Over the last five years, archeological research teams have revealed an underground landscape surrounding the prehistoric site of Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England to map a timeline of the rise and fall of civilization on the Salisbury Plain.

With this most elaborate historical survey of the land surrounding Stonehenge to date, we can begin to piece together the scenes of prehistoric civilization through the artifacts and monuments that still remain at the site today.

The discoveries of this underground survey can be found within the BBC special “Operation Stonehenge: What Lies Beneath”. With this look at the social and economic traces of cultural exchange in ancient Britain, the artifacts and sacred stone circles reveal a flourishing settlement with centralized power over the activities, resources and ritual practices of the people who lived in the nearby region of Stonehenge.

–For anyone who didn’t get a chance to see what was revealed in Episode 2 of Operation Stonehenge, I’ve summarized it for you below:

1. People Settled Near Stonehenge for 9,000 Years

After uncovering a Long Barrow tomb that predates Stonehenge by 1,000 years, scientific evidence has revealed the trace of organized civilization, which predates the construction of the colossal stone circle. But the very presence of such a Long Barrow tomb was a common Neolithic structure seen repeated time and time again on the continental mainland. For this reason, the Long Barrow community burial tomb suggests that the region was traversed by outside cultural influences in the early days.

2. The Settlement at Durrington Walls Flourished at the Time of Stonehenge’s Construction

Just 3 kilometers northeast of Stonehenge is Durrington Walls one of the largest–if not the largest–Neolithic settlement in northern Europe. It’s construction is often suggested to have been built a complimentary monument to Stonehenge. The remains of this prehistoric settlement span 500 meters wide, and the site of such a vast village of up to 1,000 homes or 4,000 people characterizes the population of the area with the same grandeur as the vast perimeter and grand monumental henge of Durrington Walls. The walls also suggest a hierarchic control over land and resources, which may have been further reinforced by the promise of safety.

3. Stones of the Henge were Brought from the Marlborough Downs

Although sarsen can be found locally, no rocks as large as the megaliths of Stonehenge can be spotted on the Salisbury Plain. It is widely accepted that the particular stones selected as megaliths originated in the sarsen fields of the Marlborough Downs nearly 50 kilometers north of the building site. This fact is due to the sheer size of the sarsen rocks used in the construction of the monument that cannot be found in the nearby area. With the largest of the stones weighing in at almost 40 tons, it becomes even more difficult to grasp the level of human ingenuity and elaborate maneuvering it must have taken to pull 80 of these largest stones across 50 kilometers in an age of Neolithic technology.

4. Surveyors Used Geometry and Astronomy to Map the Henge Blueprint

Long before mathematics was defined by the Greeks (about 2,000 years!), the builders ofStonehenge had an extraordinary grasp of geometry. To construct this henge with such great precision, surveyors must have drawn a circle to mark the exterior perimeter dotted with the location of each megalith. One of the most important features was then added to the blueprint–a line to bisect the circle and align with the east and the rising sun. This sets the overall tone of solar symmetry that resounds in the monument’s construction, as within this etched circle, five hexagons are placed to display each of the megalith stone positions.

After the floorplan was literally etched into the landscape, the builders then placed 30 of the sarsen megaliths at each position to mark the passage of the sun. With this information, the people that lived in the surrounding area could measure the most important dates of the annual cycle–such as the equinoxes and solstices–to keep in step with the natural seasonal rhythms of planting and harvesting.

–Thus, Stonehenge is primarily a calendar built to measure the passage of time at the height of an ancient agrarian civilization.

5. The Bluestones Hail All the Way from Wales

At the time of origination, the sarsen megaliths of Stonehenge gleamed white to contrast the later addition of the Bluestones. This collection of smaller megaliths placed within the exterior perimeter of 30 sarsen stones also adds to the remarkable exertion of labor it took to build such a grand monument–considering the Bluestones originate from over 200 kilometers away in the Preseli Hills of Wales to the west. In the days of Neolithic, such monuments to rival Stonehenge were virtually unheard of. Skeletons found near Stonehenge that also date back to the same time as the Bluestones reveal what is thought to be a family who migrated from around 200 kilometers to the west in Wales–near the same location as the Bluestones’ origination.

