Stonehenge isn't the only prehistoric monument that's been moved but it's still unique December 11, 2015 by Mike Parker Pearson, The Conversation I led the team of researchers that discovered 1 that Stonehenge was most likely to have been originally built in Pembrokeshire, Wales, before it was taken apart and transported some 180 miles to Wiltshire, England. It may sound like an impossible task without modern technology, but it wouldn't have been the first time prehistoric Europeans managed to move a monument. Archaeologists are increasingly discovering megaliths across the continent albeit a small number so far that were previously put up in earlier monuments.
Other 'second-hand' monuments The best example of such a structure outside the UK is La Table des Marchand, a Neolithic tomb in Brittany, France, built around 4000BC. The enormous, 65-ton capstone on top of its chamber is a broken fragment of a menhir, a standing stone, brought from 10km away. The original menhir may be 300 years (or more) older than the tomb.
Another fragment of this same menhir was incorporated into a tomb at Gavrinis, 5km away. This menhir, originally weighing over 100 tons, is actually one of the largest blocks of stone that we know of to have been moved and set up by Neolithic people. Another example of a standing stone reused in a megalithic monument is an anthropomorphic menhir a standing stone carved in the form of a human figure - incorporated as the capstone of another tomb 2 at D hus on Guernsey.
Another megalithic tomb, La Motte de la Jacquille in western France, is built of dressed stones 3 that have been rearranged into a new tomb but it is not known if they came from a different location or were an earlier version of the tomb rebuilt on the same spot. Archaeologists have known for many years that some of Stonehenge's bluestones (the shorter stones in the monument) were reused 4 . Two are lintels reused as standing stones, and two others have vertical grooves that show they were part of a wall of interlocking standing stones 5 .
Until now it was thought that these were evidence of reuse just within Stonehenge which was first built around 2900BC and rebuilt circa 2500BC (at this point, large local sandstones known as "sarsen" were erected). It was then rebuilt again in around 2400BC and 2200BC. However, we identified the actual quarries in Pembrokeshire, Wales (around 3400BC and 3200BC) that the bluestones came from.
This is a period before prehistoric people were building stone circles (normally dating from 3000BC onwards) so we also think it is very likely that the bluestones originally formed a rather different type of monument from a stone circle. La Table des Marchand. Credit: Myrabella/wikimedia, CC BY-SA People in western Britain and Ireland at this time were building Neolithic stone tombs known as passage tombs Newgrange in Ireland 6 is the best known example.
So it is just possible that there is a dismantled passage tomb somewhere near the bluestone quarries. That's what we will be looking for in 2016. Stonehenge an unusual distance An interesting outcome from a recent conference in Redondo, Portugal, on prehistoric megaliths and "second-hand monuments" is that while some megalithic stones for monuments in Portugal and elsewhere were brought as far as 8km from their sources 7 the vast majority of Neolithic stone monuments throughout Western Europe were built less than 2km to 3km away from their stone quarries.
So Stonehenge is a major exception to this rule, as its bluestones were dragged around 290km. This makes it unique for prehistoric Europe. How the stones were moved from Wales to Stonehenge is something of a mystery but our excavations at one of the Welsh quarries reveals that the trackway leading from the outcrop was too narrow for rollers to have been used.
Instead, we think that monoliths were loaded onto wooden sledges and dragged over logs and branches laid rail-like in front of the sledge. Some archaeologists have speculated that Stonehenge's bluestones must have been thought to have had special properties as musical "gongs" 8 or healing stones 9 for them to have been sought out from so far away. But we think it is far more likely that the bluestones were derived from quarries in close proximity to each other within 2km to 3km and brought together to build a local monument in Pembrokeshire.
Scientific analysis of strontium 10 isotopes in the teeth of people buried in the Stonehenge area reveals that many of them have values consistent with growing up in western Britain. So the stones may have been brought by people migrating from Wales, bringing their ancestral monument as a symbol of their history and identity. Strontium isotope analysis is currently being carried out on the people actually buried at Stonehenge when the bluestones were erected, and we await the results to see if they show a similar picture.
