Researchers: Stonehenge started as huge graveyard

[Mister D]

This makes a lot of sense.

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LONDON (AP) — British researchers have proposed a new theory for the origins of Stonehenge: It may have started as a giant burial ground for elite families around 3,000 B.C.


New studies of cremated human remains excavated from the site suggest that about 500 years before the Stonehenge we know today was built, a larger stone circle was erected at the same site as a community graveyard, researchers said Saturday.

Snip

Parker Pearson said archeologists studied the cremated bones of 63 individuals, and believed that they were buried around 3,000 B.C. The location of many of the cremated bodies was originally marked by bluestones, he said. That earlier circular enclosure, which measured around 300 feet (91 meters) across, could have been the burial ground for about 200 more people, Parker Pearson said.

http://news.yahoo.com/researchers-stonehenge-started-huge-graveyard-162627420.html

[Adelaide]

That's interesting, and makes a lot of sense.

[Peter1469]

I still think it was a star map for ETs. :grin:

[waltky]

Stonehenge: First residents from west Wales...
:huh:
Stonehenge: First residents from west Wales2 Aug.`18 - Researchers have shown that cremated humans at Stonehenge were from the same region of Wales as the stones used in construction.

The key question was to understand the geographic origin of the people buried at Stonehenge. The key innovation was finding that high temperatures of cremation can crystallise a skull, locking in the chemical signal of its origin. The findings have been published in the journal Scientific Reports. (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-28969-8.) The first long-term residents of Stonehenge, along with the first stones, arrived about 5,000 years ago.


Why does it matter?

While it is already known that the "bluestones" that were first used to build Stonehenge (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-43335118) were transported from 150 miles (240 km) away in modern-day Pembrokeshire, almost nothing is known about the people involved. The scientists' work shows that both people and materials were moving between the regions and that, for some of these people, the move was permanent.


https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/16008/production/_102802109_mediaitem102802107.jpg


When their lives ended, their cremated remains were placed under the ancient monument in what is now Wiltshire. Lead author Dr Christophe Snoeck compared the levels of different forms, or isotopes, of the element strontium against a national database to work out where the cremated individuals spent the last years of their lives.



​​

Strontium is present in many bedrocks. And different geographical areas have distinctive strontium signatures. So by matching the strontium "fingerprints" in human remains to the strontium profiles of different geographical regions, a person's place of origin can be roughly determined. Dr Snoeck, who is now an international expert in cremation following a PhD at the University of Oxford, said that "about 40% of the cremated individuals did not spend their later lives on the Wessex chalk where their remains were found."



Who were these people? (https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45046354)

[Lummy]

I once thought stonehenge was built by ancient sailors -- probably Mediterranean -- for rites celebrating the earth as round and having circumnavigated it. Sailing east from North America would put the ship in roughly the same area as Stonehenge when landing in Britain. I have not seen that idea expressed anywhere though.

Did you know that the diameter of Stonehenge is over 100 yards, and the stones are 30 feet tall? Doesn't look it. I just read that.