NEW THEORY ON STONEHENGE ORIGIN

Stonehenge, the famous monument in Wiltshire, England, is partially made from Welsh stones hewn 320 kilometres away. Now researchers have a theory as to why the stones come from such a distance: Stonehenge was actually built in Wales, and sat there for hundreds of years before being moved.

Last week, University College London scholars published evidence in the journal Antiquity that two quarries in Wales are the source of the distinct “bluestones” used in Stonehenge. Radiocarbon dating of remnants from campfires indicates that the sites were mined around 3400 and 3200 BC. But the rocks didn’t make it to Stonehenge until 2900 BC.

“It could have taken those Neolithic stone-draggers nearly 500 years to get them to Stonehenge, but that’s pretty improbable in my view,” professor Parker Pearson said in a statement.

“It’s more likely that the stones were first used in a local monument, somewhere near the quarries, that was then dismantled and dragged off to Wiltshire.”