Stonehenge is a beautiful place with a ton of historical background, giving it the right to be one of the more famous Seven Wonders of the World. Being one of the Wonders sure gets Stonehenge a lot of tourists and while humans certainly can contribute to Stonehenge in many bad ways, such as erosion, I think humans have a lot to do with how popular and significant it’s become in the long run through science and theory. If we’re discussing how Stonehenge was made, there has been a lot of folk-tale revolving that particular topic because of how long ago they started building it, and how it has changed and progressed. I believe this mystery certainly would be compelling to scientists though. So because of the curiosity revolving this famous landmark, scientists worldwide have been trying to uncover Stonehenge bit by bit, including one important man named Gerald Hawkins.

            Even though it is hard to depict whoever or ‘whatever’ made or put Stonehenge together, we can understand the basics. Humans were responsible for the formation of Stonehenge, but it was not all done in one big go, it was done piece by piece using sandstone. This was formed by compressing sand and forming it into a rock. This caused improvement over thousands of years starting at 3000 BCE. The construction of this massive landmark called for three phases and more than thirty million hours of labor.

            Why would they build this massive Stonehenge if it took that much work? Well, it is a burial ground or memorial ground, being used to remember the deceased, though eventually it is believed to have meant to be a computer type device used for (History.com)   astronomical purposes. As opposed to us and information we have gathered to this day, the medieval humans didn’t have quite as much knowledge as we do now. As a result, they would make of fictional stories based off of gods or magical beings. One example of this happening was when 12th-century writer Geoffrey of Monmouth came up with a brilliant theory. In this theory, Stonehenge was built by Merlin, the wizard. The general idea of the tale focused on how people were killed, and how others wanted to erect a memorial to remember them so they went to get a stone circle called ‘The Giant's’ Ring” which had been built with magical African bluestones. Merlin then follows them up by arranging the stones after the British fail to be able to. It is even said in this time that Ambrosias and his brother Uther, King Arthur’s father, are buried there as well (Stonehenge).

            Gerald Hawkins was an excellent scientist who did research on Stonehenge, the catch was, he didn’t have quite the same view of it as everybody else. Gerald suggested that the stones at Stonehenge were meant to be astronomical, like a calendar. The different points were corresponding with astronomical phenomenons such as solstices, equinoxes and eclipses. The reason he was so intrigued by Stonehenge (theguardian.com) was because when he was a professor of physics and astronomy he had returned to Salisbury Plain to film the sun rise over Heel Stone at Stonehenge. His assistants then plotted all of the stones and pits for him so he’d be able to decode Stonehenge. Gerald figured that Stonehenge was a neolithic observatory for predicting eclipses. Even though Gerald had a good argument up his sleeve he was cast out by other scientists. The others depicted him as overconfident for figuring that a landmark developed piecemeal over centuries was meant to somehow relate to modern technology. Though he was an outcast, Gerald still ended up changing the way we think of Stonehenge with his works “Beyond Stonehenge” and “Stonehenge - Earth and Sky” and inspired archaeo-astronomy, which is the investigation of how understood astronomical phenomenons were by ancient cultures. Nowadays though, studies still have not done much more than support little solar and lunar alignments, and does not prove to absolutely have computer functions, though even then, Stonehenge is now known as an observatory and computer by some (Pitts).

            Humans impact our earth every single day, it doesn't matter if it is the slightest thing like a breath or driving your car to work. The earth takes the beating from its inhabitants, though it isn’t as if we do not take a beating from it, also. We play a big part in erosion and pollution. Therefore, Stonehenge is no exception and, we have to conserve it or else it will eventually fall apart. In an effort to prevent it from falling apart, Stonehenge has had several restorations over the years, even having some boulders set in concrete to prevent future collapse. We have to be careful of around global landmarks an example could be plants messing up with Stonehenge because they could disturb how the stone is set in the ground or could widen cracks along the outside. Also, animals may mess around with the monuments and scratch or damage them. Ice wedging will also mess up the rocks and widen cracks along the surface that could not be good (Stonehenge).  Another thing that really impacts Stonehenge’s durability is climate change, because if it gets too hot or too cold, especially when it goes from really hot to really cold in a speedy manner, it could damage the rocks and ecosystem that surrounds it. Climate change and pollution also impact weather, one example is acid, which rain bites away at the stones.  Yet another factor of the excessive erosion is humans. At Stonehenge, they allow tourists everywhere else but the inner circle in order to conserve it, but you can go and touch everything else around that (Pitts).

            Being one of the Wonders, Stonehenge has lot of tourists who can mess up with the ecosystems and animal life around it. Humans have a lot to do with how famous it has gotten within the past few hundred years through Gerald and many other scientists. The mystery of how this amazing landmark was made seems like it wants to be kept in secrecy, though scientists will work hard to uncover it. Gerald Hawkins, the scientist who has researched a lot of Stonehenge has contributed a lot to his studies in order to help us understand. Stonehenge is a very beautiful place with a good reputation, giving it the right to be one of the more famous Seven Wonders of the World.