The mystery of Stonehenge is etched into the British landscape. Who, how, and why it was constructed remains a critical part of the human origin puzzle.

Let’s explore the secrets of the Stonehenge stone circle.

What is Stonehenge?

Located in the South of England, Stonehenge is one of the most iconic megalithic structures on the planet. The sheer size of the standing stones complex attracts millions of visitors each year to marvel at its mystery.

The monument is made of two different stone types. Each comes from different places. The larger sarsen stones in the outer ring — which stand up to 30 feet (9 meters) tall and weigh an average of 25 tons (22.6 metric tons). The inner bluestones are much smaller.

It is thought that the heaviest of the stones weighs around 40 tonnes. The lintels are the large stones that ‘cap’ the standing stones. They’re not merely placed on top, but all joined together like puzzle pieces.

Although the dating and design of the site have been extensively studied, answers are not agreed upon. There is no consensus on how the ancient builders were able to cut and transport such large stones, or why such specific stones were used.

Precision tongue and groove joints were carved into the stones to strengthen and support them. As if all of this was not hard enough, the ground on which the site stands slopes downwards.

The added complexity of the slope would have to been factored in when cutting the stones. Without precision planning, the standing stones would never be level and upright.

All of this began over 5000 years ago. The level of engineering and mathematics needed to complete Stonehenge is hard to comprehend. Even more baffling is that we know less about why or how it was done.

Ongoing research is being carried out on the geometry, mathematics, and astronomy of the site. To this date, studies have only revealed part the vast secrets held by Stonehenge.

How old is Stonehenge?

The Stonehenge complex is composed of surrounding structures that date to different periods. The outer parts of the circle are the oldest, with the larger stones in the middle the final phase of construction.

Found only a few hundred feet from the main standing stone complex are three huge totem poles. These pine poles have been radiocarbon dated to 10,000 years old, an astonishing age that predates Stonehenge by nearly 5000 years.

It was as if these poles were used to mark out the site long before it was constructed. Although the posts are no longer standing, they prove where they once stood. It is mysterious to think who was responsible for building the site over such vast periods of time. These poles mark the first stages of the original ground plan.

The initial construction of Stonehenge differs from what now remains at the site. What is left is the final additions to a stonework project that began around 5150 years ago (3150BC).

The first stage was completed over 5000 years ago. As the site developed over time, the design and structure changed. The original ditch is still visible today and surrounds the modern day structure. Over a process of a few hundred years what is left of Stonehenge was built, with the final adaptions taking place around 1500BC.

How did they build Stonehenge?

With only access to primitive tools, it is difficult to see how such a structure was created.

Before any of megalithic standing stones were placed, a large outer ditch was dug in the earth. This ditch had banks of up to six feet high and was nearly completely closed. It had one small opening that led to a pathway marked with small standing stones.

The two types of stones that make Stonehenge have origins far from where they now stand. The sarsen stones, one of the two types of stones used, were probably quarried 20 to 30 miles away to the north of the site.

But the mystery deepens. The bluestones of Stonehenge are baffling as to how they were transported there. They were quarried in Wales and then carried 160 miles.

The reasons for going to so much trouble to acquire such specific stones has long been unknown. No one has explained how they were transported.

To make matters more complex, 5000 years ago the English landscape would have been very different to what it is today. At the time, dense forests and woodland would have been negotiated while moving the stones. With some stones weighing over five tonnes, it was all achieved before the known invention of the wheel.

There have been many theories put forward trying to explain how this feat was reached, nothing has revealed the truth.

The bluestones must have been either sacred or more practical than more accessible stones. Why else would they have wasted so much energy and time in cutting, moving, and erecting them if this wasn’t the case?

What was Stonehenge originally used for?

There’s no question that Stonehenge was a site of extreme importance.

What makes Stonehenge so popular is that it is aligned with both the winter and summer solstices. Each year thousands of people turn up to see this remarkable feat of arche oastronomy.

