Some of the largest rocks at Stonehenge were there long before humans and are not likely to have been moved to the location, an archaeologist says.#
Archaeologists and antiquarians have for centuries wondered why Stonehenge is where it is and why the largest stones were dragged miles to a hillside on Salisbury Plain.
An archaeologist who has excavated within the site says there is evidence people were drawn there because of the stones.
It had been thought those stones, called sarsens, were brought from the Marlborough Downs, 20 miles (32km) away.
Mike Pitts, one of only a few archaeologists to have excavated within Stonehenge, has found evidence that two of the largest sarsen stones have been there for millions of years.
The largest megalith at the site, the heel stone, which aligns with sunrise on midsummer’s day, is 75 metres from the centre of the stone circle and weighs 60 tonnes.
A new study of prehistoric bones discovered at Stonehenge has found around half belonged to women.
In 2008 archaeologists first explored the site in Wiltshire examining the cremated remains of some 200 adults.
Researchers said their findings showed a “surprising degree of gender equality” despite artists portraying prehistoric man as in charge of the site “with barely a woman in sight”.
The study showed the finding are important because burial at Stonehenge was likely to have been reserved for selected people of higher status.
It also contrasts with the evidence from older Neolithic tombs in southern Britain, with their higher ratios of adult males to females.
Christie Willis, a PhD student at University College London and an expert on human remains, sorted through some 45kg (99lbs)of bone fragments.
Her task was to identify which part of the skeleton each fragment came from and to then establish the age and sex of the remains.
Ms Willis said the samples had originally been place in a series of Aubrey Holes around the periphery of the site – which were originally excavated in the 1920s by William Hawley.
“These were dug up and reburied in Aubrey Hole seven with the hope that one day there would be a breakthrough to allow them to be analysed.
“Because of this the fragments have become co-mingled – or mixed up – which is why the work has taken so long.”
The fragments were also sent to universities in Oxford and Glasgow to be radiocarbon-dated.
Researchers at Teeside University also looked at how hot the cremation fires were, and how long the bones were in there for.
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Mystery surrounds this 5,000 year old monument in the centre of the World Heritage Site. Visit this prehistoric South West site near Salisbury in Wiltshire, and decide for yourself whether Stonehenge was a place of sun worship, a healing sanctuary, a sacred burial site, or something different altogether!
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