Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire,
South of England. Stonehenge's ring of standing stones are set within earthworks
in the middle of the most dense complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments
in England, including several hundred burial mounds.
Archaeologists believe it
was constructed from 3000 BC to 2000 BC. The surrounding circular earth bank
and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated
to about 3100 BC. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the first bluestones were
raised between 2400 and 2200 BC, although they may have been at the site as
early as 3000 BC.
The site and its surroundings were added to UNESCO's
list of World Heritage Sites in 1986 and it is a legally protected Scheduled
Ancient Monument. Stonehenge is owned by the Crown and managed by English
Heritage; the surrounding land is owned by the National Trust.
Stonehenge could have been
a burial ground from its earliest beginnings. Deposits containing human bone
date from as early as 3000 BC, when the ditch and bank were first dug, and
continued for at least another five hundred years.
