The origin of Stonehenge, the 5,000-year-old prehistoric monument located on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, UK, has puzzled archaeologists for centuries.
Now, 5,000 years after it was built, according to a CNN report, archaeologists have solved the mystery surrounding the blue stones that make up the monument – where they came from and how they were unearthed.
CNN reported that in 2019, researchers revealed that the 43 huge blue stones were moved to their current location, from their original location – “an old quarry on the north side of the Preseli hills in western Wales” – “an impressive distance of 150 miles.
Now, archaeologists think that before their arrival at the current site, some of the blue stones “formed another stone circle near the same quarry area”, were dismantled and then “rebuilt as part of Stonehenge on the Salisbury plain, ”The report said.
CNN cites new research published in the Antiquity newspaper, which states that “the identical 110-meter diameters of the stone circle, known as Waun Mawn, and the Stonehenge ditch, suggest that at least part of the circle was brought from its location in the Wales to Salisbury Plain. “
And there is more evidence. The newspaper added that “both stone circles are aligned at the sunrise of the summer solstice, and one of the blue stones at Stonehenge has an unusual cross section that corresponds to one of the holes left in Waun Mawn”, adding that “splinters in that hole are the same type of rock as Stonehenge stone. ”
Stonehenge comprises two types of stone: “larger sarsen stones and smaller bluestone monoliths”, although “many of the 43 blue stones remain buried under the grass,” said CNN.
The blue stone is believed to be the first erected at Stonehenge 5,000 years ago, CNN said, “centuries before the largest sarsen stones were brought just 15 miles from the monument.”
CNN noted that the research project The Stones of Stonehenge is led by Mike Parker Pearson, a professor at University College London.
CNN cited a statement, which said that “the discovery of the dismantled stone circle at Waun Mawn came by trial and error”.
The study said that “only four stones were visible” at the Waun Mawn site and in 2010 it was thought that “they were part of a circle of stones”, but as the initial geophysical studies were not conclusive, “the team decided to concentrate your energies elsewhere. ”
Two empty stone holes were found during an experimental excavation at the site in 2017, but as ground radar surveys have not yet been successful, the team was left with “no choice but to do it the old-fashioned way and dig,” CNN quoted.
The study said that “the excavations in 2018 revealed empty stone holes, confirming that the remaining four stones were part of an old circle,” CNN quoted.
It was discovered that the Waun Mawn stone circle was erected around 3400 BC, based on “dating coal and sediment in the holes,” the study said.
The newspaper also suggested that “the stones may have been moved as people migrated from that part of the Wales, with the first people to be buried at Stonehenge, is believed to have probably lived in this region. “
CNN quoted Parker Pearson, who said in a press release: “My guess is that Waun Mawn was not the only stone circle that contributed to Stonehenge.”
He added: “There may be more in Preseli waiting to be found. Who knows? Someone will be lucky to find them. “
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