Stonehenge

[Nomad]

A Great Stonehenge Mystery Solved

The inner circle of Britain's Stonehenge is made up of about 80 giant bluestones that weigh up to four tons each. This question has baffled historians for generations: From where did those bluestones comes?

A university professor is confident he knows the answer, which solves a longstanding mystery about Stonehenge, the prehistoric archaeological monument and one of the most identifiable landmarks in the world. The BBC News and the Western Mail report that Tim Darvill, a retired English Heritage archaeologist, along with a team of six researchers from Bournemouth University, has pinpointed the exact quarry in Wales from which the bluestones were extracted in 2500 B.C. and then transported 240 miles.



The site is small. Located at one of the highest points of the Carn Menyn Mountain in Pembrokeshire's Preseli Hills, it is just a single acre in size. Darvill calls the find an "Aladdin's Cave" of pillars that were practically made to size for the Stonehenge builders. Both inside and outside the enclosure are numerous pillar stones lying flat, some of which were recently wrenched from the ground and others of which have been there since ancient times.

"When we came across the enclosure we couldn't believe it. You dream about finding things like this but don't really think they exist. We have done geological and chemical tests which are still ongoing but show the quarry is the exact place," Darvill explained to the Western Mail. "Geographically, the bluestones are very distinctive and could have only come from a very certain area. We already knew it was in the Preseli Hills but the geological tests combined with the chemical test results make us sure we have found it."

Why were the stones taken from there? Darvill suspects they were regarded as holy or associated with a deity.

This newest find comes on the heels of another solution to a Stonehenge mystery: Who built it? Scientists recently found the remains of the workmen who transported the stones. Based on a chemical analysis of the skeletons' teeth, the researchers know they were from Wales. It is believed these three men, one teenager and three children--all of whom were related--carried the stones from Wales to the Stonehenge site in Salisbury Plain in Wilshire, England.