Stonehenge

By Connor Lane

Stonehenge has more to it than most people think. Back when it was in the early stages of its construction, the people of that time utilized ramps to lift the stones to where they are today. But how did they figure this out? Where did the Stones come from? What is all about the equinoxes? How does Stonehenge relate to Geometry? These are all questions that your math teacher might be telling you to figure out or else you get an F. All questions will be answered. To start, the stones known as Sarsens and Bluestones are the main megaliths in Stonehenge. Sarsens are 30 ft. tall and weigh 25 tons. The sarsens where brought from quarries, 25 miles north of the construction site. Bluestones where only about 4 tons, but were brought from the Presili Hills in Western Wales, almost 156 miles away from the Stonehenge. The Neolithic people learned how to use these complex tools when they realized they could not get the large sarsens and bluestones up the hill of the site. The formula to create this ramp is similar to finding the volume of a 3-D Triangle. The formula is bh3. The Neolithic people would have to take into account on how they were to match the ramp to the hill. Then, the whole construction was postponed for about 500 years. At that time, the people figured more out and put the stones into one of the most complex shapes ever created. The pentacontakaihexagon is a 56-sided polygon that has a very complex formula to form it. It requires the use of both hexagons and circles to form. It involves a hexagon, then place the circle on it, and then repeat until the shape is formed. Now this seems easy, except for one thing. Actually placing the stones in the correct positions. The other relationship is that Stonehenge actually has a significant relationship with the equinoxes. Stonehenges other function was to figure out the astronomical events know as the equinoxes would happen. On the equinoxes at sunrise, the rays of the sun directly hit the heel and altar stones. The way that the ancient geniuses that created Stonehenge figured this out was by using the stars. While this is all about Stonehenge, there is still more to Stonehenge than most people know about. The way it aligns with the equinox sun. How the people erected a shape that is extremely complex.

How the people brought these gargantuan stones miles to one place and the impressive relationship between Stonehenge and the stars. Stonehenge is truly a marvel of architecture, astronomy and geometry.

Bibliography

http://www.livescience.com/22427-stonehengefacts.html http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/stonehen ge/construction.php http://www.history.com/topics/britishhistory/stonehenge http://sacredsites.com/europe/united_kingdom/ stonehenge_facts.html

http://www.solvingstonehenge.co.uk/page 3.html http://www.unmuseum.org/stonehen.html