For centuries, the source of Stonehenge’s huge sarsen stones has been an open mystery.
Archaeologists and historians have long debated where the giant Sarsen stones, used to create the prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England, might have come from.
The stone circle monument, built by Neolithic people, is largely made of two types of stone. There are the smaller slabs known as blue stones, which are known to come from the Preseli Hills in south-west Wales.
“When Robert (the employee) decided to return the core last year, experts started putting together a puzzle,” English Heritage tweeted.
A missing piece of Stonehenge returned after 60 years and helped uncover the secrets of the stones. Credit: english heritage
The results finally found the best game in one place: West Woods, about a 40-minute drive.
West Woods is a picturesque wooded area covering nearly 390 hectares (960 acres). It is popular for its cycling and hiking trails, and for spring blossoms.
Bluebells in bloom in West Woods, England in April 2011. Credit: Matt Cardy / Getty Images Europe / Getty Images
There are still unanswered questions. For example, there are two stones that appear to come from different areas of origin of the other Stonehenge sarsens.
“While this may be a coincidence, one possibility is that their presence marks the work of different communities of builders who have chosen to source their materials from a different part of the landscape,” the study said.
It’s also unclear why the original Stonehenge builders chose to get their West Woods sarsen, when there were so many other nearby dense areas with sarsen stones, but the study team theorized that it could be due to the large size of the West Wood stones.
“Now we can say that in getting the sarsens, the primary goal was size: They wanted the largest and most substantial stones they could find and it made sense to get them as close as possible,” said historian Susan Greaney, one of the study’s co-authors. , in the declaration of Heritage of English. “This is in stark contrast to the source of the blue stones, where something quite different, a sacred connection to these mountains perhaps, was at stake.”
“Once again, this evidence highlights how carefully considered and deliberate the construction of this phase of Stonehenge was,” he added.
The discovery sheds light on where these Neolithic populations settled and where they gathered their materials, but it also helps narrow the road to Stonehenge. Another long-standing mystery is not just where the stones came from, but how they were transported so far to the monument site.
“Our results help narrow the most likely route along which sarsens were transported to Stonehenge,” the study said. For example, researchers can now discard previous theories that the stones traveled from the town of Avebury south or southwest to Stonehenge.
The study added that further research is needed to reduce the exact location of the stone source within West Woods and identify “prehistoric sarsen extraction wells.”
“Being able to identify the area that Stonehenge’s builders used to obtain their materials around 2500 BC is a real thrill,” Greaney said in the statement. “Now we can begin to understand the route they might have taken and add another piece to the puzzle.”
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