Stonehenge: Extraterrestrial Marvel or Medieval Sacrificial Site?

Aliens are only one of a diverse group of suggested builders of Stonehenge - others include giants, underworld lizards, the residents of Atlantis, Merlin the Magician and the Devil himself! A great deal of mystery still surrounds almost every aspect of this monument, found in Southern England. Some of the questions include 1) when was it built, 2) how were 10 foot tall, 26 ton rocks moved to this location, 3) who built it, and 4) why?

Even today, there are arguments about its relationship to astronomy. Some call it a remarkable feat of astronomy - almost computer-like in its preciseness. Still others believe that it was a sacrificial site, and the only possible astronomy connection was the placement of the two "heel stones" (only one still remains) in such a way as to cause the sun to shine directly between them on the summer solstice - a traditional day for sacrifices.

It is generally agreed that Stonehenge was built approximately 3,000-5,000 years ago. Most 20th century scholars who have studied the structure also seem to agree that several pairs of stones within the monument are placed in such a configuration that they frame the Sun perfectly when it rises on the annual equinoxes and solstices. These four positions would have been fairly simple to determine, even in those days, as the Sun rises in almost exactly the same location each year on these days. However, there are others who believe that this monument also predicts eclipses. If true, this would have been a remarkable feat of astronomy for anyone to have determined 3,000 years ago. Why? Because it would have required a knowledge of two other cycles, the first of which is the cycle of the lunar month. This would have been easily enough determined, since they would have only needed to watch the moon's phases over a few months' time to have seen the pattern.

But the second cycle that these ancient builders would have to have understood was the cycle of the rotation of the lunar nodes - those two INVISIBLE points in space where the moon's orbit intersects the plane of the earth's orbit. To have discovered the pattern of this cycle would have required DECADES of watching the moon - when it rose, when it set. Did someone - or rather, did generations of people - study this cycle and pass down information over the years, until such time as the cycle was understood and integrated into Stonehenge? It appears that the answer is "Yes".

There is a set of 56 holes, known as the "Aubrey Holes," which appears to be the device by which these ancient astronomers tracked both lunar and solar eclipses. By moving three sets of "marker stones" a certain number of holes each day (for the lunar cycle), or a certain number of holes each year (for the lunar nodes cycle), they were able to determine in what year the next eclipses of the moon or the sun would occur, because in those years, the three marker stones would end up in the same hole.

Did this ancient civilization have the tools necessary to both move these stones into such a precise arrangement and to decipher the codes of the universe in such a way as to build this remarkable "observatory"? Obviously, unless you do believe in aliens or giants or underworld lizards, they did have the tools to build this monument. But we may never know if they truly understood astronomy to such a sophisticated level, or if modern day scientists have totally misinterpreted or placed their own intepretations on the reasons for the placement of the stones of Stonehenge.

Sources:

The Active Mind - The Mysterious Explained - http://www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/Stonehenge/
The Unmuseum - Stonehenge and the Rings of Rock - http://www.unmuseum.org/stonehen.htm