the outside was a ring of large monoliths of sarsen stones capped by lintels (horizontal block). These lintels were not just carefully set on top with the hope that they wouldn't fall off, but were cleverly secured with mortices. A mortice is part of a joint used to connect pieces at a 90 degree angle. The tops of the upright sarsen stones have one or two round knobs which fit into mortice holes on the underside of the lintels. So you could say that Stonehenge is made from the very first prehistoric Legos.

 Then inside the outermost ring, was another ring of bluestones, and inside this ring, was a horseshoe of trilithons (three stones---two upright capped with a lintel). Each of these trilithons in the horseshoe weighs about 45 to 50 tons! Apart and to the east is what is referred to as the heelstone, which, for someone in the center of the ring, would have marked the point where the sun rose at summer solstice.It may have always stood alone, or may have been one of a pair, we don't really know.

We may never know for sure what the original intent was for Stonehenge, but we do know that it can serve as a very accurate calendar, and it stands as a monument to the skill and intellect of the past.