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Stonehenge; It’s probably not what you think!

Pamela L. Gay, Ph.D.
4 min readSep 16, 2021
Credit: Andre Pattenden/English Heritage

Stonehenge is one of the great archaeological wonders of the world, and one of the most misunderstood places we all think we know about. First off, while all the photos we generally see depict it as this pristine place that embodies the magical feeling if fairy stories, … well… the reality is that it is located next to a busy highway, and the land still shows the scars of prior roadways. Further, it is surrounded by a low key fence that keeps out sheep. When I visited about ten years ago, I was struck by the feeling that Stonehenge is just a weird rock formation in the midst of a farmer’s sheep pasture, and that whoever designed the British highway system had no love for either farms or archaeology.

Sheep! At Stonehenge! Seriously, this was not something I expected. © Vic Powles | Dreamstime.com

Originally built with an estimated 80 massive Sarsen stones, the structure we see today is just part of a long-utilized site that has previously featured additional pits, poles, and stones whose uses aren’t entirely understood, but in many cases are consistent with tracking the passage of the Sun, Moon, and seasons.

While the use of the site is a curiosity we may never fully understand, many researchers are even more mystified by the stones, how they got there, and how they were…

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Pamela L. Gay, Ph.D.
Pamela L. Gay, Ph.D.

Written by Pamela L. Gay, Ph.D.

Astronomer, technologist, & creative focused on using new media to engage people in learning and doing science. Opinions & typos my own.

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