British archaeologists believe they have identified the origins of the 5,000-year-old prehistoric Stonehenge ruins.
A team of scientists, led by Mike Parker Pearson of University College London, reported in the Antiquity newspaper on Friday that they dug up a stone circle in Preseli Hills in Wales that they believe was dismantled and moved 175 miles to Salisbury Plain and reconfigured as Stonehenge.
MYSTERIOUS MONOLITE APPEARS NEAR THE TURKISH WORLD HERITAGE WEBSITE
The “Waun Mawn” website – previously overlooked over the years – was found with only four large blue stones remaining arranged in an arch. Pearson and his researchers found evidence of six additional holes that originally contained a stone in 2018, giving rise to the theory that people caught them during the migration.
By measuring the diameter of the circular ditch at Waun Mawn, the group found that the ditches around both sites shared identical diameters about 360 feet wide.
In this archive photo for Tuesday, December 17, 2013, visitors take photos of the world heritage site of Stonehenge, England.
(AP Photo / Alastair Grant, Archives)
Waun Mawn – which appears to be Britain’s third largest stone circle – and Stonehenge are the only two Neolithic monuments in Britain that conform to these specifications and the examination of coal and sediment inside the holes suggested that the creation of Waun Mawn could be traced back to around 3,400 BC
In addition, the dimensions of the 43 blue stones at Stonehenge – many of which are buried – correspond to the dimensions of the four at Waun Mawn and are the same type of rock as three of them.
One of the blue stones at Stonehenge also has a cross section that corresponds to one of the gaps in Waun Mawn.
To further prove their connection, Pearson found that the entrance to both circles was aligned towards the summer solstice sunrise – although the circle’s intended purpose remains shrouded in mystery.
Stonehenge was built in phases starting around 3000 BC
The Wiltshire County Monument was built with the newest and largest sarsen sandstones and blue stones.
Previous research in recent decades has shown that, while sarsen stones were brought in from just 15 miles away in Marlborough, bluestone pillars were mined from the Preseli hills.
In 2019, Pearson and his team provided evidence of the location of two of the bluestone quarries, which led them to examine Waun Mawn again.
Scientific analysis of human remains at Stonehenge indicated that some of them may have come from Wales, and further excavations are planned to try to understand more.
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Pearson hypothesized that Stonehenge was made to commemorate the ancestors of those who built it and that Stonehenge’s first stage may have served to unite the people of southern Britain.
“Perhaps most people have migrated, taking their stones – their ancestral identities – with them, to start again in this other special place,” he said in a press release. “This extraordinary event may also have served to unite the peoples of the east and west of Great Britain.”