Article Information Online

Most everyone has heard of Stonehenge, the stone circle in England that has been portrayed as an astronomers' tool, a grave yard, a druidic sacrificial altar, and even in some movies and television programs as a portal to other dimensions and other worlds. But although famous, Stonehenge isn't unique. There are other such stone circles all over the world, many containing one astronomy henge stone or even an entire grouping of them. The term henge is derived from the Old English word, henge, that became part of the Stonehenge name. Henge doesn't mean circle or stone or earthwork, it means hang. It refers to the Stonehenge site specifically as horizontal stones were hung around the circle by placing them on top of vertical stone pillars. The name eventually came to denote a variety of similar sites, generally populated by some sort of stone formation within an earthen circle. But a henge only refers to stones set within an earthen circle. Without the earthen circle, either raised or dropped to be lower than the surrounding ground, it isn't a henge, but rather a stone circle.