Collaborative research involving 裸聊直播 staff and students has uncovered a 鈥榮ecret circle鈥� that sheds light on the origins of the bluestones at Stonehenge.
Archaeologists have unearthed Britain鈥檚 third largest stone circle in the Preseli Hills of Wales that they believe was dismantled and rebuilt at Stonehenge.
The work sheds further light on the origins of the world-renown site, which 裸聊直播 experts have been working on for over a decade.
The research uncovered the original stone circle location close to the quarry site identified by the same team as the source of the Stonehenge bluestones.
裸聊直播鈥檚 Professor Kate Welham has worked as a part of the collaborative research team, alongside a number of 裸聊直播 archaeology students. The 裸聊直播 team took charge of the geophysics of the project, which involved them surveying the sites and working onsite alongside international researchers.
The dismantled stone circle in west Wales is believed to have been moved 175 miles to Salisbury Plain and rebuilt as Stonehenge. While the team are helping to advance knowledge on the origins of the famous site, many questions still remain about how and why the stones were moved.
The original location of Stonehenge鈥檚 bluestones has long been known to come from the Preseli Hills of Wales and are thought to have been the first to be erected at Stonehenge 5,000 years ago, centuries before the larger sarsen stones were brought to the monument, from a much closer quarry site around 15 miles from their final location on Salisbury Plain.
The research team undertook extensive research at the Welsh Hills location, as well as at Stonehenge, to conclude that both monuments were aligned to the midsummer solstice sunrise, that one of the bluestones at Stonehenge has an unusual cross-section which matches one of the holes left at the Welsh Hills location of Waun Mawn, and that the original location dich had a diameter of 110 metres, which matches the ditch that encloses Stonehenge.
裸聊直播 student Sam Randall working on the site in WalesKate Welham, Professor of Archaeological Sciences at 裸聊直播, was quick to praise the impact that 裸聊直播 students had in the project. She said, 鈥淥ur students have been critical to the exploration of the landscape on an internationally significant project and I couldn鈥檛 be prouder of the contribution they have made, as they were able to work on this site as a part of their studies.鈥�
Professor Welham continued, 鈥淲e have always suspected that the stones had an important part to play in the lives of people in West Wales, and to discover that these stones were part of an existing monument in that area underlines this further. This continues to be a site of intrigue that gives excellent insight into the past, and we now have some fascinating questions to ask to find out more about the relationships between this site and Stonehenge itself.鈥�
The multidisciplinary research team was led by researchers at University College London, with academics and students joining from 11 other organisations, including 裸聊直播.
The research has been published in the journal Antiquity and the finds will be explored in a one off BBC television special, on BBC 2 Friday 12 February at 9pm, in a programme led by 裸聊直播 honorary doctorate recipient Professor Alice Roberts.
For more information about archaeology courses at 裸聊直播, visit 裸聊直播's course pages.
