During the last year I've been working on solving the mystery behind these funny stones in Wiltshire, England. Now I'd like to have you join in on the fun and hope you enjoy discovering the true purpose of Stonehenge:
Hints:
Looking at the 3D model might be helpful.
Using the numbers on the pillars as starting points and travelling around the circle by the amount indicated on the stones below, we get:
END/HAT/HORN // RAIN/AUNT
ZONE/PEN/PINE
ICE/OTHER
OLD/RAIN/RIDGE/OWL // END/OTHER
EVEN/UPPER/END/INNER
(The groups separated by double slashes are on the same pair of pillars.)
Each of those groups
can have a unique letter added before it to make another word.
T:TEND/THAT/THORN // TRAIN/TAUNT
O:OZONE/OPEN/OPINE
M:MICE/MOTHER
B:BOLD/BRAIN/BRIDGE/BOWL // BEND/BOTHER
S:SEVEN/SUPPER/SEND/SINNER
As is clearly spelled out, the true purpose of Stonehenge is:
TOMBS.
...But for what?
Well, let's look at the numbers again.
And this time, we'll start at each starting point and draw lines from one stone to the next.
Doing this for each pair of pillars produces:
ALIEN!
So the true purpose of Stonehenge is...
ALIEN TOMBS.
Throughout this, "north" refers to the topmost direction on the first picture.
The north of the outer ring.
The outer ring contains 30 stones spaced evenly in a circle. They have alien creatures carved out of them on the inside. The creature inside the southernmost stone is pointing left (clockwise around the circle).
The hidden creature pointing left
They are joined by a ring above them. The ring is made out of 30 circular arc components. On the edges between those components are a notch and a corresponding protrusion that make an arrow shape pointing in the same direction as the alien.
The words in order, starting from the southern stone and going clockwise, are:
ONE ZONE LORE END RIDGE PEN UPPER RAIN END END OTHER RAIN OUTER INNER LOWER HAT PINE ODD HOUSE OLD RED END OTHER AUNT EARTH ICE OWL HORN EVEN END
The northwest of the ring, with a view of the bunched-together stones.
The south of the ring, with a view of the pushed-forward stones.
The inner ring contains 30 stones, not connected. The two southernmost stones are pushed slightly forwards towards the center of the ring; all the others are spaced evenly around the ring, except for the six northernmost stones, which are bunched together (but still separate).
Each stone has a fish inside it, suggesting that the inner ring might be a "red herring".
A red herring?
One of five pairs of pillars.
There are ten pillars in a horseshoe shape inside the inner ring. Each pair of pillars is joined by a slab above them.
The upper slabs have numbers on them; some have two, and others have one. Those with two have one above each pillar; those with one have them in the centre.
The numbers, starting from the southwest and going clockwise to the southeast, are:
[ 4 8 ]
[ 2 ]
[ 26 ]
[20 9 ]
[ 29 ]
The first five stone slabs.
There are fifteen stone slabs inside the horseshoe created by the ten pillars, also in a horseshoe shape (opening in the same direction). They have from zero to three numbers on them. Numbers are marked with plus and minus signs at the front. Each slab that is not blank is directly below one of the numbers on the tops of the pillars.
The numbers are:
[+12 +12]
[blank]
[-14]
[blank]
[+4 +11]
[blank]
[blank]
[+15]
[blank]
[-8 -7 -8]
[blank]
[+14]
[blank]
[+8 +15 -8]
[blank]
The coffin, with parts of letters in "TRY" visible.
Finally, in the very center, there is a coffin. On the bottom of the coffin are some carvings; combined with some hollowed-out areas hidden inside the coffin, they spell "NICE TRY".
Wireframe showing the hidden area spelling "NICE TRY"
On top of the coffin there are several things:
In case order matters, I've numbered the words etched into the sarsen stones below, starting with ONE and working clockwise as indicated by the alien creature.
1. ONE 11. OTHER 21. RED
2. ZONE 12. RAIN 22. END
3. LORE 13. OUTER 23. OTHER
4. END 14. INNER 24. AUNT
5. RIDGE 15. LOWER 25. EARTH
6. PEN 16. HAT 26. ICE
7. UPPER 17. PINE 27. OWL
8. RAIN 18. ODD 28. HORN
9. END 19. HOUSE 29. EVEN
10. END 20. OLD 30. END
Words that occur multiple times:
END: 5 times {4, 9, 10, 22, 30}RAIN: 2 times {8, 12}OTHER: 2 times {11, 23}Several of the words pair off into opposites:
{7, 15} is UPPER/LOWER{13, 14} is OUTER/INNER{18, 29} is ODD/EVENIf we address the numbered stones as they appear, from lintel to matching horseshoe stone below, we get:
4 8 2 26 20 9 29
--- --- --- --- --- --- ---
+12 -14 +4 +15 -8 +14 +8
+12 +11 -7 -15
-8 -8
Now, if we are meant to add the numbers as they appear, we get:
28 -6 17 41 -3 23 14
That really doesn't seem to get us anything meaningful.
Notice how the numbers on the stones are all 30 or below? If we instead use the numbers to represent words, we get:
END RAIN ZONE ICE OLD END EVEN
--- --- --- --- --- --- ---
+RAIN -INNER +END +LOWER -RAIN +INNER +RAIN
+RAIN +OTHER -UPPER -LOWER
-RAIN -RAIN
This seems like it might yield something more interesting. I see a couple of recognizable phrases right away: END + RAIN + RAIN could refer to the nursery rhyme "Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day." ZONE + END + OTHER may refer to an endzone (American football) and the Twilight Zone.
Alternately, we could treat the horseshoe stones as denoting letters instead of words.
END RAIN ZONE ICE OLD END EVEN
--- --- --- --- --- --- ---
+L -N +D +O -H +N +H
+L +K -G -O
-H -H
Make of it what you will. I don't really make much of anything.
Or we could start at the lintel and move around the circle according to the numbers.
4. END 8. RAIN
------------- -------------
+12 = 16. HAT -14 = 24. AUNT
+12 = 28. HORN
2. ZONE
-------------
+4 = 6. PEN
+11 = 17. PINE
26. ICE
-------------
+15 = 11. OTHER
20. OLD 9. END
------------- -------------
-8 = 12. RAIN +14 = 23. OTHER
-7 = 5. RIDGE
-8 = 27. OWL
29. EVEN
-------------
+8 = 7. UPPER
+15 = 22. END
-8 = 14. INNER
*shrug*
This turns out to be the right path, but only reveals half the answer, so working from here, I can see that none of the stones repeat. Taking the leftover numbers, we are left with:
{1, 3, 10, 13, 15, 18, 19, 21, 25, 30} which correspond to ONE LORE END OUTER LOWER ODD HOUSE RED EARTH END
The alien creatures have 3 eyestalks and 4 arms. It's not that likely, but it's worth mentioning that these could also refer to actual English terms -- "third eye" and "forearm".
In the image below, I've noted the approximate center lines (in teal), drawn lines from the center through each of the standing candlesticks (in green), and connected each of the "END" stones in a pentagon (in magenta). It's worth noting that the shape created by the candlesticks plus the uppermost center line which runs through the candlestick laying down is approximately symmetrical. It could be meant to indicate an arrow pointing at the starting stone ONE, in case we hadn't already figured that out.
