StonehengeResearch paper for ARC 1701 History of Architecture IVValencia Community College Summer Semester, 2010Summary:Stonehenge catches my attention because of the mystery it holds. All the theories about how it was built, why it was built and who it was built for have not been proven to this day. And that's what catches my attention the most, the mystery of how these primitive people were able to move these large stones from such a distant distance and how they were able to align them almost perfectly for an unknown purpose. Stonehenge, called the most photographed site in the world, attracts nearly a million visitors a year, nearly half of them from the United States (Wendy Mass 9) After Stonehenge stunned, an impressed generation of visitors and scholars descended on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, 80 miles west of London, to marvel at the wonder of this ruin (Wendy Mass 8) but why is this ruin so magnificent? What attracts so many people? It's because the question of who built it and how it was built still lingers in the minds of many today. These questions have kept the mystery of Stonehenge alive for thousands of years, and the combined investigative efforts of historians, geologists, engineers, archaeologists, astronomers, chemists, and philosophers have continued to uncover more questions than answers (Wendy Mass 8)The name Stonehenge believed to derive from words meaning "circle of stones", "hanging stones", or "stone hinges". (Wendy Mass 8) was originally called stanhenge; stan, meaning stone in Old English, and henge, meaning "to hang." There are several theories regarding whether the center of the card is considered pagan and not Christian. In the Middle Ages, stones were stolen by stonemasons and farmers to build bridges and houses. At the beginning of the 14th century the stones were knocked down because at that time stone circles were associated with witches. Until recently people could touch the stones and even climb on them, the Public Order Act 1986 passed a new entry ban limiting the number of people who could legally walk in a procession, ensuring that guards they made sure the stones had not been mishandled.ReferencesMass, Wendy. 1998. Lucent Books, Inc., San Diego, California http://www.fortunecity.com/roswell/blavatsky/123/stonecon.html http://www.sacredsites.com/europe/england/stonehenge.html http: //www .nytimes.com/2008/05/30/science/30stonehenge.html