The iconic Neolithic monument Stonehenge may have represented an attempt to unite people living in different parts of prehistoric Britain, researchers have suggested in a study.

The article analyzes the significance of recently published research in the journal Nature which revealed how the 6-tonne ‘altar stone’ at the heart of the memorial likely came from what is now north-east Scotland – more than 400 miles from the Stonehenge site on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, south-west England.

This discovery showed that all the main types of stones that make up the monument came from many miles away. In light of this, the authors of the study published in the journal International Archaeologyargues that Stonehenge may have served a unifying purpose. The article sheds new light on the mysterious significance of the monument in prehistoric Britain.

“The fact that all its stones come from remote areas, making it unique among the more than 900 stone circles in Britain, suggests that the stone circle may have had a political as well as a religious purpose – as a monument of unity for the peoples of Britain, celebrating their eternal connection with their ancestors and space,” said study lead author Mike Parker Pearson in a press release.

Consisting of several large stones (known as megaliths) arranged in a circle, the construction of Stonehenge is believed to have begun around 5,000 years ago, with several changes and additions made to the structure over the next two millennia.

Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the monument’s purpose, ranging from an astronomical observatory aligned with solar and lunar cycles to a sacred place for ancestor worship.

Some hypotheses suggest that the site served as a ceremonial or religious center, possibly involving funerary rituals, as evidenced by nearby Neolithic burials. In addition, it has been suggested that the site may have functioned as a place for business or social gatherings.

Archaeological findings at Durrington Walls, a site near Stonehenge, suggest that large feasts were held there during the monument’s construction, possibly coinciding with the winter solstice.

But despite extensive research, Stonehenge’s exact purpose remains one of the enduring mysteries of prehistoric times, with its meaning likely multifaceted and evolving over centuries of use. The latest research adds a new political dimension to the mix.

“We’ve known for some time that people came from many different parts of Britain with their pigs and cattle to feast at Durrington Walls, and almost half of the people buried at Stonehenge lived elsewhere than on Salisbury Plain,” said Parker Pearson, who is at University College London’s Institute of Archaeology.

“The similarities in architecture and material culture between the Stonehenge area and northern Scotland now make more sense. It has helped solve the puzzle of why these distant sites had more in common than we once thought,” he said.

In addition to the altar stone, the monument consists of two main types of stones: sarsen and blue stones. Previous research has shown that the sarsens appear to have come from the West Woods, near the modern Wiltshire town of Marlborough, which is about 25 miles from the monument. On the other hand, the bluestones seem to come from the Preseli Hills in West Wales about 140 miles away.

Results previously published Nature works suggest the existence of long-distance trade networks during the Stonehenge construction era and a higher level of social organization than that found in Neolithic Britain, allowing for unexpectedly advanced modes of transport.

Due to the geographical features of Britain and the forested nature of the island at the time, transporting megaliths by land would have been extremely difficult. That means a sea route may have been more likely, the study authors suggest.

IN International Archaeology paper, the researchers highlight how the Stonehenge horizontal altar stone is similar in size and placement to the large horizontal stones typical of stone circles found in north-east Scotland – where the altar stone originates. These “recumbent stone circles” are not found in the rest of Britain.

This suggests that there may have been close links between North East Scotland and the people who inhabited the Stonehenge area. The authors suggest the possibility that the altar stone may have been brought to Stonehenge as a gift from the people of northeast Scotland as a sign of alliance or some form of cooperation. Such megaliths are thought to have had symbolic significance in Neolithic Britain, potentially representing and even embodying ancestors.

The arrival of the altar stone at Stonehenge is not clear, but it probably occurred between about 2500 and 2000 BC. AD This period was characterized by the substantial replacement of native Britons by newcomers from the European continent.

“The inclusion of the altar stone at Stonehenge as an attempt at unity may have been a response to the legitimization crisis caused by this influx of new people,” the study’s authors wrote.

But as an attempt at unification, Stonehenge was ultimately unsuccessful, according to researchers. At the end of the different phases of the construction of the monument – ​​around 1600 BC. AD – the British Isles Neolithic population appears to have been largely replaced by people with continental European ancestry.