Stonehenge: How did those ancient Brits get those giant stone lintels up there on those tall uprights?

Question

Given their limited technology, I wonder how those people so long ago ever dragged all those huge stones over great distances, pushed them upright, and even got large stones placed atop the uprights. As I recall reading, this was done long before they had such things as the wheel. Having been there, I can attest to its designation as one of the seven Wonders of the World, especially when you consider it was a device for determining the equinoxes. (And may I say, regarding the recent update of the Seven Wonders of the World, which include Stonehenge, the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil is hardly any wonder at all; I don't believe it would qualify even if they expanded the list to 25 or 50 -- which they should.)

Answer 1

While we can't be absolutely sure, the prevailing hypothesis is "they built ramps of sand/earth & dragged the stone to the top of the ramp."  Then they moved the earthen ramp to the next set of stones they wished to top. A previous responder is correct about how they got the uprights in place.

This was an often used building method by prehistory people.

Answer 2

thousands upon thousands of sciences arae still trying to figure that out,

i'll let cha know when they have the answer;)

Answer 3

You should check out the history channel.  They do lots of specials on subjects such as these.  

One I receantly saw was on ancient technology.  It would have been a simple matter of shaping the stone, digging a whole, sliding the stone into the hole which results in an angle that the workers could have wrapped a rope around the top, and pulled the stone upright with levers and pullys.  Then using a scaffolding type of device and cranes, which they did have, hoist the top stone into place.  

Did you know they had robots back then.  Leonardo Di Vinci did it, I think.

Answer 4

"Ancient Brits"? They were called Druids.

Answer 5

The Stonehenge people were skilled woodworkers as well as stone masons--they built wooden platforms up the sides of the great sarsens to move the lintels up to their final destination step by step. The lintels,you might have noticed, are fitted together with mortice and tenons joints,which is why so many have remained in tact. This of course is a wood-working technique,here applied in stone. Very probably the huge wooden structures made by the same people  at nearby Woodhenge and Durrington walls also had similar lintels,but of course we can only guess as only their huge postholes remain.

  The current thinking is that the wooden temples were for the rites of the living and the newly dead, while Stonehenge was built in stone to represent the Ancestors,who are eternal. (You might have noticed that many of the stones, especially the smaller bluestones seems vaguely human in shape--this may not be purely accidental!) There is a large 'exclusion' area around the stones of about a mile where there are no signs of any human settlement but hundreds of burial mounds and strange enigmatic earthworks like the Lesser and Greater Cursus. Essentially, it would seem Stonehenge with its permanent stones was in the 'land of the dead', while impermanent wood was favoured for the living.

Answer 6

I can honestly say, I do not know.

But it must have taken alot of man power.

Answer 7

Maybe they floated the stones in water after they put a lot of salt into it.

Answer 8

Maybe they were built by a Race of Giants?

Answer 9

Short version:

The standing stones were quarried some distance away. The most probable route is by water to a landing site near to the structure

They could have been shaped by building a fire on then and when the rock was hot, pouring cold water on to crack it.

Ropes made of leather, rollers or sleds were pulled by men. Remember, lots can be done with manpower. Not as fast as we're used to, but the great cathedrals of Europe took centuries to complete.

Setting the stones involved digging a pit, moving the stone to the edge and then lifting the stone by levers. As each side was raised, a stone or branch was placed under it. Given time the stone would be raised and would slide into the pit.

The capstones were raised the same way. A crib of logs was build under it, bringing the capstone to the top where it was moved onto the standing stones.

The megalithic culture raised thousands of stones all over the British Isles and parts of Europe. They had plenty of experience. We're handicapped by our dependence on big machines and deadline. We fail to understand how much patience. levers and manpower can do.

Answer 10

Ichabodwa's answer is near the mark. There have been programs on the BBC and History Channel about the construction of Stonehenge - the BBC has plenty of back program and related links if you navigate their website.

I quite agree with you about the Christ Statue in Brazil - in a world abounding with wonders, it puzzled me how that one got in under the wire.

A footnote - Stonehenge was nothing to do with druids. Druids were around at the time of the Roman conquests of Britain and Gaul, but Stonehenge, Carnac and the other henge monuments predate that by 2 to 3 thousand years. A long, long time before druids.