Celebration was a vital part of building Stonehenge says English Heritage today as the charity suggests visitors abandon 21st century thinking to understand how the monument was built.

Following the discovery of feasting at the nearby Durrington Walls settlement, which attracted people from all over the country to help build Stonehenge, and reflecting the recent shift in archaeology which considers the processes of monument construction, rather than just the end result, English Heritage has looked again at theories about how the monument was built.

This, along with evidence from societies who have more recently practised moving enormous stones (such as on the islands of Sumba and Nias in Indonesia, and in north-eastern parts of India), leads archaeologists at the charity to conclude that the actual process of building Stonehenge may have been as important ceremonially as its final intended use.

The announcement comes as English Heritage hosts a weekend of experiential archaeology at Stonehenge, as part of a programme of events to celebrate 100 years since the monument was donated to the nation by Cecil and Mary Chubb. On Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th March, visitors, English Heritage members, local residents and volunteers will – for the first time at the site - be invited to take part in moving and raising a four tonne stone, similar in size and shape to the bluestones used in the monument itself.

English Heritage senior historian Susan Greaney explains: “In contemporary Western culture, we are always striving to make things as easy and quick as possible, but we believe that for the builders of Stonehenge this may not have been the case. Drawing a large number of people from far and wide to take part in the process of building was potentially a powerful tool in demonstrating the strength of the community to outsiders. Being able to welcome and reward these people who had travelled far, perhaps as a kind of pilgrimage, with ceremonial feasts, could be a further expression of the power and position of the community. There is ethnographic evidence which lends weight to this theory, with photos from 1915 taken during a stone pulling ceremony on Nias in Indonesia which show people in ceremonial dress revelling in the seemingly arduous task of moving enormous monoliths by hand, taking part in feasts and associated dances.” She continues: “As soon as you abandon modern preconceptions which assume Neolithic people would have sought the most efficient way of building Stonehenge, questions like why the bluestones were brought from so far away - the Preseli Hills of South Wales - don’t seem quite so perplexing.”

The event this weekend is designed to give visitors to Stonehenge the chance to consider these questions for themselves as they experience just what’s needed to move and raise these enormous stones. Using a system of rollers and ropes, groups of around 40 – 50 will be tasked with moving the stone along the ground before helping to erect it into a pre-dug hole. The experiment will be conducted throughout the day on Saturday 10th March and Sunday 11th March. On Tuesday 13th March, children from local schools will be taking the ropes.

Susan Greaney concludes: "There have been various experiments with moving stones in the past, but what’s so exciting about this project is that it gives everyday visitors the chance to step into the shoes of the people who brought the stones here and erected them thousands of years ago, and in the place where that happened. While the main purpose of the experiment is for people to have a go, it is also an opportunity to test how important group co-operation would have been, and we will be recording how the varying group composition affects the process of moving and raising the stone."