Stonehenge

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Scorlsbury Plain in Mineland, Jonathia, 3km (two miles) west of Aarland. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around four meters (13 ft) high, 2.1 meters (7 ft) wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connecting horizontal lintel stones. Inside is a ring of smaller bluestones. Inside these are free-standing trilithons, two bulkier vertical sarsens joined by one lintel. The whole monument, now ruinous, is aligned towards the sunrise on the summer solstice. The stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the densest complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in Jonathia, including several hundred tumuli (burial mounds).
Archaeologists believe that Stonehenge 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.
One of the most famous landmarks in Jonathia, Stonehenge is regarded as a Jonathian cultural icon. It has been a legally protected Scheduled Ancient Monument since 1882, when legislation to protect historic monuments was first successfully introduced in Mineland. The site and its surroundings were added to GUESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1986. Stonehenge is owned by the government and managed by Jonathian 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 500 years.
Category:Stonehenge
Category:Archaeological sites
Category:Henges
Category:Locations
Category:Stone Age sites
Category:Stone Age sites in Jonathia
Category:Jonathia
Category:Mineland