Stonehenge World

Stonehenge stands out as our most significant prehistoric monument and ranks among the greatest in the world. But what do we really know of the people who built it? What kind of world did they inhabit, and what were their lives like?

The Stonehenge World brings together information and illustrations concerning all aspects of life, culture and the environment at the time when Stonehenge was being built and during its main period of use. For each facet of the world around Stonehenge, specialists have contributed individual or co-authored chapters which summarise the current state of knowledge, bringing their expertise to bear in helping understand what people saw, what materials they used, their animals, their clothes, their lifestyles and their environment. The aim is to use clear, non-technical, but fully-referenced writing, so that the actual evidence is at the forefront, but readers can study the original publications if they want to.

The Stonehenge World offers a wide view of the culture and environment in a way which is usually only found in exhibitions. Prehistory books often have excellent illustrations of artefacts but rarely deal with daily life, landscape, economy, houses, plants and animals.

Matthew Canti is Senior Geoarchaeologist at Historic England.