Stonehendge :: Architecture History Art Essays

Stonehendge When you regard of Stonehenge, you think of the Ancient Druid Civilization that supposedly built it, this is in fact non true. In this essay, I will show you the building of one of the near amazing art forms in history, as well as confuse some insight on legend. Certainly the best known of each(prenominal) megalithic sites, Stonehenge stands in isolation on the undulating chalk of Salisbury Plain, watt of Amesbury, between the busy A303 and A344 roads. At first sight, this unique and enigmatic site appears smaller than imagined, but the tallest upright stone is 6.7m (22ft) high, with another 2.4m (8ft) below ground. The outer(prenominal) element of the site is the Avenue that runs straight down a sweet slope for 530m (560yds) into Stonehenge Bottom. The Avenue consists of twin banks about 12m (40ft) apart with internal ditches, and it begins at the entrance to the earthwork bank. Here is the Heel Stone, a large upright unworked sarsen (hard sandstone) that l ies at once side by side(predicate) to the A344 road. It is worth noting that the ne best source of stones of the size represented by the large sarsens at Stonehenge is on the Marlborough Downs, about 30km (18mi) to the NE. One may entirely imagine how these stones had been moved it only seems logical that these stones (the heaviest of which weighs about 45 tons) were transported on some type of sledge.Moving inwards from the Heel Stone is an earthwork enclosure that consists of a ditch and an interior bank, the height of which was calculated by professor Atkinson as being about 1.8m (6ft). It is known that there were at least(prenominal) two entrances, the one now visible (facing NE) and one to the south. Lying inwardly the entrance is an unworked and now recumbent sarsen stone, stained a rusty bolshie caused by rainwater acting on iron, and known as the lashing Stone. Arranged around the inner edge of the earthwork bank were originally iv small uprights the Station Stones , of which two are still visible. Immediately adjacent to the bank is a ring of 56 pits, known as the Aubrey Holes, label by circular concrete spots. The area between the inner edge of the bank and the outermost stone settings includes at least two and settings of pits the Y and Z holes.On the central area of the site, there are the stone settings, the sophisticated arrangements that set Stonehenge apart from any other prehistoric monument in Europe.