It's also possible that the bluestones were put up somewhere on Salisbury Plain before they arrived at Stonehenge. For example, one of the bluestones never quite made it to Stonehenge and was dug out in 1801 from the top layer of a Neolithic burial mound called Boles Barrow, near Warminster 11 , also in Wiltshire. Although this tomb was first built around 3700BC, it seems to have gone through modifications, of which adding a layer of large stones (mostly local sarsen stones and this one bluestone) happened at the end of its use.
So we don't know precisely when it got there but it may have been set up as a burial marker before the rest of the bluestones were erected at Stonehenge. Rebuilding tombs 12 and other megalithic structures as second-hand monuments is only now turning out to be recognised in various parts of western Europe as archaeologists start to look more closely at the detailed aspects of construction. Simple expediency of finding suitable stone does not explain sites such as Stonehenge and the Table des Marchand they were most likely incorporating aspects of the past which had rich historical resonance for them.
Explore further: 'Blue Stonehenge' discovered 13 This story is published courtesy of The Conversation 14 (under Creative Commons-Attribution/No derivatives). More from Earth 15 Related Stories 'Blue Stonehenge' discovered 16 October 6, 2009 (PhysOrg.com) -- Archaeologists have released an artist s impression of what a second stone circle found a mile from Stonehenge might have looked like. Geologists pinpoint near exact source of some of Stonehenge's stones 17 December 20, 2011 (PhysOrg.com) -- Robert Ixer and Richard Bevins, British geologists, after nine months of tedious research, have pinpointed the place from which some of the stones that make up Stonehenge were quarried.
The stones in question, ... Stonehenge was ancient rave spot, new theory says 18 March 9, 2013 British researchers on Saturday unveiled a new theory for the origins of Stonehenge, saying the ancient stone circle was originally a graveyard and venue for mass celebrations. Scientists pinpoint the exact source of many of the rocks used to build Stonehenge 19 February 18, 2014 A new study, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, suggests that the site researchers had previously thought was the starting place of many of Stonehenge's rocks may not have been the source after all.
Instead, ... Stonehenge archeologists find huge neolithic site 20 September 7, 2015 The buried remains of a mysterious giant prehistoric monument have been discovered close to Britain's famous Stonehenge heritage site, archaeologists said Monday. Stonehenge 'bluestone' quarries confirmed 140 miles away in Wales 21 December 7, 2015 Excavation of two quarries in Wales by a UCL-led team of archaeologists and geologists has confirmed they are sources of Stonehenge's 'bluestones' and shed light on how they were quarried and transported.
Recommended for you Study finds economic stimulus from research investments and PhD recipients' earnings 22 December 10, 2015 A decade ago the late Jack Marburger, a physicist and former college president who served as science advisor to President George W. Bush, challenged academics to come up with scientific evidence on the impact of federal research ... Study differentiates facial growth in Neanderthals and modern humans 23 December 7, 2015 An international research team, led by Rodrigo Lacruz, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Basic Science and Craniofacial Biology at New York University's College of Dentistry (NYUCD), has just published a study ...
Researchers discover fossil samples of ancient, microscopic worms dating back 530 million years 24 December 10, 2015 A team of Virginia Tech researchers have discovered fossils of kinorhynch worms commonly known as mud dragons dating back more than 530 million years. Australia's new armoured dinosaur revealed 25 December 8, 2015 It has a parrot-like beak, bones in its skin and an inner ear similar to a turtle. Meet Kunbarrasaurus, Australia's newest dinosaur.
Researchers re-analyze 15-million-year-old sperm whale fossil, find 'white whale' 26 December 9, 2015 A 15 million year-old fossil sperm whale specimen from California belongs to a new genus, according to a study published December 9, 2015 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Alexandra Boersma and Nicholas Pyenson from ... Triceratops gets a cousin: Researchers identify another horned dinosaur species 27 December 9, 2015 The Ceratopsia family is growing again. Researchers have described a new species of plant-eating dinosaur, Hualianceratops wucaiwanensis, that stood on its hind feet and was about the size of a spaniel.
