No one has a clue as to what they were for. But in the end someone did some heavy lifting and constructed a horseshoe-shaped arrangement of approximately 19 bluestones within a circle of maybe another 60. Each standing stone was anchored six feet deep into the chalky Wiltshire ground. This phase, the most ambitious, also saw the builders recalculating the axis of the circle, thereby creating a mystery that would last to the present day. At sunrise on the summer and winter solstices, the day's first rays of light pass through the arrangement's front and back openings to light the earthen bridge across the henge ditch.
Nobody knows how the builders determined the precise placement of their stones.
But it never fails to tantalize a curious mind. By this time, the Stonehenge complex was an integral part of Bronze Age life in this part of Britain, and the extension of the road, if for nothing else but practical purposes, shows how the community around it continued to grow. Contrary to popular wisdom, Stonehenge is not a Druid temple. Their long-time presence in the area, and the outdated belief that Stonehenge was once a Druid place of worship, has led to a strange tie with this group, even though Stonehenge predates Druidism by a heap. Bucking vicious gusting winds, we tourists follow Margaret out of the parking lot through a pedestrian road underpass onto the field.