Ancient World Review

Were The Stonehenge Stones On Site Before Humans Came Along?

"One of the strangest mysteries [about Stonehenge] is why those giant stones were dragged to an unremarkable Salisbury hillside instead of being erected where they were originally found. Now it seems we have an answer - some of them were already there." Source: Science Alert (April 2018).

"Archaeologist Mike Pitts - one of few researchers to ever perform excavations within Stonehenge - has found evidence that two of the monument's biggest and most important stones, called sarsens, may have been at the site for millions of years."

Comment: I was kind of surprised when I read this story. I thought it was well established that the stones used to build Stonehenge were somehow transported to the site, apparently over a long distance, and that archaeologists / geologists had identified the areas where the stones were quarried. The main question was how these gigantic stones were transported and people have been coming up with various theories over the years.

Now it turns out that the stones (or at least some of them) may not have been transported from somewhere else at all. This makes a lot of sense, actually. According to Occam's Razor, when you're faced with a problem, the simplest solution tends to be the right one. In the case of Stonehenge, if nobody can figure out how Neolithic people could have moved these stones over such large distances, the simplest answer is that they didn't have to move them because they were already there.

Even if this is true, however, it still doesn't solve the problem of how the stones were shaped, raised and positioned. One way or another, Stonehenge is a masterpiece of prehistoric engineering and the absence of written records means that we'll never know for sure how it was constructed. There are only a limited number of ways it could have been done, though, so the ultimate answer will probably just be a list of possible techniques.

Old Photos Of Stonehenge Show Restoration Work

Note: There's a conspiracy theory floating around out there that Stonehenge is actually fake, having been constructed in 1954. This theory is based on old photographs which supposedly show construction work being carried out at the site decades ago. As it turns out, some of these photographs are authentic (see 1:09 and on in the video, for example).

According to English Heritage, Stonehenge was partially restored back in 1914 when some of the capstone lintels (which had collapsed) were lifted back into place using cranes and concrete was used to patch some of the standing stones. The land around the site was also cleared to some extent and I think this work is still going on. At any rate, the Stonehenge that exists today is, in a certain sense, a reconstruction.

This kind of restoration / preservation work isn't uncommon in archaeology and it sometimes has unintended consequences. For instance, efforts have been made to keep Egypt's oldest known pyramid, the Pyramid of Djoser, from collapsing completely, but this may actually have made things worse, according to a 2014 story in Smithsonian Magazine.

Some Of The People Who Built Stonehenge Came From Wales

Video from 2017.

"Despite over a century of intense study, we still know very little about the people buried at Stonehenge or how they came to be there. Now, archeologists suggest that a number of the people that were buried at the Wessex site had moved with and likely transported the bluestones used in the early stages of the monument's construction, sourced from the Preseli Mountains of west Wales." Source: Science Daily.

This study was based on a strontium isotope analysis of cremated remains found at Stonehenge:

"Analysis of small fragments of cremated human bone from an early phase of the site's history around 3000 BC, when it was mainly used as a cemetery, showed that at least 10 of the 25 people did not live near Stonehenge prior to their death. Instead, they found the highest strontium isotope ratios in the remains were consistent with living in western Britain, a region that includes west Wales -- the known source of Stonehenge's bluestones."

Video from 2017.

Archaeologists have known for years that the Stonehenge bluestones came from Wales, but they only identified the actual quarry sites [1] a few years ago:

"The very large standing stones at Stonehenge are of ‘sarsen’, a local sandstone, but the smaller ones, known as ‘bluestones’, come from the Preseli hills in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Geologists have known since the 1920s that the bluestones were brought to Stonehenge from somewhere in the Preseli Hills, but only now has there been collaboration with archaeologists to locate and excavate the actual quarries from which they came." Source: University College London (2015).

[1]: Some archaeologists questioned the idea that the bluestones came from Wales, claiming that there was no evidence that the Presili sites were ever used as quarries. I'm not sure where this controversy stands today. If the bluestones, some weighing up to four tons, were quarried in the Presili hills -- and the current consensus seems to be that they were -- they would have had to be transported around 140 miles to Stonehenge. 

If accurate, this analysis of the cremated remains at Stonehenge not only supports the theory that the bluestones were quarried in Wales, but suggests that some of the quarry workers traveled with the stones to the Stonehenge site and were most likely involved in the early stages of its construction.

The Secret Of Stonehenge's Construction?

