Secrets of the Stonehenge sanctuary

One of the most magnificent archeological sites in Britain is the Sanctuary Stonehenge . It is clear from the records that seventy years after the invasion of the Normans (1066), in the first half of the 12th century, this object was considered one of the exceptional peculiarities. The stone constructions were then visually watched and various guesses about their origin were recorded.
In the 20th century, many years of research on this unique position started since 1901. Their crowning was the raising of some stone blocks and the reconstruction of the object under discussion.
As a result of the work carried out by archaeologists, it is possible to characterize the appearance of stone buildings from Stonehenge. Their outer limit is determined by a circular earth embankment that runs 30 m from the stone structure. Initially, it was about 1.5 m high. It was built of chalk debris, excavated when digging a surrounding ditch, embankment from the outside.
Over the centuries, the readability of this object has become blurred. From the north-east side, there was a gap in the embankment, marking the main entrance to it. The breaks and breaks in other parts of the embankment come from modern times.
From the main entrance it led down the slope of the "alley", marked on both sides by a small embankment and a ditch. It led through the main road to the banks of the River Avon and West Amesbury. The length of the "avenue" was 3.2 km. In the "avenue", right next to the road, stands the so-called Heel Stone (stone-heel, heel).
On the inside of the embankment there were 56 cavities, arranged in a circle, parallel to the outline of the earthwork and the ditch. They bear the name Aubrey's jam in the literature, from the name of their discoverer John Aubrey (1626-97). At the main entrance to the earthwork, there is a large stone known as Slaughter Stone (Slaughter Stone or Sacrificial Stone). It once stood vertically, creating a second, similar, but not preserved, type of representative gates that led to the interior of the object. Inside the earthwork, in the circle of Aubrey's cavities, there are two smaller stones called Station Stones. (Stones).
The stones standing vertically within the earthwork are sandstone boulders from the area of ​​Marlborough Down, distant from Stonehenge by about 32 km, and stones with a bluish tint, excavated by the builders of the Sanctuary of Prescelly Mountains (Prescelly mountains) in South West Wales. > The circle built of sandstone blocks was 30 m in diameter and at first had 30 stones, each weighing about 25 tons. Small stone blocks, also 30 in number, each weighing 7 tons rested on these rocks. Inside this colossal, monumental structure there were 5 double sandstone blocks, weighing up to 45 tons, on which lay blocks arranged transversely, in the shape of a horseshoe.
All sandstone blocks except for Heel Stone and Station Stane bear traces of treatment with stone hammers. The parties of vertically standing boulders were carefully matched, on which lay the transversely lying blocks, also appropriately incised. The circle built of blue stones, now destroyed and decomposed, was inside a circle of sandstone boulders. Initially, it counted about 60 stones placed close together.
The horseshoe, made of blue stones, was inside a horseshoe made of sandstone blocks. Initially, it counted 19 stones, arranged in such a way that the largest occupied the middle part. At the tops of two of them there are traces of inlets, others also have traces of processing. In the center of the horseshoe of blue stones was an altar from a hewn sandstone block, 4.80 m long.
Like the great cathedrals that were built in different periods, which due to the reconstruction can not represent any one, well-defined section of history, the whole set of buildings in Stonehenge is an achievement. several more centuries.
As a result of excavations, further phases of development of the Stonehenge sanctuary have been distinguished, closing between 1800 and 1400 BC. and at the same time, the foundations for the reconstruction of its appearance were obtained. From around 1400 BC This sanctuary was subject to slow devastation, which took on a special momentum in the Middle Ages, when Stonehenge became a source of stone building material for the local population. In fact, quite a few years ago, local farmers looted antique stones, erecting outbuildings or paved roads.
Many years ago, it was noticed that always, on December 22, the rising sun becomes exactly between one of the pairs of stones in Stonehenge. This phenomenon could be explained until a British astronomer - G. T. Hawkins, put forward an interesting hypothesis, which he proved to be right with the help of a computer. He collected accurate data on the most important astronomical phenomena that occurred around 1500 BC, such as eclipses of the sun and the moon, particular phases of the moon, etc.
Next, Stonehenge composed a compact code from the stone configuration and all this information, which created up to 27,060 combinations, gave the IBM 7090 computer to be analyzed.
The machine gave, in response, 32 different ways that such a set of stones could be used. It turned out, for example, that it was possible to predict a lunar eclipse, precisely determine the date of the solstice of the day with night, and even measure the shifting of the sun relative to the stars, etc.

So Stonehenge was one of the oldest astronomical observatories in the world built by people from the Stone Age. It was strongly supported by the British astrophysicist and cosmologist F. Hoyle, citing the argument that the inhabitants of the "vague Albion" were even better astronomers than the inventor of the revolutionary theory supposed. One of the wheels - created by digging holes in the ground with meters, and even larger diameters - consists of exactly 56 holes.
By transferring a small stone every year from one hole to the next, it was possible to calculate the dates of the eclipse of the moon. As you know, eclipses occur cyclically at intervals of 19, 19, and then 18 years, which together creates a full cycle lasting just 56 years: and this number corresponds to the number of holes!
The first astronomical observatory in Europe - Stonehenge - could also be a place of religious worship, in those days the utility character of the monumental buildings combined with their sacral functions. Prehistoric people, especially in the north, were afraid of the winter season coming each year. The view of the sun, marking a lower and lower arch in the sky, suggested that one day it would not rise at all.
However, educated priests - astronomers have been following the disturbing changes from the Stonehenge Observatory, knowing that one day the solstice will happen overnight. They received generous gifts for the propitiation of the God of the Sun, and when spring came again, everyone breathed more freely, and the observatory changed into a temple in which the people would give thanks and offer sacrifices.