Is Stonehenge a Prehistoric Ancestor of the Flatpack Furniture?

Ancient Origins

Researchers believe that before Stonehenge appeared in England, it once stood as a Welsh tomb and had a special meaning to the people who decided to transport it to their new settlement.

According to the Daily Mail, millennia before flatpack furniture was invented, the inhabitants of what is now Wales and England, were able to create a huge megalithic construction and transport it 140 miles.
The theory has been put forward by Professor Mike Parker Pearson of the Institute of Archaeology at University College London. According to him, it is finally possible to end the long speculation about the meaning behind the Neolithic construction located in Wiltshire, which dates back to as early as 3000 BC. He believes that his recent research will also help to solve the mystery of the smaller bluestone rocks, which do not originate from English quarries, but come from the ones located in Pembrokeshire, over 100 miles from Wiltshire. Moreover, the large standing circle at Stonehenge were made of sarsen stones, which are available locally.

Bluestones at Carn Menyn in Wales (public domain)

On December 2015, professor Parker Pearson commented on his theory to CNN:

"We don't make that many fantastic discoveries in a lifetime of archeology but this is certainly one them. This is the first time we've found empirical evidence of how they moved the stones. There have been all sorts of ideas from rolling them in a strange cart-like construction to skimming them across the ice. You name it, I've heard it. But we finally have real evidence."

Previously, Pearson published an article in Antiquity magazine, but during the Hay Literary Festival, which began on 26 May, he expanded on this theory. Parker Pearson claimed that Stonehenge likely started off as an ancient tomb in Wales. He believes that 500 years later, when the tribes moved into the east, to England, they brought along the stones that had been dedicated to their ancestors.
The team of researchers from UCL analyzed c. 500,000 bone fragments discovered at the site of Stonehenge. The works confirmed that 25% of the remains belonged to people who lived in the west of Britain.
Some archeologists believe that the Stonehenge was the largest cemetery of the third millennium BC in Britain. They suppose that the only reason for creating it was related to the burial traditions cultivated by these people.

Reconstruction drawing of Stonehenge as it might have appeared in 1000 BC by Alan Sorrell

Parker Pearson also explained that the theory about using rollers to move the stones is nothing more than a Victorian myth. According to his research, people were able to transport such big stones by putting them on wooden sledges dragged on rail-like timbers.
At the end of 2015, the researchers reported about the possible scenario of transporting the elements of Stonehenge from one place to another. As April Holloway from Ancient Origins wrote: ''archaeologists have found the exact holes in a rocky outcrop in Wales from where the bluestones found at Stonehenge originated, revealing that they were quarried 500 years before they were assembled into the famous stone circle that still stands today in Wiltshire, England. The dramatic discovery suggests that the ancient monument was first erected in Wales and later dismantled, transported, and reassembled over 140 miles away in Salisbury Plain.
Archaeologists have been able to identify a series of holes in rocky outcrops that exactly match the size, shape, and consistency of Stonehenge’s bluestones at Carn Goedog and Craig Rhos-y-felin, to the north of Preseli hills.
The holes have been radiocarbon dated – from nut shells and charcoal from the quarry workers’ campfires – to 3,400 BC at Craig Rhos-y-felin and 3,200 BC at Carn Goedeg. However, the bluestones were not assembled at Stonehenge until 2,900 BC, which raises the question as to why they were quarried centuries before their use in the famous stone monument in Wiltshire, England.''
Now the researchers will try to explore the original Welsh tomb. They believe that it will solve the mystery of Stonehenge and prove that the Welsh tribes relocated to England with their precious monument.
Top image: Stonehenge, located near Salisbury in the English county of Wiltshire. (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
By Natalia Klimzcak