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🏛️ Stonehenge
A ring of giant stones on an English plain, built about 4,500 years ago — and nobody knows exactly why.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
📍 Where is it?
📍 Salisbury Plain, England — see it on the big map →
On a grassy plain in southern England stands a mysterious circle of giant stones. Stonehenge was built in stages, starting about 5,000 years ago and finishing about 4,000 years ago. Some of the stones weigh as much as 25 tonnes — as heavy as five elephants.
The most amazing part is where the stones came from. The smaller blue stones were carried all the way from Wales, about 240 kilometres away, long before trucks or trains existed. People probably moved them on wooden rollers and rafts.
Nobody knows for certain what Stonehenge was for. It might have been a temple, a burial ground, or a giant calendar. We do know it lines up with the sunrise on the longest day of the year, the summer solstice. Every year, thousands of people gather there at dawn to watch the sun rise over the stones.
🤩 Wow fact!
Some of Stonehenge's stones were carried about 240 kilometres from Wales — without any trucks or wheels.
🧠 Quiz time!
What does Stonehenge line up with?