Why are people so marveled at how Stonehenge was built?

Question

I mean, I can see how they'd have done it.. They had lots of time, and men (possibly animals helping), probably people who were architecturally inclined..

Or am I missing something?

Answer 1

The pyramids repressent more an achievment of social organisation rather than outright engineering. The technology to produce consistent measurement (to a reasonable degree of accuracy), near perfect levels, right angles etc was all fairly stable by 2800BC. And don't forget that pyramids (zigurats et al) are the simplest, and by that virtue most durable, structures that can be created; making one bigger is not a challenge of engineering, rather of organisation. That is the real marvel of such a building. With consideration to the available technology, and the labour intensity of the work that entailed, bring together & successfully applying that much labour over such a time period was the primary feat. It's fairly accepted now that the builders were farmers operating during the fallow season rather than slaves, so it might be said that another particular novelty herein is just how enthralled the people were with the regime! Could we do it again today? Of course, knowledge cannot "be put back in the bottle" and considering the knowledge we've amassed in the last 4800years I'd guess we could do the same faster, even from the same technological base.

Answer 2

Slightly Off Topic.



The construction of Stonehenge is not only very impressive on an engineering level as others have stated, it also hold many valuable and highly enlightened mathematical, geometrical and astrological characteristics.



Here are some interesting characteristics that prove the architects knowledge of mathematics, time keeping and geometric importance:



1) The inner circle consists of 30 smaller bluestones, the last of which is half the size of the rest. This represents the timing of the Moon's phases, which lasts 29.5 days.



2) "Pythagorean Triangles" are a geometric phenomenon that consist of one Right-Angle and each side consisting of Whole Numbers. The inner circle defines the width of a rectangle inside stone henge that ends at the outside ring, when halved diagonally, a Pythagorean triangle is defined.



Furthermore, Lundy Island lies exactly Westward of stone henge. If we call the measurement between them 12 and go north a value of 5, we land directly on the "Blue Stone Site" in Wales where the 30 Bluestones where taken from, the length between the site and stone henge is 13 (relative to the other two values) which defines a Pythagorean triangle or 5, 12, 13.



3) the circle consists of Three stone circle "layers" or "walls", the difference in ratio between the inner circle and middle circle is an "octave" and is the difference between the inner and other definitions of a hexagram.



4) If the middle circle is the size of the Earth, the outer circle defines ratio difference of the centre of the moon if the moon was to contact or rest on the earth. This shows the builders knew the size of the Earth and the ration between Earth and Moon. This principle also applies to the Pyramid of Giza and most religious constructions around the globe such as the Taj Mahal.



Also, An interesting fact is that this ratio is the difference between a circle and a square of the same area, a term called "squaring the circle" which the moon to the earth, a double rainbow and the human anatomy does, as shown by DaVincii (spelling?) although the builders didn't necessarily know this, they may have.



5) The sarsen circle, held together by tongue and groove joints, show a knowledge of Pi, if the width of one stone is 1, the curved length of the stone piece (which is a fraction of the circle's circumference) is 1 x Pi, so an imaginary circle fitted inside the width has a circumference of 1xPi also. The Unit we're naming "1", the width, is 3.4757486 ft. which precisely defines a measurement known as a Royal Foot, which the Egyptians developed, suggesting trade, communication and shared knowledge between Egyptians and the builders of the Stone Circle in a England.

This measurement is also a six-millionth part of the Earth's polar radius.



The idea of a sacred place is to "marry" the Heaven to the Earth through "God's language", Which is Geometry. These methods ares till used, example: Winchester Cathedral lies at 72 degrees from North, defining 1/5 of a full turn and therefore defining a Pentagram, the shape of Life and Man between the Square (Earth) and the Hexagon (Heaven).

Answer 3

Well I don't exactly know how to say this in a non-offensive way?



A lot of great building has a religious base and not a functional base. The pyramids may have had a religious base that the workers would too live in infinitely, look at the large cathedrals, Native American Indian mounds, Easter Island moa. Every culture has it's moon shot and clam to fame!



It's not so much as how but why and how that great effort didn't stall and was continued. The marvel is that they accomplished such feats with primitive means and little experience.