It is similar in age ...
0 comments Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more 28 29 Click here 30 to reset your password.
Sign in to get notified via email when new comments are made. Stonehenge isn't the only prehistoric monument that's been moved but it's still unique December 11, 2015 by Mike Parker Pearson, The Conversation I led the team of researchers that discovered 31 that Stonehenge was most likely to have been originally built in Pembrokeshire, Wales, before it was taken apart and transported some 180 miles to Wiltshire, England. It may sound like an impossible task without modern technology, but it wouldn't have been the first time prehistoric Europeans managed to move a monument.
Archaeologists are increasingly discovering megaliths across the continent albeit a small number so far that were previously put up in earlier monuments. Other 'second-hand' monuments The best example of such a structure outside the UK is La Table des Marchand, a Neolithic tomb in Brittany, France, built around 4000BC. The enormous, 65-ton capstone on top of its chamber is a broken fragment of a menhir, a standing stone, brought from 10km away.
The original menhir may be 300 years (or more) older than the tomb. Another fragment of this same menhir was incorporated into a tomb at Gavrinis, 5km away. This menhir, originally weighing over 100 tons, is actually one of the largest blocks of stone that we know of to have been moved and set up by Neolithic people.
Another example of a standing stone reused in a megalithic monument is an anthropomorphic menhir a standing stone carved in the form of a human figure - incorporated as the capstone of another tomb 32 at D hus on Guernsey. Another megalithic tomb, La Motte de la Jacquille in western France, is built of dressed stones 33 that have been rearranged into a new tomb but it is not known if they came from a different location or were an earlier version of the tomb rebuilt on the same spot. Archaeologists have known for many years that some of Stonehenge's bluestones (the shorter stones in the monument) were reused 34 .
Two are lintels reused as standing stones, and two others have vertical grooves that show they were part of a wall of interlocking standing stones 35 . Until now it was thought that these were evidence of reuse just within Stonehenge which was first built around 2900BC and rebuilt circa 2500BC (at this point, large local sandstones known as "sarsen" were erected). It was then rebuilt again in around 2400BC and 2200BC.
However, we identified the actual quarries in Pembrokeshire, Wales (around 3400BC and 3200BC) that the bluestones came from. This is a period before prehistoric people were building stone circles (normally dating from 3000BC onwards) so we also think it is very likely that the bluestones originally formed a rather different type of monument from a stone circle. La Table des Marchand.
Credit: Myrabella/wikimedia, CC BY-SA People in western Britain and Ireland at this time were building Neolithic stone tombs known as passage tombs Newgrange in Ireland 36 is the best known example. So it is just possible that there is a dismantled passage tomb somewhere near the bluestone quarries. That's what we will be looking for in 2016.
Stonehenge an unusual distance An interesting outcome from a recent conference in Redondo, Portugal, on prehistoric megaliths and "second-hand monuments" is that while some megalithic stones for monuments in Portugal and elsewhere were brought as far as 8km from their sources 37 the vast majority of Neolithic stone monuments throughout Western Europe were built less than 2km to 3km away from their stone quarries. So Stonehenge is a major exception to this rule, as its bluestones were dragged around 290km. This makes it unique for prehistoric Europe.
How the stones were moved from Wales to Stonehenge is something of a mystery but our excavations at one of the Welsh quarries reveals that the trackway leading from the outcrop was too narrow for rollers to have been used. Instead, we think that monoliths were loaded onto wooden sledges and dragged over logs and branches laid rail-like in front of the sledge. Some archaeologists have speculated that Stonehenge's bluestones must have been thought to have had special properties as musical "gongs" 38 or healing stones 39 for them to have been sought out from so far away.
But we think it is far more likely that the bluestones were derived from quarries in close proximity to each other within 2km to 3km and brought together to build a local monument in Pembrokeshire. Scientific analysis of strontium 40 isotopes in the teeth of people buried in the Stonehenge area reveals that many of them have values consistent with growing up in western Britain. So the stones may have been brought by people migrating from Wales, bringing their ancestral monument as a symbol of their history and identity.
