Some people believe the designers of Stonehenge wanted to make the best showing possible of sunlight on the longest day of the year. That day is known as the summer solstice. The designers also may have shaped stones to capture the sunset on the shortest day of the year -- the winter solstice.

The effect of the light passing through spaces between the stones has brought many people to the monument on those special days. Sometimes clouds cover the sun. But the people come anyway.

Researchers say Stonehenge’s ancient “architects” placed importance on what people could see from northeast of the monument. It is thought that travelers came toward the stone circle in that direction on a path from the Avon River. The pathway is one of Stonehenge’s two avenues.

The stones on the northeast side are the biggest and the most similar to each other on the monument. The southwestern part has smaller stones. The smaller ones are less alike and have not been improved like the others.

The placement of the stones raises many questions. For example, why did the builders of Stonehenge use and improve their best stones on that side? Did they think that was the most important part of the monument?

Tests with lasers also showed 71 images of axe heads. The images were carved into the stones. Researchers say the “artists” probably lived during the Early Bronze Age. That would have been about a thousand years after Neolithic people first worked on Stonehenge.