Who Built Stonehenge?

Credit: Tom Goskar, Wessex Archaeology Pottery found by archaeologists from Wessex Archaeology.

Tests published in 1995 revealed that the final phase of Stonehenge was older then previously thought - it was built as far back as 4,000 years ago. This was the first hard evidence of a date and it knocked out the Druids as contenders since they only came to Britain around 2000 years ago. In fact, Stonehenge is so old that the first phase even predates the pyramids of Egypt. The radiocarbon date suggests that Stonehenge is the work of ancient Britons - a primitive and little-known people. At this time, 4,500 years ago, Britain was nearing the end of the Stone Age and the start of the Bronze Age. How could such primitive people have pulled off such an incredible construction project?

The strategy

The first problem any ancient builders faced was getting hold of the construction materials - in this case the stones that make up Stonehenge. There are two types of stones at Stonehenge; small ones called bluestones and larger Sarsen stones. Rocks similar to the large Sarsen stones can be found some 20 miles from Stonehenge but the bluestones are a different matter: they're not from the local area at all.

Tracing the source of the bluestones isn't easy. Under the microscope, the distinctive crystalline texture of these stones is a close match with one other location in the whole of the British Isles: the Preseli mountain range in South West Wales. The Preseli Mountains are more than 200 miles away from Stonehenge. And to make matters worse, the journey kicks off in tough, mountainous terrain - and involves crossing Britain's biggest tidal estuary, the Bristol Channel. So, how were stones weighing as much as four tons carried such a long way with primitive technology?

Archaeological evidence suggests that people from the Stonehenge era used a variety of different boats. The most common were log boats - a type of dugout canoe cut from an oak tree. An unusual discovery at Shardlow quarry near Nottingham, England in 1998 offers evidence that these boats could have carried the heavy stones found at Stonehenge. When a flood washed away the mud from what appeared to be an old tree stump, the remains of a Bronze Age log boat emerged. The boat was carrying an unexpected payload: more than half a ton of quarried rock.