Rising up out of the gentle rolling hills of the Salisbury Plains – about 140 kilometres southwest of London - appears one of England’s most recognisable landmarks, a masterpiece in Neolithic architecture. With an imposing sense of majesty this culmination of more than a millennia of human endeavour has been the source of many a tale of intrigue over the eons they have stood. In a modern age where each decade has its new icons one can but be overwhelmed by the toil our prehistoric ancestors must have made to construct these grandiose circles of immense pillars we now know as Stonehenge. Theories as to why anyone would build such a monument abound with the purpose of this megalithic shrine lost in the sands of time.
             But before we begin to understand the mysteries of the Stonehenge we must first learn what it is.
             To understand the significance of Stonehenge it cannot be viewed as a singular construct, rather it must be seen as the culmination of a complex henge and barrow culture that had been developing throughout Britain for millennia before Stonehenges construction. Even on the Stonehenge site itself there is evidence of numerous primitive temples, wood-henges, barrows and burial mounds.
             The oldest shrine in the Stonehenge site, and one of the oldest in England can be found just to the north of Stonehenge itself. During surveying for a car park to be built on the site evidence of sockets for poles was found. These were dated to be 10 thousand years old. At the time they would have been deep in woodland. The four wooden poles that would have been erected around the clearing made a primitive temple for these Mesolithic builders. For thousands of years shrines such as these wood-henges dominated the spiritual landscape of Britain.
             5 thousand years later the first stage of the Stonehenge to be build, the great chalk embankment, was not started until 3000BC. There is speculation due to different colouring in the chal...