The purpose of Stonehenge, its time of erec tion and the race or races which built it, will probably never be known with certainty. De spite the efforts of the numerous archzologists who have given it their attention, nothing in the nature of proof has been found for anyone of the various theories. It is generally accepted as an extraordinary development of the stone circles (q.v.) found throughout Great Britain and in parts of France and Scandinavia. For a long time these circles were known as Druidical Rings, and Stonehenge was regarded as prob ably the head temple of Druidical worship. This theory, however, has been discredited re cently on account of the discovery that many other of these monuments, also supposed to be of Druidical origin, were of a sepulchral na ture. The circular form of the monument has suggested to some writers that it was connected with a worship of the sun. By others it has been attributed to the Phoenicians, the Beira, the Saxons and the Daties. It has been called a martial court of justice— a battle ring for judicial combatants—a shrine to Buddha, a temple to serpent worship and a monument of victory. The theory most widely accepted is that it is a burial ground or a temple connected with burial ceremonies for some ancient peo ple who inhabited at some time the greater part of Great Britain and who either emigrated from or to the shores of France and Scandi navia. The fact that Stonehenge is the centre of a region numerous in barrows, and that this is true of all the other great stone circles or standing stones seems to bear out the likeli hood of its connection with the burial cere mony. Sir John Lubbock assigns its date as that of the Bronze Age, basing his beliefs on the character of the contents found in the surrounding barrows and upon the evidences of tool-work upon the stones of the outer circle and outer ellipse. This latter fact, however,
is interpreted by others merely as an indication that the other portions of the structure are of much older date.
Stonehenge is first mentioned in the 9th cen tury by Hennius, who states that it was erected in the 5th century by Ambrosius, the last Briton king, aided by the magician Merlin, to com memorate the 460 Briton nobles who were treacherously murdered at that spot by Hengist, the Saxon. This legend is repeated by Henry of Monmouth in his (Histona Britonum,' in the 12th century, and then by numbers of the historians of the Middle Ages. The first his tory of Stonehenge, written by Inigo Jones, and published in 1655, speaks of the structure as a Roman temple and deprecates its demoli tion by the country-folk of the neighborhood, who removed portions of the fallen stones to build bridges, make mill-stones and for such like uses. (See STONE CIRCUS). Consult Bar clay, 'Stonehenge and Its Earthworks' (1895); Davies, 'Celtic Researches) (1804) and (My thology of the Druids' (1809) ; Gidley, (Stone henge Viewed in the Light of Ancient History,' etc. (1877) ; Sir Henry James, (Plans and Photographs of Stonehenge' (1867) ; Lockyer, (Stonehenge and Other British Stone Monu ments Astronomically Considered' (1906); Long, (Stonehenge and its Barrows) (1876) Sir John Lubbock, (Prehistoric Times' (ed. 1898); Flinders, Petrie, (Stonehmige) (1881); and Stukeley, William, (Stonehenge and Abury> (1840).