At sunrise on the summer solstice, the sun appears to rise just above the ‘heel stone.’ It is a standing stone outside the main circular structure, and the alignment is only visible from inside the henge itself.

The summer solstice marks the longest day of the year. From then the days gradually getting shorter. This was not always the case though. Originally, the sun would have risen initially just to the left of the heel stone.

Viewed from the correct position the sun would cast a perfect stream of light directly down the avenue of stones. The shift in the sun’s position is due to the axial tilt of the earth. This causes the sun to move slightly over long periods of time.

These alignments are also observable at sunset on the winter solstice. If you were to stand inside the central stone circle and look towards the setting sun, you would notice it disappear into the largest trilithon in the complex. From this point onwards the days begin to get longer throughout the year.

Marking these alignments were very important for the builders. At the very least they would have signalled times to plant crops, expect rainfall, as well as knowing the precise moment of the year.

A megalithic stone.

Conclusion

Each year the interest in Stonehenge increases around the world. The archaeological mysteries surrounding its purpose and origin are deepening as more research is carried out.

The very construction reveals how resourceful these ancient people were. Could simple-minded, stone-age primitives, perform such mastery of stone-masonry?

Who were these builders? Why did they decide to undertake such a momentous task? It is one of the most fascinating mysteries of the ancient world. Today we still have much to learn from studying Stonehenge.

Now it’s up to you. What do you think Stonehenge was used for? Have you seen any further evidence or theories regarding its origin?

Further Reading:

1. https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/12/111222-stonehenge-bluestones-wales-match-glacier-ixer-ancient-science/

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An artist rendition of the stone circles of Göbekli Tepe. Source National Geographic.

Göbekli Tepe is the oldest megalithic structure ever found on earth. Discovered in modern-day Turkey, and still yet to be fully excavated, it dates to a baffling 12,000 years old.

It’s not just the oldest site; it’s also the largest. Situated on a flat, barren plateau, the site is a spectacular 90,000 square meters. That’s bigger than 12 football fields. It’s 50 times larger than Stonehenge, and in the same breath, 6000 years older. The mysterious people who built Göbekli Tepe not only went to extraordinary lengths they did it with laser-like skill. Then, they purposely buried it and left.

These peculiar facts have baffled archeologists who have spent 20 years unearthing its secrets.

When was Gobekli Tepe Found?

The site is located close to the Syrian border, in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey, about 12 km (7 mi) northeast of the city of Şanlıurfa. Göbekli Tepe means in English, Pot-Belly Hill.

The first whispers of Göbekli Tepe came when local farmers found limestone poking out of the ground. In 1963, archeologist Peter Benedict conducted the first survey of the site. He described a “complex of round-topped knolls of red earth.”

Benedict was correct, but only in the most superficial way. He could have never have realized just how much he had understated what Göbekli Tepe really was.

Those pot-belly hills were the deepest and most ancient echoes of the human origin story. At the time, no ancient site suggested that Neolithic man could produce giant stone monuments.

The pillars remained sleeping under the earth until the arrival of someone who could recognize them. In 1994, German Archeologist, Klaus Schmidt, visited the site.

He instantly recognized that Benedict’s report had been wrong. The “knolls” he saw, were human-made mounds, and the flint shards crunching underfoot had been shaped by Neolithic hands.

Smith was familiar with Turkish Archeology, working nearby at Nevalı Çori. After it was flooded by Atatürk Dam, becoming part of the floor of Lake Atatürk, Schmidt was looking for a new Stone Age site. He was immediately drawn to Göbekli Tepe by the similar T-shaped pillars as Nevalı Çori.

Schmidt knew he had a big decision to make.

He would spend the rest of his life studying Göbekli Tepe.

What is Göbekli Tepe?

The excavated stone circles and T-shaped pillars of Göbekli Tepe. Source

Klaus Schmidt began the investigation of Göbekli Tepe with Heidelberg University in 1994. He would spend the next 20 years there until his sudden and unexpected death in 2014.

