All articles tagged with #stonehenge
A nationwide photo gallery shows Britons watching a total solar eclipse as the Perseid meteor shower lights up the sky, with scenes from Stonehenge to Greenwich; safety advice urged ISO 12312-2 eclipse glasses, and searches for 'sore eyes' spiked by about 650% afterward.
DNA analysis overturns long-held beliefs about a 4,000-year-old Stonehenge burial, showing the interred individual was a woman who was likely a metalworker and shaman, underscoring women's prominence in Bronze Age society.
Genetic testing of the 4,000-year-old burial known as the Upton Lovell Shaman near Stonehenge shows the individual was female (XX chromosomes), not male, challenging long-held views of Bronze Age metalworkers and leaders. The richly equipped grave—including goldworking tools, a touchstone, and ceremonial objects—suggests she was a high-status metalworker and shaman. The find, highlighted ahead of a new exhibition at the Francis Crick Institute, broadens our understanding of women's roles in Early Bronze Age society.
A Curtin University-led study using geological analysis and ice-sheet modeling suggests Stonehenge's Altar Stone originated in northeast Scotland and was carried by glaciers about 200 miles to Dogger Bank, after which prehistoric communities hauled it roughly 250 more miles to Wiltshire, for a total journey of about 450 miles — implying a carefully planned, multi-stage transport rather than ice doing the whole trek.
Archaeologists uncovered two pits in Bulford, 3 miles east of Stonehenge, dating to around 3000 BCE and predating the stones by about 500 years; the pits likely contained wooden posts aligned with the summer and winter solstices, suggesting an earlier ceremonial site with pottery, flint tools and animal bones indicating gatherings and astronomical knowledge.
Archaeologists have unearthed a nearby early version of Stonehenge on a hillside a few miles from the iconic monument. Excavations conducted 2015–2017 and years of analysis suggest it was a precursor to Stonehenge, shedding light on the late-Neolithic ceremonial landscape and offering context for why the famous circle was built. The discovery comes as scholars discuss Stonehenge’s possible purposes, with sunrise-ritual implications noted, and broader public interest remains high in the area near Bulford and Salisbury Plain.
Archaeologists in Wiltshire have uncovered a 5,000-year-old wooden structure at Bulford that may have been a prototype for Stonehenge. Two wooden poles stood 120 meters apart and align with the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset, suggesting early astronomical knowledge. Radiocarbon dating places the site about 5,000 years old, roughly 500 years before Stonehenge’s stones were erected. Artifacts such as pottery, bone, charcoal, flints, and a rare disc-shaped knife hint at communal solstice gatherings within a broader Neolithic landscape around Stonehenge.
Archaeologists have uncovered a 5,000-year-old, simpler precursor to Stonehenge in Bulford, consisting of two wooden posts positioned 120 meters apart and aligned with summer solstice sunrise and winter solstice sunset. Radiocarbon dating and artefacts like pottery and flint tools suggest prehistoric gatherings, implying the builders of Stonehenge may have been linked to, or based in, Bulford long before the monument’s stones were erected.
Archaeologists have uncovered a 5,000-year-old, solstice-aligned monument at Bulford near Stonehenge, dated to about 3000 BC. The two wooden posts, 120 metres apart, with surrounding pits, appear to have marked the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset, suggesting an early prototype for Stonehenge’s solar alignments. A nearby disc-shaped flint knife may symbolize the sun, and radiocarbon dating places the structure at 2950 BC, highlighting a long-standing religious focus on solstices in the Wiltshire landscape.
Curtin University researchers conclude Stonehenge’s central Altar Stone, weighing about six tons, originated in northeast Scotland and was moved to Wiltshire by deliberate human transport rather than glaciers. Glacial routes to southern England are unlikely, suggesting a staged journey that combined overland hauling with rivers or coastal transport, reflecting planning and cooperation in Neolithic Britain; future work aims to pinpoint the stone’s exact source.
New analyses tie Stonehenge's Altar Stone to Scotland's Orcadian Basin and show ice alone couldn’t haul the 6-ton rock to Salisbury; researchers propose a staged, human-led transport—perhaps via overland, river, and coastal routes—with glacial stages only reaching Dogger Bank as a possible intermediary.
A Curtin University-led study argues the Altar Stone at Stonehenge (weighing about 13,000 pounds) was moved by Neolithic humans over hundreds of miles in staged moves—overland hauling combined with river or coastal transport—rather than by glaciers, suggesting a long, organized, multi-year effort.
A new study argues that Stonehenge’s massive stones were moved by prehistoric people over more than 400 miles using human effort rather than glacier transport, highlighting sophisticated ancient engineering.
A Curtin University–led study links Stonehenge’s Altar Stone to Caithness, Scotland, using mineral fingerprints and ice‑sheet modeling to show glaciers likely played only a limited role; the six‑ton block would have required a staged, human‑led journey across land and waterways to Salisbury Plain, highlighting coordinated Neolithic transport across regions rather than a purely glacial transfer.
Researchers propose the Altar Stone originated in northeast Scotland and was carried by glaciers as far as Dogger Bank during Britain's last Ice Age, with Neolithic people then moving it the rest of the way to Stonehenge, implying staged, highly organized cooperation rather than a direct glacial haul.