A rare image reveals the secret to building the Stonehenge

Many of us grew up with Lego, the construction toy regularly inspires creativity in children and adults alike. But Lego may also have been proven to be the key to uncovering the techniques used in the building of the Stonehenge.

The rare photograph that has brought to light thisinteresting phenomenon was supposedly taken from a hot air balloon, The image shows the tops of the stone bricks, revealing the domes and indents that were used to lock the stones in place. Just like the way you stick lego blocks together.

Susan Greaney, a senior historian describes that the photograph highlights the skill of its constructors:

“One of the big questions is why Stonehenge was constructed with such precision engineering, It may well be simply that they wanted to make sure it lasted a very long time.”

Fun time is serious time

Most stone structures of the time were constructed mainly through balance, setting the stones upright against each other, but this Lego-like formation proves that the Stonehenge was much more sophisticated.The joins actually follow a mortise and tenon-like structure that is commonly used in carpentry. In the Stonehenge, the protruding domes act as the tenon while the concave circles are the mortise. Each tenon and mortise correspond so that when connected they produce a strong grip.

Stone bones

Greaney claims that there must have been a timber movement at the time of construction more than 4,000 years ago. “Our presumption is that there were similar timber monuments at the time of Stonehenge in which mortise and tenon joints were probably being used. The historian added:

“They don’t survive because they have rotted away. Stonehenge is the only one we have with this sort of working and shaping. It’s exactly like Lego. We sometimes say to our schoolchildren who visit that Stonehenge is just like Lego.”

Lego actually spotted the Stonehenge photo on Twitter and had a great response:

While Lego is actually more inspired by the works of carpenter Ole Kirk Kristiansen, the dutch company was still flattered in their comparison to the prehistoric monument. A spokesperson stated:

“As a company that aims to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow, it was something of a surprise to see us linked to prehistoric builders; but we were humbled to be mentioned by English Heritage in their tweet comparing the monuments’s stones with Lego bricks.”