Schmidt and his Turkish wife bought a house in the nearby city of Urfa. He and his team would spend a morning at the site, returning for a late lunch and an afternoon processing the days finds.

Today, the site is opened under a modern shaded roof where visitors can walk the site.

The archeological findings that have unfolded over two decades are nothing short of astounding.

Göbekli Tepe is made up of a collection of stone circles containing ‘T’ shaped pillars. The circles were placed on flat bedrock some weighing in excess of 16 tons.

The site is so big, more than 90% of it remains underground. Currently, the exposed part is about the same size as Stonehenge. The rest of the staggering arrangement of stone circles were found with ground penetrating radar.

The T-shaped standing stones were placed in the center of each stone enclosure. It’s thought they depict people, perhaps those that directed the building of the site. The largest of the stones are up to 17 feet high. That’s the size of a very tall giraffe.

The T-Shaped Pillars of Göbekli Tepe in a Turkish Museum. Source

It’s unknown how the builders were able to shape, move and place stones of this size.

Half-a-mile across a limestone plateau from the main mound is a 22ft-long T-shaped monolith. It was never finished or moved to the main temple site.

Beyond the sheer scale, the site is geographically aligned to the north-south poles. Other researchers are revealing possible astronomical alignments and purposes. One including, as an observatory for Sirius.

The precision, mystery, and beauty of Göbekli Tepe boggle the mind.

The enclosures of Göbekli Tepe show ancient astronomy and north-south pole alignment.

The world’s oldest artwork and stone carvings

Walking through the enclosures of Göbekli Tepe reveals depictions of animals, symbols, and human-like figures.

There are both high relief and low relief carvings found throughout the site. The precision and skill associated with these carvings are nothing short of remarkable.

A high relief carving means that the stone is cut on the outside of the larger piece. It is a complicated and advanced technique in stone masonry even by modern standards.

Precision high relief stone masonry of Gobekli Tepe.

The many animals depicted include foxes, birds, lions, scorpions, snakes, and boars. There is a scorpion the size of a small suitcase, and a jackal-like creature with an exposed rib cage.

The exact meanings of the carvings appear to be unknown. On one pillar a row of lumpy, eyeless “ducks” float above a boar, with an erect penis.

Another relief consists of the simple contour of a fox also with a distinct penis. Most mammals represented at Göbekli Tepe are visibly male, except for one fox, which, in place of a penis, has several snakes coming out of its abdomen.

Perhaps the most debated composition portrays a vulture carrying a round object on one wing; below its feet, a headless male torso displays yet another erect penis.

What happened at Göbekli Tepe?

In trying to find the age of Göbekli Tepe, carbon dating revealed a strange trend.

Whoever made Göbekli Tepe wanted to preserve its memory. To Schmidt’s astonishment, analyses of the soil around Göbekli Tepe revealed that it was purposely buried.

The materials used to fill the site were unusually uniform and dated to the same period. If this occurred naturally, there would be a spread of dates found in the material of the soil. The entire complex is also built on a hilltop, which usually means that soil should erode and not be deposited.

This site was active for about 1000 to 1500 years until the entire complex was buried around 10 000 years ago.

During their centuries of use, the circles and pillars were built and filled with debris. New pillars were started on top of or alongside the old ones. The circles thus stand at different depths and layers in the hill. Today, they have been connected by various wooden scaffolds, ladders, and walkways.

How old is Göbekli Tepe?

It is now understood that Göbekli Tepe was built in various stages. After one stone circle complex was completed, it was covered up, and a new one built. This mysterious feature of the site is entirely without explanation.

Radiocarbon dating of Göbekli Tepe has revealed the different ages of the stages and layers.

Enclosure C – 7560-7370 BC

Enclosure B – 8280-9270 BC

Layer III       – 9110-8620 BC

Layer III       – 9130-8800 BC

What makes it all the more difficult the grasp is that the stages appear to get worse and worse. The earliest enclosures are the largest and most sophisticated. Not only artistically but also technically. These progressively drop as the site gets younger and younger. The construction skill appears to be decreasing.

