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Stonehenge stones part of local monument in Wales: Study

Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, England

Scientists have found that the stones used for building England’s Stonehenge prehistoric monument were cut off from a large piece of rock in Pembrokeshire in Wales.

A team of experts from British universities and museums say the stones were broken off larger rock faces in the Preseli hills using wooden wedges and taken to England's Salisbury Plain.

Their studies showed that the holes cut into the rocky outcrops at the Welsh site match Stonehenge's bluestones in shape and size.

Carbon dating also revealed that the stones were quarried at least 500 years before Stonehenge was created. Scientists, therefore, believe that the stones may have been used in an earlier monument in Wales before being transported to England.

"It could have taken those Neolithic stone-draggers nearly 500 years to get them to Stonehenge, but that's pretty improbable in my view," says Parker Pearson of the Institute of Archaeology at University College London. "It's more likely that the stones were first used in a local monument ... that was then dismantled."

Stonehenge is one of the most famous sites in the world, which was registered on the UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1986.

The monument is believed to have been used as a solar calendar, burial ground, as well as a unification center and meeting place for the peoples and tribes of ancient times.


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