Secrets of the Stonehenge skeletons

Any Britons in my readership are invited to watch this documentary on Sunday:

Ancient bodies lie buried beneath Stonehenge, but what can they tell us about Britain's greatest prehistoric monument? One man has found vital clues to this ancient puzzle.

A related BBC story has the title of Stonehenge builders travelled from far, say researchers:

The researchers believed as many as 4,000 people gathered at the site, at a time when Britain's population was only tens of thousands.  

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The academics suggested that Stonehenge was built about 200 years earlier than previously thought, some 4,500 years ago.

And the Guardian:

Stonehenge may have been burial site for Stone Age elite, say archaeologists
Dating cremated bone fragments of men, women and children found at site puts origin of first circle back 500 years to 3,000BC

In the rise and wane of the cremation ritual I have hinted at the possible rise of the cremation ritual as a way of disposing of the dead in a way that would make their remains portable. Not sure what the current research has discovered but "cremated remains" + "builders from far" makes for a good combination.

If you do watch and learn something that might interest blog readers, feel free to leave a comment.

3D laser scan of Stonehenge reveals axehead graffiti

Stonehenge up close: digital laser scan reveals secrets of the past

The first complete 3D laser scan of the stone circle has also revealed tool marks made 4,500 years ago, scores of little axehead graffiti added when the enormous slabs were already 1,000 years old, and damage and graffiti contributed by Georgian and Victorian visitors. 

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Long after the monument was built, when Bronze Age burial mounds rich in grave goods began to be scattered across the plain around Stonehenge, and the archaeological evidence suggests those who could make or trade in metal goods had an almost shamanic status, people carved little images of daggers and axes, many now invisible to the naked eye, into the stones. Scores more have been revealed by the scan, including 71 new axe heads, bringing the total to 115 – doubling the number ever recorded in Britain.

"It is wonderful to have discovered so many more, but what is fascinating is that they are carved without regard to the importance or the siting of the stones – almost as if the people who carved them could no longer quite remember the significance of the monument and how it worked," Greaney said.

They probably could no longer remember, because they were Indo-European newcomers, and not the same people as the Megalithic folk who built Stonehenge.

A little history:

Craniologists of the time used a ratio based on length and width measurements, known as the cranial index, to divide skulls into two basic types: 'dolichocephalic', long and narrow in shape, and 'brachycephalic', broad and round in shape. Based on his observations at sites like Belas Knap, Thurnam established his famous axiom, 'long barrows, long skulls; round barrows, round skulls'. The long skulls were found in long barrows and never in association with metallic artefacts, while round skulls were found in round barrows sometimes with metalwork. 

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Thurnam's and Rolleston's theories gained considerable credibility in the late Victorian period and survived well into the earlier 20th century. Such racist theories failed to stand up, however, in the face of Gordon Childe's arguments for the definition of an archaeological culture based on shared social characteristics and material culture rather than race or biological type. In addition, the considerable moral repugnance felt towards Victorian anthropology and its role in the rise of fascist ideology in the 1930s caused the argument over long and round skulls to be sidelined and eventually dismissed. The identification of the Bronze Age incomers based on their material culture, including metalwork and Beaker pottery vessels, remained a more acceptable alternative.
In the 1990s, however, the archaeologist Neil Brodie took a fresh look at the craniological evidence and concluded that there was undeniably a difference between the shape of skulls from Neolithic long barrows and Bronze Age round barrows. A trend from long to round skull shape was clearly shown. 

The differences, he argued, could be caused by cultural practices, such as the binding of infants' heads, as well as by diet and a range of climatic or environmental factors. Looking at the totality of human history, he showed that head shape fluctuates in populations over long periods of time, and that extremes of head types occur in successive prehistoric populations as a matter of historical chance.

We don't have DNA evidence from British round barrows yet, but Beaker burials from Germany show the first R1b ever found, while Neolithic Western Europe shows a mix of I2a and G2a. Difference in material culture? check. Difference in physical anthropology? check. Difference in time of appearance? check. Difference in genetics? preliminary check.

So, it seems like a good bet that the people who carved axehead graffiti on Stonehenge were simply invaders who took over the site from the previous inhabitants, and, as is so often the case, used it for their own purposes.

Stonehenge controversy continued

Mark Pitts was involved in the Stonehenge Decoded documentary. See the previous entry on Stonehenge was built in 2,300BC and may have been a healing center for the "Stonehenge as healing center theory".

Stonehenge 'was a cremation cemetry, not healing centre'

Stonehenge was used as a cremation cemetry throughout its history, according to new evidence that divides archaeologists over whether England's most famous ancient monument was about celebrating life or death.

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Recently a BBC documentary suggested that the standing stones were not erected until 2,300BC, when the site became a centre of healing.