Video from 2015.

Comment: The fact that Stonehenge was built without modern construction equipment has always been considered to be an unfathomable mystery, but I don't see anything particularly mysterious about it. We'll probably never know the exact methods the Stonehenge builders used to quarry, transport, position and raise those massive stones -- the standing stones are something like 13 feet high, seven feet wide and weigh around 25 tons --  but generally speaking there are lots of fairly straightforward ways it could have been done.

The video above shows one way the capstones could have been set in place. There are lots of similar videos out there, each of them showing different techniques that someone dreamed up to explain how various stages in the construction of megaliths like Stonehenge could have been carried out using primitive technology . For example, this 2016 video shows a man moving a 20-ton block of stone (or cement) by hand using wood, pebbles, counterweights and raw muscle power. That's just one example.

The point is that the technology for building these fantastic megaliths did exist back in the Bronze Age and probably even earlier. There's no need to bring ancient aliens into it when the basic principles of leverage and so on are more than sufficient to explain how it was done. The people who built Stonehenge didn't have modern cranes, so they had to use other tools. That's all there is to it. The fact that Stonehenge exists proves that prehistoric people had the ability to construct the monument. We know they knew how to build it for the simple reason that they built it and their work is still standing today.

The whole premise behind the ancient aliens stuff is that prehistoric people were too primitive to have constructed the impressive monuments that date back to their time. According to this argument, they didn't have heavy-lift cranes, power drills or industrial stone-cutting tools; therefore, they couldn't have lifted heavy objects, drilled holes or cut blocks of stone. What nonsense. The ancient engineers who built Stonehenge, the pyramids, Gobekli Tepe and thousands of other megalithic sites and stone temples around the world were modern humans and they were just as smart and inventive as we are, if not more so. These ancient structures prove that prehistoric man was a lot more advanced than we think.

The Lost Sounds Of Stonehenge

"Britain's ancient monument Stonehenge is still revealing secrets 4,500 years after the stone circle was first erected in the late Neolithic period." Source: The Weather Network (2017).

"Many theories have been suggested as to its exact purpose, but modern archaeologists generally agree it was some sort of prehistoric temple aligned to the movements of the sun.

"But it seems that these famous standing stones were positioned to enhance their acoustic properties as well. 

Also see:

Was Stonehenge Built For Its Sounds?

The Sound Of Stonehenge

Dr. Euan MacKie: The Megalith Builders - British Archaeology and Alexander Thorn (2013)

Lecture delivered in 2013.

"Euan Wallace MacKie (born 10 February 1936) is a British archaeologist and anthropologist. He is a prominent figure in the field of Archaeoastronomy." (Wikipedia)

"Alexander 'Sandy' Thom (26 March 1894 – 7 November 1985) was a Scottish engineer most famous for his theory of the Megalithic yard [1], categorisation of stone circles and his studies of Stonehenge and other archaeological sites." (Wikipedia).

[1]: According to Wikipedia, the Megalithic yard is a unit of measurement that "some researchers believe was used in the construction of megalithic structures."

European Megalithic Culture Originated In Ireland?

Video from 2017. The age of the Carrowmore megalithic cemetery varies from source to source.

"The advent of radiocarbon dating has forced archaeologists to re-think the entire the chronology of western European megalithic culture. Prior to radiocarbon dating, it had been believed that megalithic culture had been brought to western Europe from the Mediterranean region, however, this was proven to be utterly false when C14 dating methods showed that the megalithic sites of western Europe substantially predated those of the Mediterranean. Not only that, but the monuments of western Europe were found to predate those of Egypt and the Near Eastern cultures also, which had previously been thought to have been the inspiration for the European megalithic builders." Source: Newgrange.

"The earliest dates of construction for western European megaliths are found to be in the west of Ireland. These early dates were first put forth in the late 1970's early 1980's by a group of Swedish archaeologists led by Stefan Bergh excavating in and around the Carrowmore megalithic complex. Initially, the very early carbon dates produced were met with some scepticism. The accuracy of Swedish teams findings were questioned as they seemed to shatter preconceived notions of the progression of megalith building in Europe. With time however, the megalithic sites of western Ireland have been proven to indeed be the oldest such sites in Europe."

Comment: I have no idea what to make of this theory. So far I haven't been able to find out how old these Swiss archaeologists thought the Carrowmore tomb complex is. According to Wikipedia, the site dates back to around 3700 BC, "making Carrowmore ... among the oldest cemeteries of megalithic tombs in Ireland." By comparison, the general consensus is that Stonehenge was constructed somewhere between 3000 and 2000 BC.

