Scientists crack 5,000 year-old mystery as they unearth ‘true reason’ Stonehenge was built

20 December 2024, 08:17 | Updated: 20 December 2024, 08:19

Winter sun at the prehistoric megalithic stone circle at Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain.

Picture:
Alamy

Scientists may have finally discovered the true reason for Stonehenge’s construction.

Stonehenge might have been constructed to unify the early people of Britain, years before the United Kingdom was founded.

According to new geological analysis, the colossal stones were brought to Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire from the far north, west and south of the British Ilse nearly 5,000 years ago.

According to the journal Archaeology International, the effort taken to transport these stones using primitive tools would have been massive, indicating an important reason for the decision.

Professor Mike Parker Pearson, lead researcher at University College London, said: “The fact that all of its stones originated from distant regions, making it unique among over 900 stone circles in Britain, suggests that [Stonehenge] may have had a political as well as a religious purpose – as a monument of unification for the peoples of Britain, celebrating their eternal links with their ancestors and the cosmos.”

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Stonehenge Altar Stone was transported 430 miles from Scotland, say scientists

Co-author Prof Richard Bevins, from Aberystwyth University, added: “Our research is like forensic science.

“We are a small team of earth scientists, each bringing their own area of expertise; it is this combination of skills that has allowed us to identify the sources of the bluestones, and now the Altar Stone.”

This new research suggests the people of ancient Britain were far more interconnected than once believed, even before any Kingdom was founded.

This theory is supported by Heather Sebire, English Heritage senior properties curator, who said ancient people were “just like us.”

“These people were just like us,” she said.

“Although they had different technologies, they probably had people who wanted to leave their community and communicate with other people.

“We know they were trading. There were small items coming that distance, but obviously this [transporting a large stone] is different.

“There is the whole issue over how they could have moved it all this way.”

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