Beginnings of Western Art: Stonehenge

Artists: Possibly created by pagan druids.  Evidence shows that it had undertaken various structural changes throughout its existence, undertaken by a number of different societies.  
Time period: (2000BC)

Location: English county of Wiltshire

Thanks to Wikipedia for this image!

Stonehenge is considered to be one of the British Isles' greatest landmarks.  What amazes people about it is its immense size for the time period in which it originates from.  Nothing before it was built with solid stones quite the size of those that compose much of the circular ring at Stonehenge.  It is a mystery as to how it was built, (for the most part) and there are several creation stories attributed to it.  One of such stories even suggests that aliens had a hand in lifting the stones for the druids, but, as to how creditable that theory is… Well, you could guess that there would be a great deal of speculation about such claims.



Interesting Facts:
Besides the fact that the stones are huge, they are actually constructed to be in-tune to the sun’s yearly patterns!  When the sun rises on the summer solstice (June 21), the light coming from the northeast shines its way past the heel stone, which sit outside of the main ring, through an archway, and lands directly on the altar stone close to the centre of the ring.  A similar thing happens upon the setting of the sun on the winter solstice.  How cool!

Some of the stones at Stonehenge came from Wales, which is more than 200 kilometers away!
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Further Reading: 

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=_pXtHqAGN6E

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This is the same video as the one that is listed in the "Further Reading" section above.  If you wish to watch the video directly from YouTube, then click on the link provided.  

I had to do a full-on assignment about Stonehenge: it's creation, modern significance, etc., for my grade 10 history class and after sifting through numerous web-sources and library books (yes, because there still are some of us left in the school systems that do such a primitive thing) I found this one to be the most helpful in my studies of the ancient, historical landmark.  

"Gee, I hope this helps!" -LEN