Now a team behind the latest dig suggest the standing stones were erected much earlier than previously thought, in 3,000 BC, and used for cremation burial throughout their history and not for healing.

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The report said: "We propose that very early in Stonehenge's history, 56 Welsh bluestones stood in a ring 285 feet 6 inches across. This has sweeping implications for our understanding of Stonehenge."

The second significant finding was from radiocarbon dating of human remains found on the site from between 2,300 and 3,000 BC. Researchers concluded that this meant cremation burial was going on long after the standing stones had been erected.

The report said: "Contrary to claims made in the recent BBC Timewatch film, which promoted a theory of Stonehenge as a healing centre built after the practice of cremation burial had ceased, standing stones and burial may have been prominent aspects of Stonehenge's meaning and purpose for a millenium."

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"This means there were earlier connections with Wales, where the standing stones came from, than previously thought and that Stonehenge was always about death and ancestors and burial and not healing," he said.

Geoffrey Wainwright, one of the archaelogists behind the BBC film, maintained that healing was one of the uses of the site.

"We do not claim Stonehenge was a single use monument," he said. "We think it was a multifunctional monument and part of its purpose was for healing."

I said as much in my previous post:

Such a prominent edifice need not have a single function. Healing cults tend to form around important religious sites irrespective of their original purpose.

Stonehenge was built in 2,300BC and may have been a healing center

There have been quite a few stories on Stonehenge lately. Now, the BBC reports on the results of new carbon dating:

Archaeologists have pinpointed the construction of Stonehenge to 2300 BC - a key step to discovering how and why the mysterious edifice was built.

The radiocarbon date is said to be the most accurate yet and means the ring's original bluestones were put up 300 years later than previously thought.

and new interpretations about its function:

Professors Darvill and Wainwright believe that Stonehenge was a centre of healing - a "Neolithic Lourdes", to which the sick and injured travelled from far and wide, to be healed by the powers of the bluestones.

They note that "an abnormal number" of the corpses found in tombs nearby Stonehenge display signs of serious physical injury and disease.

And analysis of teeth recovered from graves show that "around half" of the corpses were from people who were "not native to the Stonehenge area".

Such a prominent edifice need not have a single function. Healing cults tend to form around important religious sites irrespective of their original purpose.

There is a BBC Timewatch documentary on this which will air on Sep 27; a couple of video clips are on the BBC site. Apparently, the scientists suggest that the bluestones were put up ~2,300BC, while the trilithons were put up ~2,100BC. The monument started to enter its phase of decline and neglect ~1,900BC.

Interestingly, as pointed out in the clip, the new date for the erection of Stonehenge coincides with the burial date for the Amesbury archer.

Non-local Neolithic cattle remains near Stonehenge

The non-local origin of the cattle emphasizes the importance of the site, as it could draw prosperous cattle-owning visitors from afar. Together with the recent story on the Stonehenge fence, and its status as an elite burial ground, it appears that this was an important nexus of religious activity.

Stone-age pilgrims 'held barbecues at Stonehenge'

Analysis of animal remains found near to Stonehenge has shown that cattle were brought to the area from as far away as Wales or even the Scottish Highlands.

Scientists tested the chemical fingerprint of cattle teeth found at Durrington Walls, a Neolithic monument built 500 years before Stonehenge.

They found that far from being local, the animals could only have been reared in areas of Wales or Scotland, which have high levels of the chemical element strontium in the soil.

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Dr Jane Evans, from the British Geological Survey who carried out the research, said: "It looks like people were driving cattle to the area from a significant distance away.

"The area must have been an important place for rituals and gatherings long before the first stones were laid at Stonehenge itself.

"People are coming from considerable distances and dispersion in order to have feasts and were bringing their own food supplies for what must have been a kind of bring your own beef barbecue."

The fence around Stonehenge

Revealed: The 5,000-year-old, 20ft-high fence which hid Stonehenge from its nosy Stone Age neighbours

Tourists who complain about the fence put up around Stonehenge in the Seventies should spare a thought for their Neolithic ancestors... they couldn’t even see the site because of a huge wooden barrier.

Archaeologists have found traces of the 20ft-high timber fence that snaked almost two miles across Salisbury Plain and hid sacred ceremonies from unworthy locals more than 5,000 years ago.

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‘The most plausible explanation is that it was built at huge cost to the community to screen the environs of Stonehenge from view. Basically, we think it was to keep the lower classes from seeing what exactly their rulers and the priestly class were doing.

This seems to be consistent with the idea that Stonehenge was used as an elite burial ground, and unlike the recent Stonehenge Decoded documentary, where the monument was presented more or less as a voluntary community building project/ritual space.