TORONTO -- Archeologists in the U.K. may have unearthed new evidence on where the iconic stone circle of Stonehenge originated from.
Working in the Preseli Hills of western Wales, archeologists found the remains of what is now considered Britain鈥檚 third-largest stone circle that they believe was dismantled and moved 280 kilometres to Salisbury Plain and rebuilt as Stonehenge.
The study, published in , names the uncovered stone circle as 鈥淲aun Mawn,鈥 and found that it has an identical diameter to the ditch surrounding Stonehenge, and a structure aligned on the midsummer solstice sunrise, also like Stonehenge.
A plan of the currently excavated sections of Waun Mawn and Stonehenge 1, showing the similarities in both structures (Antiquity Journal/credit: K. Welham & I. de Luis)
The stone quarries that supplied Stonehenge with its 鈥渂luestones,鈥 which is , is located close by the Waun Mawn 鈥 pointing to a shared source of stone for both sites.
Stonehedges鈥 bluestones are thought to have been erected 5,000 years ago, centuries before the larger stones known as 鈥渟arsen stones鈥 were brought to the site.
The research project, led by British later prehistory professor Parker Pearson of University College London, had previously excavated two bluestone quarries 鈥 and it was through this work that the Waun Mawn - Stonehenge connection was hypothesized.
鈥淚n 2008 our excavation of an Aubrey Hole (one of 56 pits in a circle at Stonehenge, dating to the beginning of the monument) confirmed my hunch that these Aubrey Holes had held bluestones right at the start in 3000-2900 BC,鈥 Pearson said in an email to CTVNews.ca.
鈥淚 realized that to discover the origins of Stonehenge we had to shift our project from Stonehenge to where the bluestones came from.鈥
When digging at the new Waun Mawn site, scientific dating of charcoal and sediments in the stone holes confirmed that the Waun Mawn stone circle was erected around 3400 BC, years prior to the first stage of Stonehenge built in 3000 BC.
鈥淚t looked as if for many of the stones [excavated around Waun Mawn] there was a big gap in time between quarrying and erection at Stonehenge,鈥 Pearson explained. 鈥淥ne of the stone holes at Waun Mawn had stone chippings and a cross section that can be matched with one of the bluestones standing at Stonehenge.鈥
As to how the archeologists found Waun Mawn in the first place, Parker claimed the location was 鈥渋n a 100-year-old book.鈥
Archeologists had surveyed the site during the First World War and 鈥渃atalogued it as a stone circle based on the arc of four surviving stones,鈥 Parker explained, but said that later generations of archeologists had either ignored Waun Mawn or 鈥渄oubted it had ever been a circle.鈥
鈥淚n 2011 we did geophysical surveys [at Waun Mawn鈥檚 location] but these turned up nothing. Not realizing that this was due to the unresponsive soil conditions, we figured it was just an arc of stones and not a former circle,鈥 Parker said.
After six years of 鈥渇ruitless searching,鈥 a colleague suggested they try the location again. 鈥淚t turned out he was right,鈥 Parker said, and the team unearthed the stone circle.
The Waun Mawn discovery is a new chapter in the lore and history surrounding Stonehenge, which has gone through many iterations over the centuries.
Wiliam Stukeley, the English antiquary and a forefather of archeology who pioneered the investigation of Stonehenge, 鈥渢hought Stonehenge was a druid's temple because it reminded him of the facades of Greco-Roman temples鈥 he realised it was prehistoric but only had Julius Caesar's book about ancient Britain as a guide, and he mistakenly attributed it to Iron Age druids,鈥 Parker explained.
Stonehenge has frequently featured in myths surrounding Merlin and other druidic characters.
Parker said subsequent study of the rubble left inside Stonehenge 鈥渟hows it was never a temple,鈥 but best understood as a type of 鈥渕emorial-style monument.鈥
And it was a chance comment that gave Parker his research initiative as to why Stonehenge was built.
In 1998 the renowned archeologist Ramilisonina, who hails from Madagascar and was a colleague of Parker鈥檚, came to see Stonehenge and was 鈥渁mazed that no one had figured out the obvious,鈥 he said.
鈥淚n Madagascar people build in stone for their ancestors (tombs and standing stones) but build in wood for the living,鈥 Parker explained in his email.
Ramilisonina鈥檚 鈥渟imple observation鈥 ended up being the 鈥渄riving hypothesis鈥 in Parker鈥檚 research at Stonehenge.
鈥淚 had to find out if he was right 鈥 and 17 years later it seems he was,鈥 Parker said, 鈥淲e found lots of burials inside Stonehenge and found lots of formerly wooden houses鈥ust three kilometres from Stonehenge.鈥
Parker said most of the people buried at Stonehenge were women, a discovery that seems to be 鈥渢he case for most of the many other circular burial enclosures across Britain.鈥
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Parker hopes to return to the dig at Waun Mawn later on this year.