6. Henge Stones are Missing or were Repositioned Over Time

Over the centuries, the Bluestones were repositioned time and time again–in what may have been an attempt to match the shifting stars to reflect a more accurate calendar of the seasons by the discrepancy between sidereal and solar time. If this agrarian society relied on the equinox and solstice to time the planting seasons, then this time tracking monument may have been corrected over the years to match the precession of stars, which shift at a rate of 1 degree every 72 years. Although the repositioning of the stones is still a mystery, an even greater enigma emerges from the grand sarsen stones that have disappeared from the site without a trace.

7. The Avenue Once Stood a Grand Palisade

Within the wider blueprint of Stonehenge, remnants of ‘the Avenue’ can still be spotted to reveal an ancient processional route. A long trench-like geologic feature caused by glaciation connects ‘the Avenue’ at Stonehenge to the location of the sarsen field on the Marlborough Downs. Professor Wolfgang Neubauer speculates that this route was the very ‘avenue’ used to transport the stones to the site. With a closer look at the Avenue, signs of a wooden post barrier bisecting the east and west sides of the route redefine this road as a grand palisade–a colossal wooden barrier up to 7 meters tall. The use of such a grand palisade is still unknown, but the construction of the Avenue is often associated with the cultural influences of the Beaker period.

8. Stonehenge Flourished in the Bronze Age with the Exchange of Tin

The Beaker period brought with it a rise in decorative pottery handcrafted from local clays as seen throughout the tombs near Stonehenge. The barrows and burial tombs grew with more elaborate artifacts and building materials began to reflect the rise of continental influences and cultural exchange. The addition of copper daggers found in graves in the area welcomed the Bronze Age of technological advances in the form of bronze metalworking.

–The island of Britain grew with great power during the Bronze Age due to the abundance of tin found throughout–a key ingredient in metalworking that when mixed with the correct measure of copper crafted bronze weapons and tools.

9. Artifacts Show Traces of Continental Trade Networks and Cultural Exchange

Artifacts unearthed at the settlements surrounding Stonehenge–such as copper axes from Spain, gold relics from Ireland and precious amber all the way from the Baltic region–reinforce the importance of the settlements as the location of an island hub for trade and continental cultural exchange. With the entrance of the Bronze Age, the construction of large boats began to be built in order to transport people and resources greater distances in record time. These grand cargo boats were built at about 16 meters long and weighed in at over 5 tons! Yet the construction of cargo boats allowed trade exchange to be conducted overnight, as these boats traversed the English Channel in just under a day.

10. Tombs Reveal Influential People and Social Hierarchy at Stonehenge

Bronze Age people favored the settlements surrounding Stonehenge, and this phenomena can be traced in number of  gleaming white mounds that would have defined the panorama of the ancient landscape. A clue into the types of people who called the Salisbury Plain home during the height of the Bronze Age is revealed in the largest mounds and burials that contain precious artifacts–a trace of rising wealth and powerful families or clans in the region. One particular tomb of an archer contained various weapons, decorative pottery and a Jadeite wrist guard from Spain, which demonstrate this man’s high status and suggest his network or connection to the continental mainland. However, one of the most impressive pieces uncovered at the site remain the decorative gold lozenge and gold studded bronze dagger found at the Bush Barrow.

The solid gold lozenge is etched with precise straight lines to display a civilization with perfect mastery over gold-working techniques as far back as 1950 BCE. Even more impressive the craftsmanship becomes with a look at the 140,000 estimated studs that were used in the hilt of the bronze Bush Barrow dagger. Modern goldsmiths are so stunned by the minute size of such intricate gold-work that some speculate the labor must have been done by the small hands of a child. Following this high period, the fall of Stonehenge as a ceremonial place and the decline of monument building took place around 1,500 BCE, when prehistoric housing structures and common neighborhoods crept up into the grass hills of this once sacred site.

For a recap of the BBC’s episode 1 of Operation Stonehenge: What Lies Beneath, check out 8 Hidden Facts About Stonehenge Revealed.

 

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Photo by Brian Fuller