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A prehistoric stone monument in the UK, thought to be of astronomical significance. Stonehenge, 130 kilometres (80 miles) west of London, is one of the finest of all neolithic sites. It was constructed in three phases, commencing with a bank and ditch around 2800 BC. The surviving group of sandstone megaliths in a circle 30 metres (100 feet) in diameter was erected in about 2000 BC. Some of the stones form foresight and backsight markers that indicate crucial rising and setting points for the Sun and Moon with considerable accuracy. Astronomers have shown how observations made at Stonehenge would have enabled its users to predict solar and lunar eclipses with certainty. If the astronomical interpretation is a correct one, it implies that the designers of Stonehenge had recorded, or remembered through an oral tradition, observations extending over many centuries.
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