Strontium isotope analysis is currently being carried out on the people actually buried at Stonehenge when the bluestones were erected, and we await the results to see if they show a similar picture. It's also possible that the bluestones were put up somewhere on Salisbury Plain before they arrived at Stonehenge. For example, one of the bluestones never quite made it to Stonehenge and was dug out in 1801 from the top layer of a Neolithic burial mound called Boles Barrow, near Warminster 41 , also in Wiltshire.
Although this tomb was first built around 3700BC, it seems to have gone through modifications, of which adding a layer of large stones (mostly local sarsen stones and this one bluestone) happened at the end of its use. So we don't know precisely when it got there but it may have been set up as a burial marker before the rest of the bluestones were erected at Stonehenge. Rebuilding tombs 42 and other megalithic structures as second-hand monuments is only now turning out to be recognised in various parts of western Europe as archaeologists start to look more closely at the detailed aspects of construction.
Simple expediency of finding suitable stone does not explain sites such as Stonehenge and the Table des Marchand they were most likely incorporating aspects of the past which had rich historical resonance for them. Explore further: 'Blue Stonehenge' discovered 43 This story is published courtesy of The Conversation 44 (under Creative Commons-Attribution/No derivatives). More from Earth 45 Related Stories 'Blue Stonehenge' discovered 46 October 6, 2009 (PhysOrg.com) -- Archaeologists have released an artist s impression of what a second stone circle found a mile from Stonehenge might have looked like.
Geologists pinpoint near exact source of some of Stonehenge's stones 47 December 20, 2011 (PhysOrg.com) -- Robert Ixer and Richard Bevins, British geologists, after nine months of tedious research, have pinpointed the place from which some of the stones that make up Stonehenge were quarried. The stones in question, ... Stonehenge was ancient rave spot, new theory says 48 March 9, 2013 British researchers on Saturday unveiled a new theory for the origins of Stonehenge, saying the ancient stone circle was originally a graveyard and venue for mass celebrations.
Scientists pinpoint the exact source of many of the rocks used to build Stonehenge 49 February 18, 2014 A new study, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, suggests that the site researchers had previously thought was the starting place of many of Stonehenge's rocks may not have been the source after all. Instead, ... Stonehenge archeologists find huge neolithic site 50 September 7, 2015 The buried remains of a mysterious giant prehistoric monument have been discovered close to Britain's famous Stonehenge heritage site, archaeologists said Monday.
Stonehenge 'bluestone' quarries confirmed 140 miles away in Wales 51 December 7, 2015 Excavation of two quarries in Wales by a UCL-led team of archaeologists and geologists has confirmed they are sources of Stonehenge's 'bluestones' and shed light on how they were quarried and transported. Recommended for you Study finds economic stimulus from research investments and PhD recipients' earnings 52 December 10, 2015 A decade ago the late Jack Marburger, a physicist and former college president who served as science advisor to President George W. Bush, challenged academics to come up with scientific evidence on the impact of federal research ...
Study differentiates facial growth in Neanderthals and modern humans 53 December 7, 2015 An international research team, led by Rodrigo Lacruz, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Basic Science and Craniofacial Biology at New York University's College of Dentistry (NYUCD), has just published a study ... Researchers discover fossil samples of ancient, microscopic worms dating back 530 million years 54 December 10, 2015 A team of Virginia Tech researchers have discovered fossils of kinorhynch worms commonly known as mud dragons dating back more than 530 million years. Australia's new armoured dinosaur revealed 55 December 8, 2015 It has a parrot-like beak, bones in its skin and an inner ear similar to a turtle.
Meet Kunbarrasaurus, Australia's newest dinosaur. Researchers re-analyze 15-million-year-old sperm whale fossil, find 'white whale' 56 December 9, 2015 A 15 million year-old fossil sperm whale specimen from California belongs to a new genus, according to a study published December 9, 2015 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Alexandra Boersma and Nicholas Pyenson from ... Triceratops gets a cousin: Researchers identify another horned dinosaur species 57 December 9, 2015 The Ceratopsia family is growing again.
