You might have heard of a couple of them but let me tell you, some of them surprised me. I never really thought that there are still theories out there about the place (no matter how unbelievable they might seem) that I didn't know about. It sounds arrogant, but really- when it comes to Stonehenge, my imagination peaks.
But let's not ruin it.
1. Merlin
This theory was probably the first one - and thus, it's the oldest. You see, early historians weren't too much of a help when it came to "reality". They were influenced by a lot of things- mainly folktales and myths and legends.
Thus, when a story surfaced that Stonehenge was placed in Wiltshire on his order by a giant - they believed it.
According to this story the structure was originally in Ireland - in a legendary mountain, called Mount Killaraus. And before they got to that place, they were somewhere in Africa, and the African Giants brought it with them. From this particular case comes Stonehenge's other name, "Giant's Round".
The story seems to split in two from here. Some say that it was brought to Wiltshire so it could serve as a nice burial place for princes. Others say that it was used for its healing powers - and archaeologists apparently agree with this one.
Well, let me correct that. Archaeologists don't believe that Merlin was real, but they DID find quite a few skeletons buried around the site that weren't healthy at all. Also, they discovered different fragments of the rocks from Stonehenge that had been chipped off of it so people could use them as talismans.
And what would you need these talismans for unless you believe they have healing or protective properties?
2. Romans and Danes
In 1655 John Webb, who was apparently an architect, wrote that Stonehenge was actually nothing else but a Roman temple, dedicated to Caelus (Caelus was the god of sky in the Roman mythology, and he was the roman counterpart of the Greek Uranus).
Then there is the theory that a lot of people came up with, later, namely that it was not the Romans, but the Danes - as you probably guessed already, the Danes were a Germanic tribe, who lived in the place nowadays we call Denmark-, who built it.
This is because the whole site Stonehenge sits on was actually thought to belong to the Saxons, up until the late nineteenth century.
3. Pyramids
The whole thing doesn't really have to do with any pyramids, I just realized that it had a similar theory to it. I'm talking about the most common and well-known one, mainly the part that it was kind of like a cemetery.
Now, while no one actually found any bodies in the Pyramids, Stonehenge is totally different. As I mentioned before, archaeologists DID find buried people around Stonehenge - 63 of them, to be precise, which accumulates to about 50000 bone fragments.
These people were really varied, there were men and women and also children between them, and they were all about 5000 years old. So, according to these people, the rocks were brought there just to mark the graves of these elite people. And how did they know that they were elite? Well, from the buried items they found along the bodies, like weapons and vessels used for burning incense, that belonged to the religious and political elite of the people in those old times.
Heh, how convenient, it DOES seem that Merlin's legends have a few real parts to them.
4. Druids
In 1640 John Aubrey was the first actual person to academically try to explain what the monument was. Thus, he came to the conclusion that Stonehenge was the work of druids, a class made up of priests from Britain, Ireland and France.
The part where there are no written accounts of them ANYWHERE shouldn't surprise us - after all, a few descriptions found in the works of various artists should definitely mean that they existed, right?
Well, besides the part where Aubrey believed that there were hidden brotherhoods all over the place (I'm guessing he was a sucker for conspiracy theories too, especially this ancient form of the "New World Order"), he also managed to measure and draw the monument, from which he later demonstrated that the henge has an astronomical role.
100 years later after Aubrey did his job, another John stepped up- this time he went by the name of Wood (The number of Johns around Stonehenge is too damn high! And no pun intended). He picked up the druid idea, but he was promptly attacked for his beliefs, not because apparently druids didn't even exist, but because he dared to say that Druids were pagan.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, people actually fought over the religion of imaginary people. Imagine that. And also, it is said that if the druids actually existed, it would have been unlikely that they would use Stonehenge for their sacrifices, because apparently they preferred to stick to forests and mountains.
Oh, by the way, in the 19th century, John Lubbock (HAHA!) finally managed to attribute the site to the Bronze Age, because he found bronze objects not too far from the place.
5. Soundscape
Here's the one that surprised me: Stonehenge as a giant instrument.
It's a new one, isn't it? After all the theories we heard about Ley Lines, energies, equinoxes, UFO's, magicians and giants, this would probably be the least expected one. Apparently, though, an archaeologist thinks differently.
Steven Waller, who is a specialist of the sound properties of ancient sites (I never knew this one existed before. Damn, it must be a fun job), says that Stonehenge was inspired by the patterns of quiet spots.
What are these spots?
Imagine this: two pipers are playing in a large field. If someone would walk around them, he would hear something interesting at different spots on the field, namely that the two sounds cancel each other out.
Steven thinks that the stones of the henge were put there just for this effect - to block out sounds made in the center of the circle.
Here's an interesting thing about this - apparently, Stonehenge, and every other stone circle around Great Britain go with the nickname of "piper stones".
He also made an experiment, which consisted of blindfolded people wondering around a field where two pipers played their music. They were told to stand still in the spots where they thought that there was a barrier between them and the musicians (although the field didn't have any barriers at all). Because of the illusion of the sounds canceling each other out, the people did exactly what you might expect: they stopped in certain points.
When they did this, they drew their exact spots on a piece of paper, and surprise, surprise, when the whole experiment was finished they ended up having a drawing with spots similarly placed as Stonhenge's stones.
Steven also says that ancient people gave a big attention to sounds - not only in their rituals. For example, most of the rock art sites are in places that have caves with amazing acoustics, and they liked it even more if the caves were prone to echoes.
According to a study in 2012 Stonehange was found to have acoustics as good as any modern-day cathedral or concert hall.
Oh, and here's a little video about how Stonehenge was supposed to be when it was still new and shiny:
