MORE DISCOVERIES ABOUT STONEHENGE. I have posted a number of times, including here a few months ago, about Annalisa’s strong belief when we visited Stonehenge in 2003 that there was a lot more to be found underground in that area and the subsequent discoveries which bear out her surmise. This article in the Guardian by Dalya Alberge describes another discovery, although in Wales rather than near Stonehenge. When we saw Stonehenge, it was already known that the bluestone rocks that are part of Stonehenge came from hills in Wales, a long way from Stonehenge. (Alberge says that the distance is 140 miles.)
The latest discovery is apparently of the location where the Stonehenge bluestones were removed. The recesses in the outcrops there “match Stonehenge’s bluestones in size and shape”. In addition, Alberge reports that: “Carbonised hazelnut shells and charcoal from the quarry workers’ campfires have been radiocarbon-dated to reveal when the stones would have been extracted.” The carbon dating gives a date for the quarrying of from 3400 BC to 3200BC—300 years before those bluestones got put up at Stonehenge. What happened in the meantime? Alberge reports on different speculations, including that the bluestones were put up at an intermediate location before being taken to Stonehnge.