Raised in phases from c. 3000–1600 BCE within a ritual landscape, Stonehenge combines Welsh bluestones and Wiltshire sarsens aligned to solstitial axes. Linked by the Avenue to the River Avon and to Durrington Walls, it has seen centuries of antiquarian study, modern excavation, UNESCO inscription, and careful visitor management.
Phase 1 (c. 2950–2900 BCE) formed a circular bank and ditch with 56 Aubrey Holes. Phase 2 (c. 2900–2600) saw timber elements and intensive cremation burial. Phase 3 (c. 2600–1600) introduced the great sarsen circle with lintels and the inner trilithons, alongside multiple rearrangements of imported Preseli bluestones.
Sarsens (up to 50 tons) likely moved overland from the Marlborough Downs ~20 miles away using sledges and rollers; bluestones (~2–4 tons) traveled 150+ miles from west Wales via mixed river and land routes. Sophisticated mortise‑and‑tenon joints and tongue‑and‑groove lintel connections created a continuous ring.
The monument’s axis aligns with midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset, matched by the Avenue’s route to the River Avon. Putative lunar alignments remain debated. Seasonal ceremonies likely bound communities across the wider ceremonial complex of barrows, cursūs, and henges.
From Stukeley to Hawley to recent landscape‑scale projects, scholarship has reframed Stonehenge as part of an inhabited ritual terrain focused on Durrington Walls. Inscribed (with Avebury) as UNESCO World Heritage in 1986, Stonehenge is conserved by English Heritage, which since 2013 has operated a visitor centre, controlled access paths, and limited stone‑circle access except for supervised occasions.
