Stonehenge

The first morning I was in Salisbury I knew I had to go to Stonehenge, before exploring the town of Salisbury. Higher priority.

It was decently chilly in Salisbury when I caught the first bus to Stonehenge, which is about eight miles from town (I would have considered walking, but there was zero shoulder on the roads so I'm glad I didn't), and about two from the wee little town of Amesbury, which I did not see. Taking the first bus was a great idea, as it wasn't that early in the morning and the crowds were smaller as a result. When I left Stonehenge around noon there were so many people taking pictures that it was difficult to feel the site.

So, Stonehenge. It was somehow smaller than I expected. I know my pictures are hard to tell size from, but even with a person for reference... the rope keeping tourists out was too far away to help in any appreciable way with the scale.

What remains of Stonehenge are three concentric circles of large stones, the outermost were the largest and easiest to make out, on the inside they looked like a confused jumble of stones, but the circles are easy enough to make out when viewed from above. The outer stones were absolutely massive, and looked even more so for how tightly they were constructed together.

What most people don't look at at Stonehenge (or so I assume) is the earthworks. Around the flat area of the stone circles is first a ditch, then a raised mound, which both encircle the site. As we learned in Archaeology, this is the exact opposite of a defensive formation, designed to keep people in rather than out, or else to block an outsider's view of the ceremonies within. To the south was a small burial mound, small by my standards anyway. I took a picture of this but it didn't turn out well. Along to the east was a standing megalith separate from the circles, but archaeologists aren't sure as to its intended purpose. Between that megalith and the stone circles were a series of small mounds and pits, with a few large-ish rocks lying flat on the ground. They called the biggest stone the "sacrifice stone" but I'm not sure that this is its original purpose either.

What amazed me: bordering up on the north of the site, separated by a weak rope fence, was a huge flock of sheep. I guess someone has to own that land. I only hope archaeologists excavated that area before allowing sheep to run rampant.