Still being debated, as the builders / designers / users are no longer with us. Theories include - a Temple; a gathering place for Druid rituals.. etc etc Some usefull information is available at :- http://www.britannia.com/history/h7.html

A huge scam. It was a longterm investment. It was planned from the start to be fenced in and make people pay for it thousands of years later.

Healing Archaeologists carrying out an excavation at Stonehenge say they have broken through to a layer that may finally explain why the site was built. The team has reached sockets that once held bluestones - smaller stones, most now missing or uprooted, which formed the site's original structure. The researchers believe that the bluestones could reveal that Stonehenge was once a place of healing. source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7337292.stm

There is no way to know for sure. The most likely explanation, though, is some sort of calender or a way to track the constellations.

There are a lot of theories, but last I heard, none could be proven. I've always liked Eddie Izzard's theory, myself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiFq_nk8pE0&feature=related

Wiki has its own Stonehenge theory page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theories_about_Stonehenge Few people look at the evidence for themselves, when questions about Stonehenge are raised we simply get people repeating the same old theories, despite what people believe, none and I do mean none, are proven. Start with facts not ‘beliefs’ and make up your own mind. The real problem is that the facts have been clouded by years of nonsensical speculation.

Wiki has its own Stonehenge theory page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theories_about_Stonehenge Few people look at the evidence for themselves, when questions about Stonehenge are raised we simply get people repeating the same old theories, despite what people believe, none and I do mean none, are proven. Start with facts not ‘beliefs’ and make up your own mind. The real problem is that the facts have been clouded by years of nonsensical speculation.

Wiki has its own Stonehenge theory page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theories_about_Stonehenge But quite right, not one ‘Stonehenge Theory’ can be shown to be correct or even in many cases be supported at all by the archaeological evidence, that’s the nature of theories. It’s hard to untangle the real facts from all the endlessly repeated opinions. Why was it built, that’s difficult, a question of ‘motive’, ‘how’ is a little easier. There is a small bridge to be explored between the questions of ‘how and why’, in other words if can get a glimpse inside the ‘mindset’ behind how it was designed we move a little closer to understanding Stonehenge. Archaeologists have begun to explore this dimension by going over all the evidence, but we won’t ever uncover the cosmology that inspired the construction. Anyone who claims to know ‘why’ Stonehenge was built simply does not understand the nature of the evidence, just smile politely and say ‘thank you’.

1) "Investigations over the last 100 years have revealed that Stonehenge was built in several stages from 2800 - 1800 BC. It seems to have been designed to allow for observation of astronomical phenomena - summer and winter solstices, eclipses, and more." Source and further information: http://www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/Stonehenge/ 2) "Already in the 18th century the British antiquarian William Stukeley had noticed that the horseshoe of great trilithons and the horseshoe of 19 bluestones at Stonehenge opened up in the direction of the midsummer sunrise. It was quickly surmised that the monument must have been deliberately oriented and planned so that on midsummer's morning the sun rose directly over the Heel Stone and the first rays shone into the centre of the monument between the open arms of the horseshoe arrangement." "Contrary to expectations, the great stone circles and horseshoe arrangements for which Stonehenge is famous are later additions to the monument (mostly Stonehenge III) and are not essential to the lunar and solar calculations. Today Stonehenge I is barely noticed by visitors." Source and further information: http://witcombe.sbc.edu/earthmysteries/EMStonehengeD.html 3) "(1) To commence, Stonehenge, Avebury and the other stone monuments of Western Europe were built over 4 millennia ago in an era when Neolithic farmers believed in an Earth Mother and a Sky Father. With this knowledge, scholars in ancient religions, proficient in the interpretation of archaic artforms, see that the ordered stones of Stonehenge could constitute an open-sky temple implicitly dedicated to the worship of the Earth Mother. This is because the monument is heavy with feminine symbolism. Above all, the several concentric circles and the U-settings appear to represent the womb of the Earth Mother while the middle trilithon arch in the outer circle is her vulva (refer to the plan of Stonehenge given on the previous Stonehenge Building web page). Hence, it seems that a major purpose of the 35 narrow arches (30 in the outer circle, 5 in the inner great trilithons) is to emphasise still more the femininity of the monument; and that as with Hindu temples throughout the world the object of the cult is placed in the womb of the temple at its focal point. At Stonehenge the Cult Stone has been inaptly called (since the 17th century) the Altar Stone. It is the biggest of the Welsh stones and, when freshly scraped and wetted, glistens in the sunshine because of its myriads of mica mirrors. (2) Next, the axis of the monument is directed at the rising sun on midsummer's day. It is only on midsummer morning that the rising sun penetrates the middle-arch of the womb to illuminate the internal Goddess Stone with its radiant energy. Watchers would see the stone sparkling in the reflected light of the Sky God, serving here in his role of the Sun. This constituted a dramatic spectacle in which the actual Marriage and Consummation of the Gods was witnessed. Hence the inferred Creation Myth of the Stonehenge and Avebury Peoples is that Earth Mother and Sky Father came together to beget the world, and that the midsummer spectacle was the anniversary and dramatic re-enactment of the primordial event. In other words, the ongoing fertility myth could be that by their annual mating God and Goddess guaranteed the success, the safety and the fertility of the people's uncertain world which was forever at risk from sterility, weather, disease and wild animals. It may reasonably be conjectured that it was much the same at other stone circles throughout the British Isles---wherein the simple circle is also a womb or genital shrine to the Earth Mother---but that Stonehenge and Avebury in England, Maeshowe in Scotland, and Newgrange and Knowth in Ireland were the pinnnacles of the builders' achievements in expressing in stone and light the concept of the Marriage of the Gods, a belief that was certainly widespread throughout the Ancient World in one form or another." Source and further information: http://www.stonehenge-avebury.net/stnhngmog.html 4) "Stonehenge was produced by a culture with no written language, and at great historical remove from the first cultures that did leave written records. Many aspects of Stonehenge remain subject to debate. This multiplicity of theories, some of them very colourful, is often called the "mystery of Stonehenge." There is little or no direct evidence for the construction techniques used by the Stonehenge builders. Over the years, various authors have suggested that supernatural or anachronistic methods were used, usually asserting that the stones were impossible to move otherwise. However, conventional techniques using Neolithic technology have been demonstrably effective at moving and placing stones this size. Proposed functions for the site include usage as an astronomical observatory, or as a religious site. Other theories have advanced supernatural or symbolic explanations for the construction." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge#Function_and_construction Further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theories_about_Stonehenge