Answer 4

The population at the time was small compared to the labor needed. It was a time when agricultural was still fairly new and less efficient so there was less spare labor. It was a time when winters were harsh compared to the cloth available and skins are very labor intensive to make compared to how long they last, so every winter had a labor shortage. It was a time when a crop failure in the summer could cause mass starvation and that happened roughly every decade so even if you could have the labor the project took too many years to make sense.



In Egypt they built the pyramids and other structures starting when a special device was invented that made irrigation cost half the labor. The surplus labor was used to make public structures. No such invention is known in the Stonehenge era.



I think the example to study is the Inca empire. They had no writing but they made fabulous cities in the mountains. Apparently they did it by counting labor in the off season as their taxes.

Answer 5

1. It was built at a time when it seems like they would not have had the ability to build it.



2. They don't know how it was built. All they know is that it was built. Even with our technology, they still do not know how to build it, yet, the people with almost no technology actually built it.



3. It tells time. Every December 21st, or something like that, the sun is directly over it, to where there are no shadows, right at noon, its time (GMT). That happens every year at exactly the same time, which told the people who built it that it was the first day of winter, and that one year has passed since it last happened.

Answer 6

The stones at Stonehenge are a Blue stone and then it was only found in Wales, a distance of over 200 miles away. These stones were manhandled a dragged all the way to Wiltshire which in itself was a tremendous feat. Now how do you suppose they raised the lintels which each weighed over 50 tons to cap the stones . They didn t have the wheel to use pulleys for this. ??

Answer 7

Because it was made during the Stone Age, a period in history before humanity figured out how to make rudimentary tools and weapons from metals like bronze, iron and steel.

That a bunch of hairy primitives living little better than cavemen managed to build anything - especially something like Stonehenge which is older than even the Egyptian pyramids - is so amazing as to be nearly miraculous.

Answer 8

I think people marvel over why it was built, not so much how, like the pyramids. Why go to that effort? Why that particular spot? Why arranged the way it is? It was a very sacred place to the people at the time for a reason that nobody understands now

Answer 9

1. because the blue stones in Stonehenge came from Wales. .and that was a long distance to move them without modern equipment. UMMM? So no wonder. all those stones in Stonehenge are huge, and just how did the NON-modern person with no education or special tools and vehicles manage todo it..

(Same can be said about pyramid builders.. Magic???!!! Nah. .slave labour.

Answer 10

Your missing a great deal of something. First the were primitive people, second they didn't have lots of time or men - they had to maintain survival and Hunter Gather Tribes spent most of the time just getting food.

Also the rocks were moved many miles from where they were queried and there is no residual signs of how they moved them. They had no modern equipment and even with the giant construction equipment that exist today most contractors and architect has said it couldn't be done now -

NOT SOLID STONES like it is .

Answer 11

They still needed to organise such large-scale moving of the stones. The bigger ones were moved about 20 miles across country. The smaller ones came from the far end of Wales, about 140 miles in a straight line, but much longer by any of the routes they could have used - and remember, no roads, probably no carts, no large boats in those days.



And remember that the construction took place over a period of at least 1,000 years, with several changes of design (1,000 years - that's as long as from William the Conqueror to now). So that is several lots of people over the centuries, each with sufficient (religious?) motivation to get a large number of people (and animals?) organised to carry out those various portages and building works.



Could YOU organise that sort of a large group of people today?

Answer 12

They would have needed to have some sharp surveying skills to align the stones with the movement of the earth relative to the sun. Stonehenge was an observatory of sorts; not just a pile of rocks.

Answer 13

Well, the biggest stones are 40 tons or so and came from 20 miles away

The smaller stones were brought from over 100 miles away

It's aligned on the rising and setting of the sun at the solstices.

the stones have been shaped

the stones have lintels that weight 4 tons or more and have been attached by mortise and tenon joints...like lego

the outer ring was also slotted in by tongue and groove.

Answer 14

The thing that always amazed me was that the builders made lintels so that the top stones slotted onto the supporting stones, I mean why would they bother, the top stones weighed 50 tons, its not going to slip off or be moved once in place just due to its weight.

The actual building of the monument is easily explained, the same as building the Parthenon. Time, labour, huge quantities of soil and timber.

