{"id":13936,"date":"2021-02-22T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.isango.com\/theguidebook\/?p=13936"},"modified":"2021-02-20T16:42:53","modified_gmt":"2021-02-20T16:42:53","slug":"6-things-you-never-knew-about-stonehenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.isango.com\/theguidebook\/6-things-you-never-knew-about-stonehenge\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Things you Never Knew about Stonehenge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Humankind has made some epic discoveries over the years: mastering flight, conquering Everest and walking on the moon to name but a few. Yet this prehistoric ring of rocks still has our finest scholars, scientists, anthropologists and astronomers stumped. The megalithic structure is one of the world\u2019s greatest enigmas that has us scratching our heads over even the most fundamental of questions: who, what, where, when, why? Only one of these questions we can confidently answer\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where?<\/em>\u00a0Stonehenge is located in the rolling downs of Wiltshire and \u2013 good news! – can easily be visited on a day trip from London<\/a>. A 1.5 hour train from Waterloo will take you to Salisbury, a picturesque English country town famous for its Cathedral and terminus for\u00a0bus tours departing for the UNESCO World Heritage site<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who? What? When? Why?<\/em>\u00a0Well, that\u2019s when things start to get a little bit hazy \u2013 but we do know a few things for certain:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Did you know\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stonehenge is in Wiltshire but the rocks come all the way from West Wales. The bluestones originate from the Preseli Hills, over 150-miles away from where they now stand. Transporting these weighty pillars is no mean feat, especially before the invention of HGVs and cargo planes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And what\u2019s more\u2026.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we say weighty, we mean weight-ty! The average sarsen stone weighs up to 25 tons: that\u2019s the equivalent of about five African elephants and 10 times the weight Arnold Schwarzenegger ever bench pressed! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s little-known that\u2026.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stonehenge is actually older than all of the pyramids in Egypt. Construction is estimated to have begun around 3100 BC – which means the site was already 500-1,000 years old by the time the Egyptians got round to building their first pyramid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

And guess what\u2026<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rome wasn\u2019t built in a day, but it was built in the blink of an eye compared to Stonehenge. It\u2019s estimated to have taken 1500 years and more than 30 million hours of labour to assemble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You would think\u2026<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s impossible to put a price on a piece of unique historic importance. Or is it\u2026? In 1915, Stonehenge was won at auction for 6600 pounds. Sir Cecil Chubb bought the monument for his wife on a whim after she sent him out to buy a set of curtains. I\u2019d like to have seen the look on her face when he came home with Stonehenge instead\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The coolest thing is that..<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why it was built remains a mystery. Substantial evidence suggests it was originally a cemetery, a resting place for cremated remains. It could also have been a solar calendar to track the movement of the sun and mark the changing seasons. Many say it was a pagan temple. Other theories are slightly less credible but all the more enjoyable\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Folklore tells of the wizard Merlin magically transporting the massive stones from Ireland with the help of giants. Don\u2019t believe in magic? Some point to space for answers instead, conjecturing that aliens built Stonehenge as a model of the solar system or a spacecraft landing area. Even more posit that the ring is actually a giant fertility symbol \u2013 yes that\u2019s right, a big alien vulva!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

While explanations are far-flung and wide ranging, they can all agree on one thing; Stonehenge is out of this world! <\/strong>Go check it out for yourself<\/strong><\/a> and let us know what you think: was it aliens, giants, wizards or Arnold Schwarzenegger after all?!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Solving the enigma with aliens, wizards and Arnold Schwarzenegger <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":13938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1580,58,23],"tags":[272,662,972,1134],"yoast_head":"\n6 Things you Never Knew about Stonehenge | The Guidebook - isango!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Solving the enigma with aliens, wizards and Arnold Schwarzenegger 6 Things you Never Knew about Stonehenge\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.isango.com\/theguidebook\/6-things-you-never-knew-about-stonehenge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"6 Things you Never Knew about Stonehenge | The Guidebook - isango!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Solving the enigma with aliens, wizards and Arnold Schwarzenegger 6 Things you Never Knew about Stonehenge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.isango.com\/theguidebook\/6-things-you-never-knew-about-stonehenge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Guidebook - 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