Researchers have described a new species of plant-eating dinosaur, Hualianceratops wucaiwanensis, that stood on its hind feet and was about the size of a spaniel. It is similar in age ...
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Read more 58 59 Click here to reset your password.
Sign in to get notified via email when new comments are made. 60 References ^ discovered (journals.cambridge.org) ^ another tomb (journals.cambridge.org) ^ stones (m.phys.org) ^ were reused (journals.cambridge.org) ^ standing stones (m.phys.org) ^ Newgrange in Ireland (www.newgrange.com) ^ as far as 8km from their sources (adsabs.harvard.edu) ^ musical "gongs" (www.theguardian.com) ^ healing stones (www.bbc.co.uk) ^ strontium (education.jlab.org) ^ Boles Barrow, near Warminster (www.themodernantiquarian.com) ^ tombs (m.phys.org) ^ 'Blue Stonehenge' discovered (phys.org) ^ The Conversation (theconversation.edu.au) ^ Earth (www.physicsforums.com) ^ 'Blue Stonehenge' discovered (phys.org) ^ Geologists pinpoint near exact source of some of Stonehenge's stones (phys.org) ^ Stonehenge was ancient rave spot, new theory says (phys.org) ^ Scientists pinpoint the exact source of many of the rocks used to build Stonehenge (phys.org) ^ Stonehenge archeologists find huge neolithic site (phys.org) ^ Stonehenge 'bluestone' quarries confirmed 140 miles away in Wales (phys.org) ^ Study finds economic stimulus from research investments and PhD recipients' earnings (phys.org) ^ Study differentiates facial growth in Neanderthals and modern humans (phys.org) ^ Researchers discover fossil samples of ancient, microscopic worms dating back 530 million years (phys.org) ^ Australia's new armoured dinosaur revealed (phys.org) ^ Researchers re-analyze 15-million-year-old sperm whale fossil, find 'white whale' (phys.org) ^ Triceratops gets a cousin: Researchers identify another horned dinosaur species (phys.org) ^ sign in (sciencex.com) ^ Read more (sciencex.com) ^ Click here (sciencex.com) ^ discovered (journals.cambridge.org) ^ another tomb (journals.cambridge.org) ^ stones (m.phys.org) ^ were reused (journals.cambridge.org) ^ standing stones (m.phys.org) ^ Newgrange in Ireland (www.newgrange.com) ^ as far as 8km from their sources (adsabs.harvard.edu) ^ musical "gongs" (www.theguardian.com) ^ healing stones (www.bbc.co.uk) ^ strontium (education.jlab.org) ^ Boles Barrow, near Warminster (www.themodernantiquarian.com) ^ tombs (m.phys.org) ^ 'Blue Stonehenge' discovered (phys.org) ^ The Conversation (theconversation.edu.au) ^ Earth (www.physicsforums.com) ^ 'Blue Stonehenge' discovered (phys.org) ^ Geologists pinpoint near exact source of some of Stonehenge's stones (phys.org) ^ Stonehenge was ancient rave spot, new theory says (phys.org) ^ Scientists pinpoint the exact source of many of the rocks used to build Stonehenge (phys.org) ^ Stonehenge archeologists find huge neolithic site (phys.org) ^ Stonehenge 'bluestone' quarries confirmed 140 miles away in Wales (phys.org) ^ Study finds economic stimulus from research investments and PhD recipients' earnings (phys.org) ^ Study differentiates facial growth in Neanderthals and modern humans (phys.org) ^ Researchers discover fossil samples of ancient, microscopic worms dating back 530 million years (phys.org) ^ Australia's new armoured dinosaur revealed (phys.org) ^ Researchers re-analyze 15-million-year-old sperm whale fossil, find 'white whale' (phys.org) ^ Triceratops gets a cousin: Researchers identify another horned dinosaur species (phys.org) ^ sign in (sciencex.com) ^ Read more (sciencex.com) ^ Click here (sciencex.com)
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