Who Built Stonehenge?

The breakthrough came from a new test that could pinpoint the likely location where people were born by identifying chemical markers absorbed in their teeth. The technique traces chemicals taken up by tooth enamel during childhood to reveal where someone was brought up. These traces are in all of us and come from the food we eat, the water we drink and from the general environment. The teeth enamel was tested for two separate chemicals: levels of oxygen isotopes and strontium isotopes. Each reading was then compared to a geological map of known levels of oxygen and strontium isotopes to reveal the locality of the tell-tale chemical markers.

And their teeth tests revealed an unexpected result.

The people buried thousands of years ago in this mass grave had all grown up more than 200 miles away from Stonehenge: in South Wales where the bluestones had all been hauled from. It was an incredible discovery and showed that these were the bones of at least some of the people who built Stonehenge. But could we go one step further, and actually see what the builders of Stonehenge might have looked like?

Taking the most complete skull found at the site, the scientists conducted a unique experiment on a 4300 year-old Stonehenge man. His bones were scanned into a computer, creating a 3D image of all the skull fragments. Then at Manchester University a team of experts on facial reconstruction took over.

These skilled facial anthropologists used advanced software to build layers of muscle and create a 3-dimensional model. It took many weeks of computer time but finally the mysterious and long-dead Stonehenge man was reconstructed and scientists were able to get an idea of what one of the architects might have looked like.

But one last mystery remains: why was it built? The only certainty is the stones themselves. A monument that has stood proud and immovable for thousands of years - an incredible monument created by the ingenuity of the human mind.

For more information:

Wessex Archaeology: The Boscombe Bowmen
http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/projects/wiltshire/boscombe/bowmen/index.html

English Heritage - Stonehenge
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.876