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Study cited in the BBC article: The original Stonehenge? A dismantled stone circle in the Preseli Hills of west Wales Published online by Cambridge University

Study cited in the BBC article: The original Stonehenge? A dismantled stone circle in the Preseli Hills of west Wales Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 February 2021 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/original-stonehenge-a-dismantled-stone-circle-in-the-preseli-hills-of-west-wales/B7DAA4A7792B4DAB57DDE0E3136FBC33 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/or...

notahacker 6y ago
The actual paper is, as always, less exciting than the breezy PR TLDR: Three of Stonehenge's stones have long been believed to come from a particular area of Wales. One of them has a pentagonal cross section which was found to approximately matches a pentagonal hole in a partial stone circle in that area, a circle surrounded by a ditch which - coincidentally or otherwise - has the same dimensions as a ditch at Stonehenge. Dating is inconclusive, but evidence supports some of the people cremated at Stonehenge having lived in south Wales for some of their life. It's also established beyond doubt that nearly all the other stones in Stonehenge have no logical connection with this site. So the builders of Stonehenge might have taken as many as three stones from another site for symbolic or "hey, I know where to find a massive stone the right size for our new project" reasons
- Cthulhu_ 6y ago
  > So the builders of Stonehenge might have taken as many as three stones from another site for symbolic or "hey, I know where to find a massive stone the right size for our new project" reasons If it's 400 years (and the timeline is up for debate), who knows, it may have been a completely different people / culture that decided to move the stone (vs the ones that built the original circle). I mean in western Europe, town walls were dismantled for other building projects. Walls that still exist are considered protected cultural heritage nowadays. It's a different point of view that changes over time and as cultures progress.
  - wnevets 6y ago
    > mean in western Europe, town walls were dismantled for other building projects. To further this example the limestone used to clad Egyptian Pyramids were removed to use as materials in other building projects.

notahacker 6y ago

The actual paper is, as always, less exciting than the breezy PR TLDR: Three of Stonehenge's stones have long been believed to come from a particular area of Wales. One of them has a pentagonal cross section which was found to approximately matches a pentagonal hole in a partial stone circle in that area, a circle surrounded by a ditch which - coincidentally or otherwise - has the same dimensions as a ditch at Stonehenge. Dating is inconclusive, but evidence supports some of the people cremated at Stonehenge having lived in south Wales for some of their life. It's also established beyond doubt that nearly all the other stones in Stonehenge have no logical connection with this site. So the builders of Stonehenge might have taken as many as three stones from another site for symbolic or "hey, I know where to find a massive stone the right size for our new project" reasons

Cthulhu_ 6y ago
> So the builders of Stonehenge might have taken as many as three stones from another site for symbolic or "hey, I know where to find a massive stone the right size for our new project" reasons If it's 400 years (and the timeline is up for debate), who knows, it may have been a completely different people / culture that decided to move the stone (vs the ones that built the original circle). I mean in western Europe, town walls were dismantled for other building projects. Walls that still exist are considered protected cultural heritage nowadays. It's a different point of view that changes over time and as cultures progress.
- wnevets 6y ago
  > mean in western Europe, town walls were dismantled for other building projects. To further this example the limestone used to clad Egyptian Pyramids were removed to use as materials in other building projects.