These features of Göbekli Tepe are challenging everything thought of the Neolithic revolution. It’s logical to assume the more you do something, the better you should get.

Whatever the reason, the sheer size of the site means that burying it would have been an incredible task. To cover it completely would have taken a vast number of people countless hours and effort.

It must have been for a good reason.

What was Göbekli Tepe used for?

Explanations of Göbekli Tepe range far and wide. What makes this site so important is that it appears in the area of the world that the first signs of civilization and culture arise.

It coincides perfectly with the agricultural revolution. These were the first people to plant and farm crops. All strains of domesticated wheat found around the world can be traced to the areas surrounding Göbekli Tepe.

There are also the first signs of animal husbandry, agriculture, and metallurgy in the nearby landscapes. However, to this day, no signs of habitation found near the site. This may suggest that Göbekli Tepe could have been a place of worship, innovation or teaching, rather than a livable area.

When considering possibilities, the context must be analyzed. Göbekli Tepe was built around 8000 years before The Great Pyramid of Giza. That’s a double the span of time from the pyramid builders to present day.

These large periods of time leave very few traces of human society. It creates a big problem in trying to understand what Göbekli Tepe was.

In Schmidt’s words, the fragile nature of what is left for future generations find is very limited.

“Even one thousand years later, nothing is left of this world,” he said. “Why should there be anything left six thousand years later?”

In short, we don’t know exactly what Göbekli Tepe was used for. However, with more than 90% underground, it makes sense that we should be making every effort to learn whatever this purpose was.

Who built Göbekli Tepe?

Theories of the Neolithic revolution describe the transition from hunting-and-gathering to farming and on to modern civilization. It was thought for two hundred thousand years before Göbekli Tepe, before the last ice age—people lived as hunter-gatherers before rising into civilized society.

The consensus has long been that hunter-gatherer societies could not build such large monuments. The reason is they don’t generate a surplus of food and are generally in smaller numbers than would have been required to complete the site.

Generally, theories suggest a gradual build of culture, populations, and the need for agriculture.

Göbekli Tepe breaks that model.

Building Göbekli Tepe would also have required some division of labor among planners, technicians, and workers. Did these social developments pre-date, rather than result from, the shift to agriculture?

The workers needed a stable food supply, and the area was rich in wild species like aurochs. There was a steady supply of einkorn, one of the ancestors of domesticated wheat. One theory suggests that agriculture grew out of a need to build Göbekli Tepe.

In his books, Schmidt discusses a revamped Neolithic revolution model where the need to build then created the need for agriculture.

The people of Göbekli Tepe weren’t wiped out, like other lost civilizations. They simply packed up and went somewhere else—became someone else. Perhaps they are still around us today, or are us?

The problem remains that it appears out of nowhere. No other ancient megalithic sites are found for thousands of years after. No ancient society with these capabilities is remotely near this point in the historical record.

Challenges and mysteries that the people of Göbekli Tepe left us are many. They preserved enough for us to change our idea of who they were. But not yet enough to exactly pinpoint those exact origins.

Conclusion:

Göbekli Tepe should leave you feeling uncomfortable. There are so many unknowns. At the same time, there is so much evidence and story remaining under the fertile soils of Turkey.

The more that is discovered about the site, the more questions are raised. How it was made? Who made it? What was its purpose and why on earth was it buried?

Our current answer is that we simply don’t know.

The messages stored at Göbekli Tepe laid dormant for nearly 10 000 years. Whoever built it was successful in saving whatever it was they were trying to preserve.

Now it’s up to us to decipher it.

What do you find most puzzling about Göbekli Tepe?

Join the conversation in the comment section below.

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Everything about Stonehenge sends the mind to wander.

Who built it? How on earth did they do it? The answers still elude explanation. However, evidence surrounding the dating, engineering, and astronomy of ancient standing stone sites are now allowing us to understand these sites better.

