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Stonehenge : Wiltshire England
What is it?
Stonehenge is a megalithic monument. Megaliths, literally meaning large stone slabs, had become the most conspicuous forms of expression within the European landscape for the people of this time. Indeed, by 2000 BC, Stonehenge had become the ritual centre of southern Britain.
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Archaeologists define a ‘henge’ as an earthwork consisting of a circular banked enclosure with an internal ditch.
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At Stonehenge, the enclosure is over 300 feet in diameter, containing a complex arrangement of ritual pits, abandoned stone holes and circles made from bluestones and sarsen stones, approached by an avenue. Many henges were created in this Neolithic period, but what makes Stonehenge unique is that it had trilithons – towering stone structures measuring over 24 feet in height.
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Standing in open grassland, it can be seen from afar at any viewpoint. One can easily imagine the effect this monument would have had on the Neolithic mind.
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