A STONEHENGE puzzle may finally be solved as scientists have revealed the “real” reason why a mysterious “altar” was built 5,000 years ago.
New research has suggested that the Wiltshire monument is “unique among over 900 stone circles in Britain” as its stones came from all over the country.
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Professor Mike Parker Pearson, lead author of the research, explained how the site may have been built to unify people across ancient Britain.
The research, published in Archaeology International, also pointed out how the 43 bluestones at Stonehenge came from 140 miles away in Wales.
People travelled from all over Britain with their pigs and cattle to feast at Durrington Walls, a large Neolithic settlement and later enclosure near Stonehenge, Professor Parker Pearson explained.
He added that almost half of those buried at the monument had lived somewhere other than the plateau where Stonehenge is sited.
Therefore, architectural and material culture similarities between the Stonehenge area and northern Scotland fit the pattern, he said.
In August, it was revealed that the six-tonne Altar Stone at Stonehenge travelled further to its resting place than first thought.
While it had previously been believed to come from Wales, like many of the stones at the ancient site, it in-fact originated in the far north east of Scotland.
The Alter Stone is the largest of the non-sarsen stones, and likely travelled at least 450 miles to reach its final resting place.
It is a whopping 50cm thick sandstone block measuring 5×1 metres, and scientists say it may have been placed within the central horseshoe of stones during the second construction phase at about 2620–2480 BC.
While analysing the age and chemistry of the mineral grains in the rock, researchers discovered that fragments of the Alter Stone matched with rocks from north east Scotland.
The rock composition was different to other Welsh bedrock that the researchers analysed.
The majority of Stonehenge’s bluestones came from the Preseli Hills area in west Wales and are believed to have been the first stones erected at the site.
In this new follow-up paper, researchers said the Altar Stone was brought by the Neolithic people of northern Scotland as either a gift or contribution to southerners.
They added: “[This was] perhaps to cement an alliance or to take part in the extraordinary long-distance collaboration that building Stonehenge represented and embodied.”
Similarly, the bluestones from the Preseli Hills could have been transported by people there as their own contribution as a “political unification” or a “sacred peace”.
Co-author Prof Richard Bevins, from Aberystwyth University, looked into the geology of identifying the sources of the bluestones and the Altar Stone.
What is Stonehenge?
What you need to know about Britain’s most mysterious monument…
- Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire
- It’s a ring of standing stones that measures up to 30 feet tall and is seven feet wide
- Each stone weighs roughly 25 tons
- Experts say that the monument was constructed between 3000 and 2000 BC
- In 1882, it was legally protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument
- And in 1986, the site and surroundings became a UNESCO World Heritage Site
- Stonehenge itself is owned by the Crown and managed by English Heritage
- But the land around Stonehenge is owned by the National Trust
- Part of what makes Stonehenge so mysterious is that it was produced by a culture with no written records
- Scientists regularly debate over how and why Stonehenge was built, and what it was used for
- One theory suggests Stonehenge was a sacred burial site
- Another proposes that it was used for celestial and astronomical alignments
- And some think it was an ancient place of healing
- It used to be believed that it was created as a Druid temple
- But we now know that Stonehenge predated the Druids by around 2000 years
He said the latter was similar in size and placement to the large, horizontal stones found in stone circles of the north east of Scotland, where it originated.
Since these forms of circle are only found in that particular region of Scotland, researchers believe there could have been close ties between the two areas.
While Welsh bluestones are believed to have arrived for the first construction of Stonehenge, the second one involved more contact between Britain and Europe.
This comes ahead of winter solstice celebrations at the site at sunrise on Saturday morning, which thousands are expected to attend.
The stones are a popular cultural and religious spot for when the Earth reaches quarterly markers in its orbit around the Sun, as the light aligns with the stone circle on these specific dates.
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