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Who was buried at Stonehenge?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Mike Parker Pearson ,
Andrew Chamberlain ,
Mandy Jay ,
Peter Marshall ,
Josh Pollard ,
Colin Richards ,
Julian Thomas ,
Chris Tilley  and
Kate Welham
Mike Parker Pearson
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK (Email: m.parker-pearson@sheffield.ac.uk)
Andrew Chamberlain
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK (Email: m.parker-pearson@sheffield.ac.uk)
Mandy Jay
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Durham, Durham, UK
Peter Marshall
Affiliation:
Chronologies, 25 Onslow Road, Sheffield S11 7AF, UK
Josh Pollard
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology & Anthropology, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
Colin Richards
Affiliation:
School of Arts, Histories and Cultures, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
Julian Thomas
Affiliation:
School of Arts, Histories and Cultures, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
Chris Tilley
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK
Kate Welham
Affiliation:
School of Conservation Sciences, University of Bournemouth, Bournemouth, UK
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Abstract

Stonehenge continues to surprise us. In this new study of the twentieth-century excavations, together with the precise radiocarbon dating that is now possible, the authors propose that the site started life in the early third millennium cal BC as a cremation cemetery within a circle of upright bluestones. Britain's most famous monument may therefore have been founded as the burial place of a leading family, possibly from Wales.

Keywords

BritainNeolithicBeakerStonehenge
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 83 , Issue 319 , March 2009 , pp. 23 - 39
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2009

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