To many people, the mention of a period of culture, such as the Early Bronze Age, may not convey very much. To give a date in years, on the other hand, is not always easy. The march of culture in those days was slow, and the gradation from the use of one material to another very prolonged, often reaching into centuries. Consequently any date must only be approximate and given under great reserve. The late Sir John Evans has suggested that the Bronze Age in this country might be set at 1400 B.C. Continental authorities set the age for countries in Europe somewhat earlier, at about 2000 B.C. This is a perfectly natural conclusion, for it is an ascertained fact that the flow of civilisation was from East to West, as has always been the case, and that, therefore, it is only to be expected that the Bronze Age of the Continent would ante-date that of England by some centuries.
But, it is obvious from our present knowledge of Stonehenge that the Bronze Age was hardly established in the sense as used by Sir John Evans. Probably at the time of the building of Stonehenge bronze was only known as a rare substance, whose very scarcity would make it valuable as material for ornaments. It would not, therefore, be inconsistent with existing evidence to set the date of Stonehenge roughly at from 1700-1800 years B.C.
WHAT WAS STONEHENGE?[ToC]
The Megalithic Stone structures, which exist not only in this country but also throughout the Continent of Europe, are a special feature of that period known as the Neolithic Age. As has already been shown, Stonehenge represents a very late type, erected at a time when the bronze culture had begun to overlap that of polished stone (Neolithic).
These stone structures can be roughly divided into three classes.
1. Single upright stones, or menhirs (Celtic = "high stone"), which may be commemorative of some great event or personage.
2. Dolmens (Celtic = "table stone"), in which a stone slab is set table-wise on three or four uprights.