Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about 3.2 kilometres (2.0 mi) west of Amesbury and 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) north of Salisbury. Probably the most famous sites on the planet, Stonehenge consists of earthworks surrounding a circular setting of large standing stones. It's on the centre of the most dense advanced of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred burial mounds. Archaeologists have believed that the long-lasting stone monument was erected around 2500 BC, as described in the chronology below. One recent principle however, has prompt that the primary stones weren't erected until 2400-2200 BC while another means that bluestones could have been erected at the web site as early as 3000 BC The encompassing circular earth financial institution and ditch, which represent the earliest part of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. The site and its surroundings had been added to the UNESCO's listing of World Heritage Websites in 1986 in a co-itemizing with Avebury Henge monument. It is a nationwide legally protected Scheduled Historic Monument. Stonehenge is owned by the Crown and managed by English Heritage, while the encompassing land is owned by the Nationwide Trust. Archaeological evidence discovered by the Stonehenge Riverside Undertaking in 2008 indicates that Stonehenge served as a burial floor from its earliest beginnings. The courting of cremated stays discovered on the location point out burials from as early as 3000 BC, when the preliminary ditch admin1998aa14