What do standing stones really tell us of our human origins?

This article explores 14 points you may not have known about the mystery and origin of ancient stone circles.

1) A global, unexplained trend

Zooming out from Stonehenge reveals that standing stones are found all over the world. Ancient sites dated deep into human prehistory are located on all around the world!

While sharing common themes, these standing stones all have individual traits. Some are so small you would hardly recognize them; others are so large they had villages built within them.

They generally date to Neolithic and prehistoric periods. The oldest stone circle discovered is an incredible 12,000 years old, 5000 years older than the first signs of written language.

The Bible makes mention of stone circles 39 times.

There is no explanation as to who built many of these surviving standing stone circles. What they provide is evidence that our ancestors had masonry skills to cut, move, and assemble in ways that are difficult to explain.

2) The oldest standing stones are ancient.

Located in modern-day Turkey is the oldest stone circle site. Dating to at least 12,000 years old, Gobekli Tepe is the oldest recorded standing stones site. It’s so old that it dates to the boundary of when humans were thought to be hunter-gatherers.

Located on the Turkey-Syrian border, they are found where humans transitioned into farming and settled living. The standing stones are carved into huge T-shaped pillars. How these people created such large T-shaped standing stones is a complete mystery. To make things even more mysterious, the total area of the site equates to roughly 12 football fields.

The complexity and sheer size of Gobekli Tepe only unravels more mystery about the purpose of standing stones. The site is nearly 50 times larger than Stonehenge and is a complete archaeological mystery.

3) Engineering beyond the Stone Age?

Working with stone can easily be regarded as primitive. However, the more we learn about it, the less accurate that idea becomes.

The reasons why stone was so important to build with is still to be understood. Making matters more complex is the accuracy, skill, and workmanship that ancient humans used to place and position these formations.

Stonehenge, as an example, is a multi-tonne arrangement of stones. The sheer size is hard to explain in itself. However, the stones needed to be transported from 160 miles away in Wales. They are then arranged to millimeter perfect alignment and precision.

The level of human capabilities to build these stone circles show that prehistoric cultures could have been more advanced than previously thought.

4) Stonehenge is not the largest standing stones sites in the UK

While Stonehenge is the most famous, it’s not the largest.

The Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in the southwestern part of central southern England. It covers 300 square miles and is home to other standing stone sites.

A lesser-known and larger stone circle stands in nearby Avebury. It is one of the largest stone circles found on earth. The entire layout is so huge that it now has a road and several houses built inside it.

Only a portion of the original stones are still standing. When completed, it would have been an incredible sight some 5200 years ago.

Many of the remaining stones within the complex have acoustic properties. Curiously, echo’s, large claps, and high-pitched tones can be achieved by creating sound waves directed at the stones. These strange acoustic properties have also been documented at many other sites across England and the world.

5) There was a Neolithic UK Standing Stones culture

Across the United Kingdom stands thousands of stone circle sites. They are evidence of an unidentified culture of early human habitation of the area.

The standing stone site in far north Scotland, on the island of Callanish, bears a resemblance to the Celtic cross. It is made up of a central stone circle with a diameter of around 130 feet, with avenues of stone stretching away from this circle.

The entire monument measures 400 feet east to west, and 150 feet north to south. The purpose of these aspects of design is unexplained. However, the Celts adopted the same symbol for their culture which didn’t arise for about another 3000 years.

Other standing stones in the UK include:

• Arbor Low – Derbyshire
• Rollright Stones – Oxfordshire
• Long Meg & Her Daughters – Cumbria.
• Castlerigg – Cumbria
• Stanton Drew – Somerset
• Ring of Brodgar, Orkney
• Beaghmore Stone Circle

6) The ancient astronomy of standing stones

One property of standing stones sites is the astronomical measurements built into them. Recording the cosmos is perhaps best known at Stonehenge.

The alignments to the summer and winter solstices, as well as the ability to predict eclipses, seems to be one of the most important purposes of the site. The accuracy and precision of these alignments are perplexing.

