The Construction of a Stone Circle

The Construction of a Stone Circle

Imagine, the wizard Merlin uses his magic, transports huge stones from Ireland to England and constructs Stonehenge. Geoffrey of Monmouth’s story expresses the mystery of the monument and his construction. It is however still not clear how stone circles were built, despite the archaeological evidence. In this essay, a logical explanation of the construction of a stone circle is given.
Firstly, the prehistoric people of around 2,300 BC had to chose a site to build a stone monument. Most probably, this would be a site of religious importance, taking into consideration that some circles were built on a seemingly impossible site, like the Ring of Brodgar, Orkney. This site had to be cleared: the workers had to remove stones and rocks – this could be 200,000 tonnes, like the three circles of Avebury – vegetation and peat to make the ground suitable for building. Depending on the size and site of the stone circle, this would take three months to two year cutting and clearing with stone tools.
Secondly, the builders had to find and cut rocks that were suitable to build with. Mostly, sandstone was used. Those rocks could be found in a near mountain or in a mountain range 230 miles away, as the bluestones of Stonehenge. This was likely the easiest part of the construction of the circle. The workers used stone tools to drill a row of holes in the stone. They stuffed those holes with goat’s droppings. After a few days or weeks waiting, the acid in the droppings had broken the stones in a rather straight line.
Thirdly followed the seemingly impossible task of transporting the stones from the mountain to the site of the monument. The prehistoric people would do this mostly by sea, for it is beyond dispute that the British proto-Celts were skilled sailors. This theory is supported by the discovery of megaliths in several lochs in Scotland. It is not clear how the stones were transported over land. A popular and seemingly logical explanation is the use of tree-trunks, but...

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