Stonehenge is one of my favorite sites. It’s placement evokes a great deal of mystery and intrigue. This is mostly due to the fact that the site is so out of the ordinary. It’s hard for me to believe that a culture would and could seriously manipulate the landscape without the use of the wheel. The only other cultures that were manipulating their landscape to this extent were the Mesopotamians and Egyptians.

Visually, Stonehenge is not as impressive as the Pyramids of Giza. The Pyramids tower hundreds of feet over the flat Egyptian plateau, while the stones of Stonehenge just measure a mere ten to twenty feet. With this said, Stonehenge in context is more impressive in my opinion. The sophistication of prehistoric Britain’s society does not compare to Egypt’s system of organized labor for a state. This is not to say that there was no sophistication to ancient Britain, but that it did not have the modern constructions of a state like a bureaucracy and detailed system of law quite like Egypt. Because of this sophistication, the ability to get together enough labor to move these massive stones is absolutely mind-boggling.

This brings up another point, that the transportation of such stones makes Stonehenge even more unique. While Egypt relied on the Nile for the transportation of limestone and sandstone blocks, the builders of Stonehenge had no such luxury. Scientists debate over how the stones were transported from a quarry and onto a plain without any major rivers. Some have said that glaciers may have scattered them around the plain, making it easier for the builders to move these stones. Still, there are stones that make up Stonehenge that are said to have originated over hundreds of miles away. The logistics of Stonehenge simply amaze me.

However much can be said about the skill required to complete the Pyramids, as well as that both Stonehenge and the Pyramids were roughly being constructed at the same time and that the Egyptians were technologically superior to the ancient British. In terms of a technology race, Egypt was leading that is for sure. But to take away the ingenuity that created Stonehenge would be ignoring the obstacles and difficulties that the ancient British faced when they created their religious complex. Geographically speaking, the British were not as favored as the Egyptians when it came to having an agriculturally based society. Yet, despite this setback, the British still managed to construct a complex structure without the help of a modern civilized society. That in itself speaks volumes.