When was Stonehenge built?

Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain in England was not built in one go but over roughly 1,500 years. The first phase, around 3000 BC, was a circular ditch and bank enclosure. Around 2500 BC Neolithic builders raised the huge sarsen stones, some weighing about 25 tonnes, which a 2020 study traced to West Woods about 25 km to the north. The smaller bluestones were hauled roughly 225 km from the Preseli Hills in Wales, and a 2024 study found the Altar Stone came from north-east Scotland, more than 700 km away. The monument is aligned with the sunrise on the summer solstice and the sunset on the winter solstice.