Welcome to Bedtime History.
Hello, this is Breck.
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Imagine you're walking across a wide grassy field in the early morning and Mist swirls around you, and ahead, giant stones rise from the earth, towering high like giants frozen in place.
You step closer and run your fingers along the cool, rough surface.
These stones have been standing for thousands of years, long before cars, airplanes, and even before people built cities.
You're looking at Stonehenge, one of the most amazing and mysterious structures in the world.
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in the country of England.
It was built a very long time ago, over 4,000 years ago.
That means it's even older than the pyramids in Egypt.
Stonehenge sits on a plain called Salisbury Plain in the south of England.
People from all over the world travel to see this circle of stones because no one is completely sure why it was built or how people moved such huge stones without machines.
The first part of Stonehenge was started around 3,100 BCE.
That's about 5,000 years ago.
At first people dug a big circular ditch and used the chalky white soil to make a raised bank.
This was the earliest stage of the monument.
Later they began bringing in large stones, some weighing as much as a truck, and standing them upright in a big circle.
There are two main types of stones at Stonehenge.
The larger ones are called sarsens, and the smaller ones are called bluestones.
The sarsens are so heavy some way more than 25 tons that people still wonder how they were moved from many miles away.
Most scientists believe that the builders used wooden sledges, rollers and ropes to move the giant stones across the land.
It may have taken hundreds of people working together just to move one stone.
The bluestones are another mystery.
These smaller stones came from a mountain range in Wales, more than 100 miles away.
That's a very long way to move heavy rocks, especially when you don't have trucks or trains.
Some experts think the stones were dragged or carried by a boat and then rolled on logs.
However they did it, it shows how determined and creative these ancient people were.
Historians and archaeologists, people who study ancient places, think Stonehenge may have been used for several different things.
One of the most exciting discoveries is that Stonehenge is carefully aligned with the sun.
On the summer solstice.
That's the longest day of the year.
If you stand in the right spot, you can see the sun rise directly over a special stone called the heel stone.
That means people at the time understood the movement of the sun and had very good planning skills.
Some experts believe Stonehenge was a place where people held ceremonies, especially during important times of the year.
Others think it may have been a kind of calendar that helped people know when to plant and harvest crops.
There's also evidence that it might have been used to honor important leaders or relatives who had passed away.
Close by.
Archaeologists have found ancient graves and even the remains of people who may have traveled from far away just to visit.
One fascinating story comes from the bones found near Stonehenge.
Some were of people from places that were hundreds of miles away, and some even showed signs of injuries and healing.
This has led researchers to think that Stonehenge may have been a place of healing, like an ancient hospital, where people hoped to get better.
We know that building Stonehenge took hundreds of years and many different generations of people all working together.
This shows us that ancient people were not just strong and clever.
They were also organized and had important traditions to follow.
They passed down knowledge from parents to children over many years to complete such a big and important project.
One archaeologist, Mike Parker Pearson, once said Stonehenge isn't just a monument, it's a story written in stone.
That means every stone tells us about the people who put it there, their hopes, their knowledge and their way of life.
Today, scientists continue to study Stonehenge using modern tools to learn more about how it was built and what it meant to the people of long ago.
And every year thousands of people still gather there to watch the summer sunrise, just as people may have done thousands of years ago.
That's how special Stonehenge still is.
It continues to bring people together.
Stonehenge reminds us that even without modern tools, people can do amazing things when they work together, use their imagination and keep trying their best.
It teaches us to be curious, to ask questions and to appreciate the skills and dreams of those who came before us.
So next time you see a picture of those giant stones, remember you're looking at a piece of history built with teamwork, perseverance and wonder.
