Stonehenge

c. 3,000 BCEMajorContested

Built in stages over about 1,500 years, the monument aligns with the solstice sunrise and sunset.

Longest chain: The Big Bang → First stars ignite → Supernovae seed heavy elements → The Sun forms → Earth forms → First oceans → First life → Photosynthesis evolves → Great Oxidation Event → Complex cells (eukaryotes) → Multicellular life → First animals → Cambrian Explosion → First vertebrates → Jawed fish → Fish walk onto land → The amniotic egg → The Great Dying → Dinosaurs appear → Asteroid ends the dinosaurs → Early primates → Apes split from monkeys → Human line splits from chimpanzees → Walking upright → First stone tools → Genus Homo appears → Homo erectus → Control of fire → Habitual fire and cooking → Homo sapiens appears → Complex language → Natufian villages → Oldest known bread → Agriculture begins → Megalithic monuments → Stonehenge

Contested history

Consensus: A monument built in stages from about 3000 to 1500 BCE, aligned with the solstices and used for ceremonies and burials.

Humans hauled the bluestones about 225 km from WalesEstablished

The source quarries in Wales have been identified; the Altar Stone came from Scotland.

Glaciers carried the bluestonesMinority view

A few geologists argue this, but most evidence points to human transport.

Built by DruidsDebunked

Stonehenge predates the Druids by about 2,000 years.

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Stonehenge (Britannica) ↗