STONEHENGE

Stonehenge

Stonehenge

Introduction

Stonehenge is a megalithic complex (from the Greek megas "large" and lithos "stone") which is located near Salisbury, in Great Britain (Godsell, 2008). It consists of dolmens (from tol "table" and less "rock"), basic architectural structures consist of two or more vertical supports on which a large flat slab.

According to legend, was the famous wizard Merlin to erect Stonehenge to use it as an "observatory of the seven doors and seven windows." It seems to be able to carry heavy rocks until then, taken in Ireland by the "place to dance the Giants", with the help of magical forces (Johnson, 2008).

A Mystic Temple of Yesterday and Today

The history of the British Isles extends to several millenniums BC, at that time, primitive man had a semi-nomadic life, but managed to develop a culture. It is believed today, well developed, although without reaching the level of development managed by the same time the inhabitants of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. However, the archaeological remains reveal a notable development of some techniques, and some argue that large would have gotten astronomical and mathematical knowledge, basing this theory on the analysis of archaeological remains.

In southern England, on the limestone plain of Salisbury, Wiltshire was built a site sacred to the ancient inhabitants of Great Island, now called Stonehenge. Construction was not carried out in a short period of time, but it was a construction made of three clearly differentiated stages and a period of 1,500 years (Godsell, 2008). It is possible that during this period, the ancient Britons their beliefs have changed much, but it is strange that the place of worship maintained through many generations and that each of the phases of construction, despite being separated by hundreds of years, has followed the same original patterns, and so are in ...