Mystery of Stonehenge Solved, It’s Natural, Not Man Made

It was a mystery for many whenever the discussion about the existence of Stonehenge came up. Several questions has engaged researchers and archaeologists for years, how the big stones were standing together or how it was built on the chalk plateau of Salisbury Plain and why the largest stones were dragged miles to the hillside. Who did the painstaking job and why. All these questions may have been finally solved, with the new finding, which says, it is not man made.

New research says the existence of Stonehenge dates back to million of years, even before the existence of human on earth. Some of the largest rocks at Stonehenge were there long before humans and therefore the stones are not moved to the location where it is right now by anyone. Till date it was believed that the stones, which are also called sarsens, were brought from the Marlborough Downs, about 32 kilometers away.

Sarsen is a layer of super-hard sandstone that formed millions of years ago over the chalk that makes up the rolling hills of Wiltshire. During the Ice Age, the frost that covered Salisbury Plain repeatedly thawed and froze, shattering the layer of sarsen and over millions of years the stones sank below the surface leaving only a few fragments visible.

In a report published in the journal British Archaeology, Mike Pitts, one of the few archaeologists, who have excavated within Stonehenge said that the evidence of its existence even before human came from two of the largest sarsen stones, that have been there for millions of years.

The largest heel stone a megalith at the site, which also aligns with the sunrise during midsummer is 75 meters from the centre of the stone circle and which weighs about 60 tonnes. Unlike the other large sarsens, it has never been shaped or dressed.

Mike Pitts has also found a hole that was up to six meters in diameter while excavating beside the heel stone. It suggests the stone was lifted out of the hole and stood upright, but not brought from any other place.

Another unexplained hole is found between two of the stones in the centre of other sarsens, which poses the theory that another largest stones, that is stone 16, may have originated at the site and has also not been brought in from outside.

The Stonehenge also contains other stones, which are known as blue stones which most of the researchers and archaeologists believe were brought to the site from Wales by humans.

 

Stonehenge is one of the most prominent prehistoric monuments in Britain and is famous worldwide as a tourist destination. It is interesting to know that the Stonehenge was donated to the nation's heritage collection in 1918 by its owner’s couple Cecil and Mary Chubb. Cecil Chubb had bought the then-neglected monument at an auction, where he has been sent by his wife Mary Chubb to bid for a set of dining room chairs.