Stonehenge, the most famous Neolithic monument, had great significance to the ancient people of England. The monument, which is located on Salisbury Plain, was built and rebuilt many times from around 3200 BC to around 1650 BC. The stones used to build the monument weighed 25 to 50 tons each, in some cases the stones had to be dragged across the plain up to 20 miles away. (Marvin Perry,19) Stonehenge went through three main phases, the first of which occurred when the ancients created a chalk embankment and a ditch, within the embankment there were 56 wells. In the second phase, 82 blocks of blue stone were brought to the site, weighing approximately 4 tons each. Using blue stone the ancients traced a double circle on the bank and formed an avenue leading to the River Avon. The third phase involved the ancients removing the bluestone and replacing it with sandstone, weighing 25-50 tons each. (Stonehenge,1) The main reason Stonehenge was built by the ancient English was as a calendar because they needed a way to keep track of important dates. The ancient English did not have a formal calendar like today's society does. Because of this they had to rely on other ways to track time throughout the year. In this particular case the ancient English used Stonehenge for record keeping. “In 1964, American astronomer Gerald S. Hawkins reported his results by feeding measurements taken at Stonehenge into a computer along with astronomical information based on celestial positions in 1500 BC when Stonehenge was in use.” (Encarta, 1) Hawkins believed that ancient people were able to gather information about the sun and moon accurately. He believed that Stonehenge was used to predict the seasons by examining the position of the sun and moon relative to the earth. Stonehenge's axis points in the direction of sunrise at the summer and winter solstices, which is why some scientists believed that ancient people were able to predict solar and lunar eclipses from their position relative to the monument. The ancient English people had many religious beliefs that they followed and believed in. They probably also had religious holidays for which they held some sort of ceremony. Some people believe they used Stonehenge to determine what time of year it was and to figure out what religious ceremonies would take place.