Which Neolithic monument built around 3000-2100 BC is famous for mortise and tenon joinery and over 900 stone circles?

Which Neolithic monument built around 3000-2100 BC is famous for mortise and tenon joinery and over 900 stone circles?

• A. Stonehenge
• B. Newgrange
• C. Avebury
• D. Skara Brae

Answer: (A)

Mortise-and-tenon joinery in megalithic architecture is the key idea here. Stonehenge is famous for its lintels—horizontal stones—that sit atop vertical stones using mortise-and-tenon joints, a sophisticated technique that locks the stones in place without mortar and reflects advanced stone-working and planning. It also sits within a broader landscape of stone circles, with estimates of around nine hundred such circles across Britain, making Stonehenge the most iconic example of this tradition. The dating fits the broad window given, around 3000–2100 BC, spanning its early construction phases to later stonework. The other sites differ in emphasis: Newgrange is a solitary passage tomb rather than a circular stone structure with lintels; Avebury does feature a large circle but is not as tightly associated with the distinctive mortise-and-tenon lintel construction; Skara Brae is a domestic settlement rather than a monumental stone-circle monument. So the monument described is Stonehenge.

Mortise-and-tenon joinery in megalithic architecture is the key idea here. Stonehenge is famous for its lintels—horizontal stones—that sit atop vertical stones using mortise-and-tenon joints, a sophisticated technique that locks the stones in place without mortar and reflects advanced stone-working and planning. It also sits within a broader landscape of stone circles, with estimates of around nine hundred such circles across Britain, making Stonehenge the most iconic example of this tradition. The dating fits the broad window given, around 3000–2100 BC, spanning its early construction phases to later stonework. The other sites differ in emphasis: Newgrange is a solitary passage tomb rather than a circular stone structure with lintels; Avebury does feature a large circle but is not as tightly associated with the distinctive mortise-and-tenon lintel construction; Skara Brae is a domestic settlement rather than a monumental stone-circle monument. So the monument described is Stonehenge.