![]() ![]() They may have been intended for a rearrangement of the stones that was never completed. One of the last prehistoric activities at Stonehenge was the digging around the stone settings of two rings of concentric pits, the so-called Y and Z holes, radiocarbon dated by antlers within them to between 18 BC. The earthwork Avenue was also built at this time, connecting Stonehenge with the river Avon. Probably at the same time that the stones were being set up in the centre of the monument, the sarsens close to the entrance were raised, together with the four Station Stones on the periphery.Ībout 200 or 300 years later the central bluestones were rearranged to form a circle and inner oval (which was again later altered to form a horseshoe). The sarsens were erected in two concentric arrangements – an inner horseshoe and an outer circle – and the bluestones were set up between them in a double arc. Two types of stone are used at Stonehenge – the larger sarsens and the smaller ‘bluestones’. In about 2500 BC the stones were set up in the centre of the monument. ![]() About 64 cremations have been found, and perhaps as many as 150 individuals were originally buried at Stonehenge, making it the largest late Neolithic cemetery in the British Isles. Within and around the Aubrey Holes, and also in the ditch, people buried cremations. There has been much debate about what stood in these holes: the consensus for many years has been that they held upright timber posts, but recently the idea has re-emerged that some of them may have held stones. Within the bank and ditch were possibly some timber structures and set just inside the bank were 56 pits, known as the Aubrey Holes. This enclosed an area about 100 metres in diameter, and had two entrances. It is possible that features such as the Heel Stone and the low mound known as the North Barrow were early components of Stonehenge, but the earliest known major event was the construction of a circular ditch with an inner and outer bank, built about 3000 BC. ![]()
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