priceofliberty: Research dates the British settlers who...

priceofliberty:

Research dates the British settlers who constructed first monuments at Stonehenge

Carbon dating from an archaeological dig by the University of Buckingham shows that the parish of Amesbury, which includes Stonehenge, has been continually occupied for every millennia since 8820BC. The origins of Amesbury have been discovered as a result of carbon dating bones of aurochs – twice the size of bulls, wild boar and red deer following a dig at Vespasian’s Camp, Blick Mead, a mile and a half from Stonehenge last year.

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The results thus provide the ‘the missing link’ between the erection of the posts between 8820-6590BC and the later siting of Stonehenge in 3000BC. The findings provide evidence which suggests that Stonehenge, rather than being seen as a neolithic new build in an empty landscape, should be viewed as a response to long term use of the area by indigenous hunters and home makers. The backstory to the monument has been discovered and with it the earliest British story.

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The persistent use of the site for nearly 3,000 years and the fact that many of the tools found were for domestic purposes rather than hunting ones also points to the fact that people were settling there – previously it was thought that there weren’t any settlers until Neolithic times.

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