James Trefil

Constructed over a twelve—hundred—year period between 3000 B.C. and 1800 B.C., Stonehenge is one of the most enigmatic monuments ever built. That the structure was built at all is, at the very least, a testimony to the dedication of an unknown group of ancient peoples. Its stunning alignment with astronomical phenomena, discovered by astronomer Gerald S. Hawkins in 1963, has made Stonehenge an even greater mystery than it already was. Some even argue that an ancient human civilization could not have possibly built anything of such architectural and astronomical sophistication- that it must have been the work of extraterrestrials or other unknown forces.

James Trefil, Clarence J. Robinson Professor of Physics at George Mason University and author of twenty—one books covering a variety of...