Stonehenge replicas and derivatives

This is a list of Stonehenge replicas and derivatives that seeks to collect all the non-ephemeral examples together. The fame of the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge has led to numerous efforts to recreate it, using a variety of different materials, around the world. Some have been carefully built as astronomically-aligned models whilst others have been examples of artistic expression and/or tourist attractions.

Astronomically-aligned replicas

Maryhill's full-size replica of Stonehenge
  • The Maryhill Stonehenge: A full-size concrete replica of Stonehenge, as it would have been originally built, saw construction commence and was originally dedicated on July 4, 1918. Built in Maryhill, Washington by Sam Hill, it was the first monument in the United States to honor the dead of World War I (specifically, soldiers from Klickitat County, Washington who had died in the still on-going war). The altar stone is placed to be aligned with sunrise on the Summer Solstice. Hill, a Quaker pacifist, was mistakenly informed that the original Stonehenge had been used as a sacrificial site, and thus constructed the replica as a reminder that humanity is still being sacrificed to the god of war. The monument was originally located in the center of Maryhill, which later burned down leaving only the Stonehenge replica. A second formal dedication of the monument took place upon its completion on May 30, 1929. Sam Hill, who died in 1931, lived long enough to see his Stonehenge completed.[1]
Stonehenge replica on campus of the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in Odessa
  • A Stonehenge replica is located on the campus of the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in Odessa in Ector County, Texas. About twenty stone blocks, similar in size, shape, and appearance to the ancient Stonehenge in southwestern England, were unveiled in the summer of 2004.
  • Stonehenge Aotearoa in the Wairarapa region of New Zealand is a modern adaptation aligned with the astronomy seen from the Antipodes, it was built by the Phoenix Astronomical Society from wood and sprayed concrete.[2]
  • Foamhenge is a full-size, astronomically-aligned Stonehenge made out of foam near Natural Bridge, Virginia.[3] "It is the only American Stonehenge that really is an exact replica of the time-worn original." "I went to great pains to shape each 'stone' to its original shape."[4]
  • British Foamhenge; a full size, correctly aligned replica made from carpet tubes and polystyrene was constructed for a UK TV show entitled "Stonehenge Live" broadcast in June 2005. The positions of each stone were accurately plotted using RTK GPS, which has centimetric accuracy. The replica quickly became known as "Foamhenge". It was removed soon after filming, and the 'stones' remain in storage (January 2006).
  • Missouri S&T has a half-scale replica built from solid granite located on campus.[5]
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Less accurate replicas

  • Carhenge was constructed from vintage American cars near Alliance, Nebraska by the artist Jim Reinders in 1987.[6]
  • Bavarian Strawhenge; a full-size replica was assembled in Kemnath in Bavaria in 2003 from 350 bales of straw and used as a music venue.[7]
  • Canadian Strawhenge is in Ontario[8]
  • Phonehenge is made of old-fashioned British telephone booths and is located at Freestyle Music Park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
  • Phonehenge West was an unrelated folk art construction in Los Angeles County, California, eventually demolished by authorities for building code violations.
  • In the late 1970s, in Glasgow, an astronomically aligned stone circle has been built in Sighthill Park.[9][10][11]
  • Mudhenge was erected for the 1996 Burning Man Festival.[12]
  • Twinkiehenge, another Burning Man replica, constructed in 2001 out of Twinkies.[13]
  • Stonehenge II in Texas is constructed from a sand-like material.
  • Stroudhenge; East Stroudsburg University, in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, has a small replica located on its campus called "Stroudhenge".
  • Mystical Horizons, located near Carbury, North Dakota, consists of six granite walls of varying heights that are intended to represent a 21st century design. It functions as a working solar calendar. It was built in 2005.
  • Tankhenge existed in the border zone of Berlin in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Wall. Tankhenge was constructed from three ex-Soviet armoured personnel carriers.
  • Stonehenge microstructure; scientists from the National University of Singapore created the smallest 3D replica of Stonehenge. Measuring only 80 micrometres in diameter, the Stonehenge microstructure was created by a process called silicon micromachining which uses a high-energy proton beam writer to produce 3-D microshapes and structures of high structural accuracy on the surface of materials such as silicon.[14]
  • Fridgehenge; another modern take on Stonehenge once existed outside of Sante Fe, New Mexico, constructed out of junked refrigerators, known as 'Fridgehenge'. The site was created by the artist Adam Jonas Horowitz.[15] The site no longer exists, all fridges have been removed after a complaint, confirmed on 5 August 2008.
  • In 1995, Graeme Caims of Hamilton, New Zealand, built a replica of Stonehenge out of 41 refrigerators.
  • At the 2007 Glastonbury Festival, graffiti artist Banksy constructed a "Stonehenge" made from portable toilets.
  • Achill-henge is a 2011 concrete structure on Achill Island, off the northwest coast of Ireland.
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Other replicas

Snowhenge - Standing 6.5 feet (2.0 m) tall and 30 feet (9.1 m) in diameter, consisting of nearly 1,000 cubic feet (28 m3) of packed snow.

The rock band Black Sabbath featured a Stonehenge stage set for the 1983-1984 Born Again tour that ended up being too large to fit in most venues. This was parodied in the movie This is Spinal Tap, when the band orders a Stonehenge set but it arrives in miniature due to a confusion between feet and inches. There was also a Chicago based heavy metal band named Stonehenge that actually owned the trademark to the name. Stonehenge met with underground success in the 1990s and 2000s performing with acts such as Pantera, Iced Earth, Trouble and Manowar.

In 1984, the artist Richard Fleischner constructed an abstract Stonehenge-like series of granite blocks at the University of California, San Diego as part of the Stuart Collection called The La Jolla Project, and is affectionately known as Stonehenge by students and faculty.

In 2005, British TV's history show Time Team created a replica of a timber circle located near Woodhenge as part of the Stonehenge Riverside Project.

In February 2010, Peter Salisbury, founder of the Michigan DRUIDS, created a 1/3 scale replica of Stonehenge at the MacKay Jaycees Family Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan appropriately named Snowhenge.[16]

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Comparable archaeological sites

Aside from modern replicas, several other archaeological sites have had Stonehenge's name partially or fully incorporated into their own names. America's Stonehenge is an unusual and controversial site in New Hampshire. A henge near Stonehenge containing concentric rings of postholes for standing timbers, discovered in 1922, was named Woodhenge by its excavators because of similarities with Stonehenge. The name Woodhenge is also used for the American site of Cahokia. The timber Seahenge in Norfolk was named as such by journalists writing about its discovery in 1998.

In November 2004, a 7 m diameter circle of postholes was found in Russia and publicised as the Russian Stonehenge. Other prehistoric sites elsewhere, often also with proposed astronomical alignments, are often described by journalists as being that region's '"answer to Stonehenge".

In May 2006, reports emerged of an "Amazon Stonehenge" Calçoene, 390 kilometres from Macapá, the capital of Amapá state, near Brazil's border with French Guyana. It comprises 127 stones, possibly forming astronomical observing points.[17]

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Other alignments

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Gallery

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Further reading

  • Burl, Aubrey (1976). The Stone Circles of the British Isles. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-02398-5. 
  • Burl, Aubrey, and Max Milligan (1999). Circles of Stone. The Harvill Press. ISBN 1-86046-661-3. 
  • Burl, Aubrey (2007). A Brief History of Stonehenge. London: Robinson. ISBN 978-1-84529-591-2. 
  • Mooney, J (2005). Encyclopedia of the Bizarre. Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers. ISBN 978-1-57912-482-3. 
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Last modified on 15 March 2013, at 03:12