It is speculated that around 3000 BC the earliest Stonehenge may have been a simple cemetery and place of worship, consisting of a mound and a circular trench. The trench was approximately 100 metres in diameter and was surrounded by 56 pits known as Aubrey Holes. Antler fragments and cattle bones found in these pits have confirmed the date of this phase by carbon-14 dating. At around 2600 BC. During this phase, bluestones began to be transported to this site from the Preseli Mountains in Wales, some 240 kilometres from Stonehenge. These bluestones were probably initially set in a number of Aubrey stone pits, forming a circular or double circular layout.

Between 2600 and 2400 BC, a phase that was the high point of Stonehenge’s construction, work began on a stone ring consisting of 30 upright sandstone monoliths with 30 beams above them, as well as five pairs of internal megalithic frames. These megaliths were brought in from about 32 kilometres from Stonehenge. At the same time, the bluestones were rearranged to form an inner ring and a horseshoe arrangement. This phase may also have included the construction of the 3-kilometre-long Stonehenge Avenue. Between 2400 BC and 2200 BC, during this phase, the bluestones were moved again to form a circle and a horseshoe arrangement, corresponding to the layout of the sandstone megaliths. Some of the bluestones may have been destroyed and some may have been moved out of Stonehenge.