Note: According to the Megalithomania video above, Carrowmore is 7,000 years old, but the dating in Wikipedia would make it around 5700 years old. 

I was under the impression that the megaliths on Malta were the oldest in Europe, but that may not be the case. The Ggantija megalithic temple complex on the Mediterranean island of Gozo are "the earliest of the Megalithic Temples of Malta." (Wikipedia) They're older than the Egyptian pyramids, but they still seem to date back to around the same time (~3600 - 2000 BC?).

It appears that all of these structures were built during the same general period, so it's possible, I guess, that the megalithic culture in Europe could have originated in Ireland. Unfortunately for the theory, a circle of stone pillars at Gobekli Tepi in Turkey, dating back to 10,000 - 8,000 BC, is currently thought to be the oldest megalith in the world. If that's accurate, then it would appear that these fantastic stone structures originated in the East and then spread into Europe. That's the general consensus, anyway.

Stonehenge Scientists Find Evidence Of Britain's First Civil War (2015)

"Evidence is now emerging that the early Neolithic period [in Britain] of great communal tombs (4000–3500 BC) was not always an era of peaceful co-operation. Those whose bodies have been found at Belas Knap Long Barrow in Gloucestershire, Wayland's Smithy in Oxfordshire, and elsewhere were killed by blows to the head or arrow wounds. Hundreds of flint-headed arrows have been found at the causewayed enclosures of Crickley Hill, Gloucestershire, and Hambledon Hill, Dorset, where the attackers also burned the defensive palisades." Source: English Heritage.

A Brief Overview Of Prehistoric Britain

Notes: "The iron age communities of Britain showed a variety of social organization, although all were agrarian peoples organized into tribal territories dominated by a range of closed settlement sites. Many were agriculturally sophisticated and had developed an impressive Celtic art style. The peoples of the southeast had a long history of shared culture with northern Gaul. The islands were known to the Mediterranean world from at least the 3rd cent. BC." Source: Oxford Classical Dictionary (OCD) 3rd ed. revised.

According to the Ancient History Encyclopedia, "[d]uring the early Neolithic Age (c. 4400 BCE – c. 3300 BCE), many long barrows were constructed on the island, many of which can still be seen today. In the late Neolithic (c. 2900 BCE – c.2200 BCE), large stone circles called henges appeared, the most famous of which is Stonehenge.

"Before Roman occupation the island was inhabited by a diverse number of tribes that are generally believed to be of Celtic origin, collectively known as Britons. The Romans knew the island as Britannia."

The Greek navigator Phytheas explored the coastline of Britain around 325 BC. He was apparently the first person to mention the existence of the island. According to the OCD, Pytheas "circumnavigated Britain [and] described is inhabitants and climate [and] reported an island Thule (Norway or Island) ..." among other locations he visited on what must have been a hazardous voyage into the unknown.

Technically, the prehistoric period in Britain ended with Pytheas' voyage since that's when the island first appeared in (known) written records, but the period ended conclusively with the Roman invasions (or expeditions) by Julius Caesar in 55 and 54 BC. I haven't been able to find any indication of what the tribes of Britain called their island before that time, but they must have called it something.

The Bell Beaker People

"One of the biggest ever studies of ancient genomes has found that a Bronze Age 'beaker culture' invaded Britain around 4,000 years ago." Source: Daily Mail (May, 2017).

"The immigrant group, named after the famous bell-shaped pots they carried, likely forced out native Neolithic farmers." 

Note: The article is slightly misleading because the people living in Britain at the time were also a beaker culture. The Neolithic farmers displaced by the new immigrants are thought to have been the ones responsible for the construction of megaliths like Stonehenge.

The Beaker Folk probably came from Spain. "A warlike stock, they were primarily bowmen but were also armed with a flat, tanged dagger or spearhead of copper, and a curved, rectangular wrist guard. Their extensive search for copper (and gold), in fact, greatly accelerated the spread of bronze metallurgy in Europe." Encyclopedia Britannica. "... In central Europe they came into contact with the Battle-Ax (or Single-Grave) culture, which was also characterized by beaker-shaped pottery (though different in detail) and by the use of horses and a shaft-hole battle-ax. The two cultures gradually intermixed and later spread from central Europe to eastern England."