With all of the archaeological activity at Stonehenge these days, it’s only fitting that we visit it next via Google Earth.
One of the things I like so much about Google Earth is that it gives us the Big Picture — especially from an archaeological perspective. I’ve read news articles about sites being discovered by people using Google Earth to look at their homes and land. It really is amazing what can be preserved over time — not to mention how perception shifts with perspective. An important lesson on many levels, no?
At any rate, the above image clearly shows the big picture of Stonehenge, and if you look hard enough both within the earthwork ditch around the stone circle and at 3:00 and 7:00 in the surrounding landscape, you can clearly see other, smaller earthworks — most likely the burial mounds of important persons. These are just a few of those associated with Stonehenge.
Someone rendered an interactive 3D model of a restored Stonehenge (so far as they understand it at the moment) which is superimposed upon the satellite imagery of Google Earth when you have the 3D Buildings option toggled. Having been in the middle of the stones in RL, this was an especially illuminating feature for me, and I do encourage you to check it out for yourself; it really does give you a nice sense of scope as well as insight into the spacial relationships of the stones.
Finally, here is the best resolution close-up available; it may be fuzzy, but just a year or two ago, you couldn’t even see this closely on Google Earth. All of the broken megaliths make me melancholy when you consider Stonehenge’s former grandeur, but it is comforting to know that English Heritage has been working hard to balance being protective of the site with allowing limited access for those who yearn to touch the stones and stand in their shadows. I hope that visitors remember to treat this incredible site with the respect and reverence it deserves — unlike the recent desecration of several stone circles in the UK, the graffiti on the tower of Glastonbury Tor, and the souvenir-seeker who defaced one of the Easter Island Moai.