Quick guide Age estimated at 3100 BC Location Wiltshire, UK OS Reference SU 122 422 Type of stone Bluestone, Sarsen, Welsh Sandstone Worship Lunar, Solar Access English Heritage - there is a charge to visit the stones Extra notes Except on special occasions, visitors are unable to walk amongst the stones This was created from Audio made for a British Airways audio cassette tour of the UK South of England. Written and narrated by Blain Fairman in 1990. Audio production by Robert Nichol AudioProductions London. pictures added to this version 2008 by Robert Nichol to create a Youtube video Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about 3.2 kilometres (2.0 mi) west of Amesbury and 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) north of Salisbury. One of the most famous prehistoric sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of earthworks surrounding a circular setting of large standing stones. Archaeologists believe that the iconic stone monument was erected around 2500 BC, however this was not the first stone structure on the site The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. The site and its surroundings were added to the UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1986 in a co-listing with Avebury henge monument, and it is also a legally protected Scheduled Ancient Monument. Stonehenge itself is owned by the Crown and managed by English Heritage while the surrounding land is owned by the National Trust. New archaeological evidence found by the Stonehenge Riverside Project indicates that Stonehenge served as a burial ground from its earliest beginnings The dating of cremated remains found that burials took place as early as 3000 B.C, when the first ditches were being built around the monument. Burials continued at Stonehenge for at least another 500 years when the giant stones which mark the landmark were put up. According to Professor Mike Parker Pearson, head of Stonehenge Riverside Project Stonehenge was a place of burial from its beginning to its zenith in the mid third millennium B.C. The cremation burial dating to Stonehenge's sarsen stones phase is likely just one of many from this later period of the monument's use and demonstrates that it was still very much a domain of the dead. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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