Winter Solstice? There's an app for that - Stonehenge Experience lets you explore 3D site in peace



Pulling across screen lets you explore site in 3D

Can 'walk through' the fenced-off area around stones

Lets you 'dig up' relics such as the Amesbury Archer

Acoustic engineer recreated sounds of Stonehenge

On the Winter Solstice, the stones at Stonehenge align perfectly with the sun. 'Pagan' worshippers gathered this year - as they do every year - at Salisbury Plain to mark the occasion.

But those of us who missed it can explore Stonehenge in considerably more comfort - and detail - using a new iPhone and iPad app, the Stonehenge Experience.

The app not only lets users explore Stonehenge in 3D, but also lets you 'rub' the screen to reveal different layers of prehistoric artefacts from the site - and recreates the sounds of when Stonehenge was constructed.

The application offers virtual 3D 'tours' of the site - but also lets you 'dig through' layers of artefacts such as the gold breastplate found at the site

The application lets you explore around the site to give a sense of the prehistoric people that lived around it - with pictures and even sounds of the people who built Stonehenge

The site uses 3D digital 'models' so users can do things that visitors simply can't - such as excavating down through layers of the site to reveal artefacts such as a 'flesh hook' and a solid gold breast plate found at the site.

All the 3D views of the site can be controlled via pinching and zooming on screen to let you 'walk' through Stonehenge - without the fences that usually keep visitors far from the stones.

You can stand in the middle of the stones, and an 'acoustic model' also captures what it sounds like to stand there.



Rupter Till of Huddersfield University - who 'modelled' the sounds of the app, said,

'Creating the sound of Stonehenge as it was when it was first built was a really interesting challenge. When put together with the Ribui app it makes for an absorbing immersive experience and allows people to see and hear Stonehenge as it was five thousand years ago.'

The app lets you explore 'back in time' and unearth finds such as the Amesbury Archer, a Bronze Age man whose remains were unearthed at the site in 2008

The app also offers reconstructions of how the site was constructed, complete with sounds created by an acoustic engineeer

The app incorporates some of the latest archaeological findings, providing you with up to date explanations of the site’s purpose, based on respected academic theory.

The Stonehenge Experience works on the iPhone 3GS and later and the iPad.

Pinching and pulling on screen navigates you in 3D through Stonehenge



