here that the stones are thought to have embarked on the final leg of their journey, which was again traveled by water down the Wylye River to Salisbury and then the Salisbury Avon to west Amesbury. In total, the trek is nearly 240 miles.
Upon reaching their new home, the bluestones were erected in the centre of Stonehenge in an incomplete double circle. The original entrance of the circular earthwork was also widened during this stage, and a pair of Heel Stones was added. Additionally constructed was the nearer part of the Avenue, which aligns with the sunrise in midsummer.
Around 2000 B.C., the third Stonehenge building stage commenced. This stage included the addition of the sarsen stones, which almost certainly came from the Marlborough Downs, which is near Avebury in north Wiltshire and is approximately 25 miles north of Stonehenge. The largest of the sarsen stones weighs in at an immense 50 tons.
Transporting the sarsen stones by water would not have been possible, so the only conceivable way for the stones to have been moved is with the use of sledges and ropes. Experts have calculated that moving just one of the enormous stones would have required the combined effort of 500 men using leather ropes to pull it and an additional 100 men to position the gigantic rollers in front of the sledge.
Once the daunting task of simply getting the sarsen stones to Stonehenge had been completed, the stones were arranged in an outer circle with a continuous run of lintels. Stonehenge’s distinctive trilithons were then arranged in a horseshoe pattern within the circle.
In Stonehenge’s final building stage—which began shortly after 1500 B.C.—the bluestones