henge monument

Prehistoric ritual enclosure distinguished by a ditch inside or, more usually, outside a circular bank. Most henges belong to the early Bronze Age, and some are found with megaliths: stone circles, alignments, and menhirs (single standing stones), forming the more complex ritual monuments associated with the use of megaliths, such as those found at Stonehenge and Avebury, Wiltshire, England.

Although little is known of the culture behind their construction, the centres were associated with the process of centralization in southern Britain and may have taken over from causewayed camps as regional centres for ritual activity. They probably had a religious function, possibly focusing on astronomical events. Their size and complexity imply a highly organized and intelligent society which could draw on considerable human resources. In Wessex, the causewayed camps from which henges may have evolved required 50,000 to 70,000 hours of labour, compared with an estimated 500,000 for large henges of the mid-3rd millennium.

Henge monuments were built in northwestern France, Britain, and Ireland; examples include Er-Lannic in Brittany, France; Dun Ruadh, Lios in Ireland; the Ring of Brodgar in Orkney; and Balforg in Scotland.