Stonehenge: Stone circle originated in Wales?

[guy]

Research has probably confirmed the old legend that the stones of Stonehenge came from a distant land. An ancient stone circle in Waun Mawn Circle, Wales could have been dismantled and later rebuilt in Stonehenge, 150 miles away:

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It is already known that the smaller bluestones that were first used to build Stonehenge were transported from 150 miles (240 km) away in modern-day Pembrokeshire.

But the new discovery suggests the bluestones from Waun Mawn could have been moved as the ancient people of the Preseli region migrated, even taking their monuments with them, as a sign of their ancestral identity.

They would then have been re-erected at Stonehenge. Archaeologists said this could explain why the bluestones, thought to be the first monoliths erected at Stonehenge, were brought from so far away, while most circles are constructed within a short distance of their quarries.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-56029203

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The team compared the two sites, identifying multiple parallels that suggests the transportation of the Waun Mawn circle some 175 miles to Stonehenge, where it was erected during one of the early phases of Stonehenge construction.

In the journal Antiquity, the researchers argue that both monuments were aligned on the midsummer solstice sunrise, and that Waun Mawn had a diameter of 110 metres, the same as that of the ditch that encloses Stonehenge.

One of the bluestones at Stonehenge also has an unusual cross-section which matches one of the holes left at Waun Mawn, and chippings in that hole are of the same rock type as the Stonehenge stone.

https://www.heritagedaily.com/2021/02/archaeologists-suggest-early-stonehenge-was-a-rebuilt-stone-circle-from-wales/137102

 

Summary: This study probably confirms ancient legends about Stonehenge's origins. As of yet, however, there has been no support of the myth that Stonehenge was the work of of King Arthur's wizard friend Merlin.

 

guy also known as gaius

 

 

Edited October 14, 2021 by guy

[caldrail]

Yes, but then Stonehenge was at the time just a ring of smaller stones marking graves, not the famous trilithon arcade we see today. The site had features that attracted neolithic people, such as the 'approach road' and the alignment with the rising sun. Salisbury plain would host a wide ranging ritual landscape that included Stonehenge as a main feature. So many people think it was just the stone rings as we see it today.