Answer 15

The thing is where did they get the stone from? it is not local to the area, latest thinking is that it was bought some 100 miles away on the various rivers, and then overland,it must have been quite an operation.

Answer 16

"Marveled", maybe not quite the word I mean..of course what they did was amazing, marveling etc.. Guess what I mean is, why do people think there had to be a super natural element, or amazing secret in order for it to have happened?



I mean, I can see how they could have done it..

Answer 17

Yeah as one of the answerers said, it's all in the science.



1st is probably the idea that the surrounding area didn't have those huge stones, so they were presumably transported.



The pyramids and how they were made is even more profound to me.

Answer 18

It is a an enigma wrapped in mystery of history. There are quite a number of such things that evokes the question "Why did they do this? For what purpose?".

Answer 19

they were holding together because they understood that separation brings destruction as you cant separate something that is made of one fabric

these days we are divided into nations,races,ethnicities and look where it leads us

we are destroying everything in sight

egyptians,mayans,aztecs,romans,greeks they all built something that still lasts

what legacy are we going to leave behind us?

Answer 20

The old human hubris of assuming that if we're too dumb to figure out how to do something, our ancestors couldn't have done it, all evidence notwithstanding.

Answer 21

They did not have people who were architecturally inclined. The peoples who built it seem to have been generations of societies who were farmers. At least some periods of the construction appear to have coincided with massive feasting nearby, where enormous amounts of bone and fire evidence have been found.

Answer 22

I understand and I agree. It is kind of underestimating profoundly the people who build it when we have the tendency of being so extremely astonnished and surprised. Of course there were artists and well-skilled architects and engineers. We think too much out of our narrowminded definitions.....

Answer 23

obviously it wasn't impossible to build the monolith , but we all must be amazed at the engineering and labor involved to pull it off. now the great minds of society cant even agree why the civil was was fought.

Answer 24

Because it reminds them of an old TV channel changer dial?

Answer 25

I don't know! Then again, I built them so I wouldn't.

Answer 26

people wonder how they moved heavy stones because at that time period there were no machines or electricity almost like the stone age

Answer 27

They were trying to communicate to us saying they are more artistic and hard working than we will ever be.

Answer 28

Because the massive sizes of the stones are quite impressive

Answer 29

Aside from how absolutely huge those rocks are and how difficult it was to place them, the rocks themselves are from Africa, not England. The type of rock and its striations are not of any rock indigenous to Great Britain. The closest match is northern Africa. It's believed that those huge stone slabs were somehow transported from Northern Africa and not quarried locally, for whatever reason. Also, their positioning shows an advanced knowledge in astronomy, geometry, and mathematics.

Answer 30

BECAUSE STONEHENGE REPRESENTS ONE OF THE GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE WORLD OF ENGINEERING LEVERAGE, BALANCE AND FULCRUM MECHANICS.

Answer 31

So, what have you done that even begins to equal it, young one? The thing is amazing. I would say..yes, you are missing something.

Answer 32

Not that many men in britan at that time.

Not a lot of draft animals either.

Then you have the whole "Why?" thing.

It took a lot of time and resources at a time when when there was not a surplus of anything in England.

Answer 33

Lol I guess it's KINDA cool. It IS extremely old though, so.....



I'm more interested in pyramids and native american temples and sh*t.

Answer 34

You are missing the need for mass organisation.

Answer 35

can you tell me edward which kind of surveying skills needed for this kind. because i wanna know more about it.

Answer 36

Yes you are missing something......the weight of the stones.....they are huge.....50 tons......

Answer 37

the rocks are very heavy - also their placement



i am not sure how far they moved those rocks they were also hand hewn

Answer 38

I don't think people care about Stonehenge anymore, not since the Griswold's knocked it over.

Answer 39

"Or am I missing something? - Yeah, a bit.

Answer 40

Because it is a hedge and also a stone, THEY ARE FREAKIN COMBINED!!!!!!

Answer 41

no one cares

Answer 42

is good for tourism

Answer 43

they actually rebuilt it in the 1800's

Answer 44

he

Answer 45

They are not.

Answer 46

huh ?

Answer 47

,mad ras