Era 5: Phase 3: 2550-2400BC arrival of the Bluestones
In their initial setting the Bluestones were arranged in a double crescent. Whether this was originally intended to be a circle is unknown, but it was eventually dismantled.
Transporting the BluestonesBluestones
They are called bluestones because if you break the stone and it's fresh, it's quite blue in colour and it has white inclusions in it. Its technical name is spotted dolerite
They were transported 360 kilometres from the Preseli Hills in South Wales at about 2500BC. We are dealing here with the beginnings of the metal age in the British Isles. The Preseli Hills are on a trade route from Ireland - the first landmark you see as you sail across from Rosslare in Ireland. Naturally prehistoric man used the Preseli Hills as a route north into the midlands and south towards Wiltshire.
Wiltshire at this time was a rich area of good farmland, prosperous communities, and the temple of these bluestones, brought all the way from the Preseli Hills by these traders, was constructed to celebrate that fact.