Quiz on Stonehenge

In which country would you find the ancient monument Stonehenge?

• England ✓ (Correct answer)
• Scotland
• Wales
• Ireland

Source: Stonehenge sits in southern England, the most famous prehistoric monument in all of Europe.

How is Stonehenge best described?

• Burial mound
• Stone circle ✓ (Correct answer)
• Roman fort
• Castle keep

Source: It's a prehistoric ring of standing stones, raised long before written history reached Britain.

Crowds gather at Stonehenge to watch sunrise on the longest day of the year — what is it called?

• Winter solstice
• Spring equinox
• Summer solstice ✓ (Correct answer)
• Harvest day

Source: Around 8,000 people gather at dawn on the summer solstice to watch the sun rise over the stones.

Roughly how old is Stonehenge?

• About 500 years
• About 1,000 years
• About 5,000 years ✓ (Correct answer)
• About 50,000 years

Source: Work began around 5,000 years ago — the earliest Stonehenge predates the Egyptian pyramids of Giza.

The upright stones at Stonehenge are capped by horizontal stones known as what?

• Lintels ✓ (Correct answer)
• Beams
• Capstones
• Arches

Source: Those horizontal capping stones are called lintels, balanced high above the ground for millennia.

Which group is linked to Stonehenge in popular myth, despite appearing long after it was built?

• Romans
• Druids ✓ (Correct answer)
• Vikings
• Saxons

Source: Druids fill the popular imagination, but they appeared over a thousand years after Stonehenge was raised.

What international protected status does Stonehenge hold?

• National Park
• New Seven Wonders
• Biosphere Reserve
• UNESCO World Heritage Site ✓ (Correct answer)

Source: Stonehenge became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986, recognised for its global cultural value.

Stonehenge stands on a wide chalk grassland in Wiltshire known as what?

• Bodmin Moor
• Dartmoor
• Yorkshire Moors
• Salisbury Plain ✓ (Correct answer)

Source: Stonehenge dominates Salisbury Plain, a vast open chalk grassland in the county of Wiltshire.

Which organisation looks after the Stonehenge monument today?

• National Trust
• English Heritage ✓ (Correct answer)
• Historic Scotland
• The Crown Estate

Source: English Heritage runs the monument itself, while the National Trust cares for the surrounding landscape.

What are the smaller stones of Stonehenge commonly called?

• Greystones
• Whitestones
• Bluestones ✓ (Correct answer)
• Redstones

Source: The smaller bluestones get their name from the bluish tinge they show when wet or freshly broken.

Stonehenge also aligns with the sunset on the shortest day of the year — what is that day?

• Spring equinox
• Harvest moon
• Winter solstice ✓ (Correct answer)
• New Year

Source: Stonehenge frames the midwinter sunset — many think this, not summer, was the builders' main focus.

Which legendary figure did medieval writers credit with raising Stonehenge by magic?

• King Arthur
• Merlin ✓ (Correct answer)
• Robin Hood
• Saint George

Source: Geoffrey of Monmouth claimed the wizard Merlin magically moved the stones into place.

In the comedy This Is Spinal Tap, the band's Stonehenge stage prop goes wrong because it is...

• Far too small ✓ (Correct answer)
• Far too tall
• Facing the wrong way
• Missing a stone

Source: The prop was ordered in inches instead of feet — a tiny Stonehenge dwarfed by the dancers around it.

Over roughly how long was Stonehenge built and rebuilt across several phases?

• About 10 years
• Over 1,000 years ✓ (Correct answer)
• About 100 years
• Over 100,000 years

Source: Stonehenge wasn't built in a day — it evolved over roughly 1,500 years across many phases.

Stonehenge's stones are joined together using techniques borrowed from which craft?

• Pottery
• Weaving
• Blacksmithing
• Woodworking ✓ (Correct answer)

Source: The stones are locked together with mortise-and-tenon joints borrowed straight from woodworking.

The name 'Stonehenge' is thought to originally mean roughly what?

• Sacred ring
• Giants' dance
• Sun temple
• Hanging stones ✓ (Correct answer)

Source: The name likely comes from Old English for 'hanging stones', describing the raised lintels.

A 2024 study traced Stonehenge's Altar Stone to which surprising place?

• Cornwall
• Egypt
• Scotland ✓ (Correct answer)
• Iceland

Source: A 2024 study traced the Altar Stone to northeast Scotland — about 700 km away, stunning archaeologists.

A pair of standing stones topped by a single horizontal one is called a what?

• Trilithon ✓ (Correct answer)
• Dolmen
• Cromlech
• Menhir

Source: A trilithon is two uprights plus a connecting stone on top — from the Greek for 'three stones'.

What is the name of the ring of 56 ancient pits found inside Stonehenge?

• Stukeley Rings
• Aubrey Holes ✓ (Correct answer)
• Newton Pits
• Camden Holes

Source: The 56 Aubrey Holes are named after John Aubrey, who first noted them back in the 1600s.

In 2020, Stonehenge's giant sarsen stones were traced to which nearby area?

• Preseli Hills
• Lake District
• Cheddar Gorge
• West Woods ✓ (Correct answer)

Source: In 2020, geochemistry traced the giant sarsens to West Woods, about 25 km north of the site.