But archaeologists agree that large-scale social coordination was necessary.The finding “looks to be fairly convincing and fairly conclusive,” says Joshua Pollard, an archaeologist at the University of Southampton in England, who was not involved in the new research.
The findings show that the sarsen stones were gathered from the … Archaeologists surveying an area near England's famous Stonehenge have found what could be one of the largest prehistoric sites known to exist in the country.He called them a pattern on "a massive scale."We recognize our responsibility to use data and technology for good. October 11, 2019 — Bret StetkaDiscover world-changing science. Just published, in the archaeological journal Antiquity, are two studies arising from recent work by the Stonehenge Riverside Project.The first uses the latest radiocarbon dates from cremation burials - of which there may have been 240 - to suggest that the site served as a cemetery for a ruling dynasty from around 3000BC. How they were transported there still remains a mystery. “It’s a major achievement.” Located just south of the River Kennet, West Woods has often been overlooked in archaeological research, he adds. The findings show that the sarsen stones were gathered from the West Woods some 4,500 years ago. The new survey builds on findings from last October indicating that the area around Stonehenge is the oldest continually occupied region in Britain. By analysing the precise chemical composition of the stones, researchers believe the materials came from West Woods, 15.7 miles to the north of the site. All of this information has been placed within a single digital map, which will guide how Stonehenge and its landscape are studied in the future.The archaeologists said the precise and sophisticated way in which the pits were positioned suggests that the early inhabitants of Britain used a tally or counting system to track pacing across long distances."The size of the shafts and circuit surrounding Durrington Walls is without precedent in the UK," said Vince Gaffney, a professor of archaeology at the University of Bradford and one of the lead researchers on the project."As the place where the builders of Stonehenge lived and feasted, Durrington Walls is key to unlocking the story of the wider Stonehenge landscape," said archaeologist Nick Snashall of the National Trust, the body that runs the Stonehenge site."Stonehenge may never be the same again."He said the discovery demonstrated "the capacity and desire of Neolithic communities to record their cosmological belief systems in ways, and at a scale, that we had never previously anticipated."Researchers have found 20 shafts, but estimate there may have been more than 30 originally. Until now the prevailing speculation had posited that the sarsens originated to the north of the river, in the Marlborough Downs.Detailed testing of the chemical signature of the Neolithic monument’s most prominent large stones pinpointed where they came fromSign up for our free newsletters.March 1, 2011 — William UnderhillMay 3, 2012 — Wynne Parry and LiveScienceAlthough Nash’s team identified the origin of 50 sarsens, the last two—Stone 26 and Stone 160—did not match any of the sites studied, nor did they match each other.
"; if (stack2 = helpers.pubDate) { stack2 = stack2.call(depth0, {hash:{},data:data}); } else { stack2 = depth0.pubDate; stack2 = typeof stack2 === functionType ? This brought on the discovery that the stones originated about 15 miles to the north of the site in West Woods, Wiltshire.Researchers added that the discovery could also be of great assistance in figure out how the sarsens were transported in the late Neolithic era, which—understandably—has remained a source of befuddlement among scientists and the general public for centuries.COMPLEX participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means COMPLEX gets paid commissions on purchases made through our links to retailer sites.