From the oldest at Gobekli Tepe to those built on remote islands, stone circles were astronomical observatories. Some are so large and sophisticated it’s difficult to explain how advanced ancient astronomy really was.

Today, you can still witness how these sites measure the heavens. For example, the summer solstice at Stonehenge sees thousands of visitors gather each year to witness it first-hand.

7) The standing stones in the Middle East

Closer to the earliest stone circle, Gobekli Tepe, are some stunning ancient sites. The Middle East is considered to be the birth of modern civilization and is home to a vast number of impressive astronomical standing stones.

Karahunge is a site in Armenia consisting of 223 individual stones of which only 37 are still standing. Some of these weigh up to 10 tonnes and around a third have circular holes drilled out of them.

It is thought that these holes were used in ancient times as astronomical tools, allowing for the tracking and understanding of the movements of the heavens. Many of these stones have been found to align to solstices and equinoxes, as well as lunar extremes.

8) The South American Standing Stones

In Brazil, there is a 100-foot-wide ‘Stonehenge of The Amazon’ made up of 127 standing stones. Laid out around a hilltop, they create the appearance of a crown. In winter, there are prominent alignments to the solstice sunrise, which is thought to be one of the main functions of the site.

Sillustani, Peru, houses six stone circles all in close proximity to each other. These all have alignments to specific astronomical markers. Standard dating suggests they were placed between 100AD and 1600AD by a pre-Incan culture known as the Kolla.

9) Ancient and modern standing stones in India

India is home to hundreds of known sites dating from thousands of years ago all the way up to modern times. Telangana, located in south India is home to an enormous 7000-year-old circle.

Yet, in the Dekkan region, there is a known site that wasn’t constructed until the 1800’s. This is evidence that a standing stone culture that managed to survive into modern day.

10) Standing stone sites in the USA

In Massachusetts, America, the site of Burnt Hill is a mysterious and ancient circle. The site cannot be placed to any known cultures to have lived in North America.

It could be one last remaining sites of an ancient North American era of stone circle construction.

11) The Standing Stones of Japan

Between 2400bc and 1000bc Japan was undergoing a prolific phase of stone circle construction.

There are 30 rings that have been found in the countries north all dating to this prehistoric period.

12) The Australian standing stones

Thought to be as old as 11,000 years, a standing stones site 165 foot in diameter has been found in Victoria, Australia. It

is made up of over 100 basalt boulders and has observational alignments to solstices and equinoxes.

13) The magnetic properties of stone circles

A possible purpose of standing stone sites is the use of their magnetic properties. When stones form naturally, they have a magnetic signature that will always point in the same direction. Similar to that of a compass, these stones have a magnetic alignment to a specific point on the planet.

For example, certain stone circles may be aligned with the magnetic qualities of the stones. In some cases, as the stones are laid out, they each point magnetically to the next stone in the circle. It may have been a way of directing of electromagnetic energy.

Research into the magnetic qualities of different stone circles could reveal that ancestors understood and manipulated these properties of the stone.

14) Alignments, and geographical arrangements.

Similar to harnessing local electromagnetic energy, it has been suggested that larger patterns are present in standing stone sites.

Across England, it’s suggested that stone circle sites follow straight paths that spanned across the countryside.

Many circles, especially across Southern England, may have been built in a straight line. If this is the case, these circles are separated by hundreds of miles.

Some have suggested the links between sites, which could have been a blueprint that the ancients understood and built by.

Conclusion

Recent research is revealing that standing stones hold a key to our human origin story.

There is a rich history of stone circle construction found all over the world. What drove our ancestors to this form of temple and how did it spread across the entire planet?

The secrets held by these immense structures, stone circle architecture and the knowledge of our ancestors and their lives are a mystery.

What was once a completely normal and essential part of human life is not understood from our modern frame of reference.

Now it’s up to. Why do you think our ancestors used standing stones?

Leave your answers in the comment section below.

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