The most impressive prehistoric monument in the British Isles and perhaps all of Europeis Stonehenge on the plain of Salisbury in southern England.Stonehenge holds an enormous fascination,as much for the mysterious aura that surrounds it as for the impressive feat of construction. Some of the stones have been taken away over the centuries;many have fallen and lie half-buried in the ground.Other stark,broo-ding,gray stones still stand,arranged in the circles and arches that outline this "observatory" and ceremonial center Neolithic and Bronze Age Britain.
The construction and elaboration of Stonehenge took place over a period of more than 1000 years,approximately 2750-1500 B.C. The earliest monument was defined by a circular bank and ditch,almost 100m in diameter, cut into the chalk of the subsoil.The bank on the inside of the circle would have stood almost 2m high,piled up with material d-ug from the ditch.A level entrance to the circle was on the northeastside. Inside this circle and bank were placed 56 Aubrey holes,named after their seventeenth-century discoverer ,regularly spaced around the perimeter.These holes were filled shortly sfter their original e-xcavation,and their purpose is unknown. Cremation burials were placed in a few of the depressions,and also in the bank and ditch areas somewhat later.The Hell Stone was brought to the site at this time and eracted outside the circle to the northeast.This irregular boulder st-ands almost 5m above ground level and weighs at least 35 tons.