The Stonehenge Megalith Mystery Has Finally Been Solved

• 01
  
  via CN Traveler

  Stonehenge, one of the world's most famous prehistoric monuments, has been a mystery for millennia. Constructed sometime between 3000 and 2000 BC, the ring of 25 tonne stones stands atop a hill in Wiltshire, England, among various burial grounds. Although it is one of many prehistoric monuments on Earth, the riddle of Stonehenge lies in the origin of the gigantic rocks, and how rocks of such size and weight were transported by prehistoric people and their simplistic tools.

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• 02
  
  via History

  Over the millennia, the origin of the rocks has been lost, despite futile attempts to match the rocks to their original location. That is, until now. A paper published in ScienceAdvances journal proposes that all 52 sarsen megaliths (the largest stones of Stonehenge) come from Wiltshire, 15 miles north of Stonehenge. But how was this groundbreaking information suddenly obtained? 

  
  

  
  

• 03
  
  via Smithsonian Mag

  In 1958, a rod was extracted from the core of stone 58 and taken to the United States by a member of a drilling crew member called Robert Phillips. He kept the core for almost 60 years, until on his 90th birthday, Phillips, who probably wanted to cleanse his conscience, sent the core back to its original home. This core was then tested, which allowed archaeologists to test the material of the rock without accessing the highly protected UNESCO heritage site.

  
  

• 04
  
  via Atlas Obscura

  Testing of the core revealed that 50 of the 52 sarsen megaliths came from only 15 miles away. There are other smaller "bluestones" that are part of Stonehenge that were found, around 100 years ago, to originate from somewhere in the Preseli Hills of Western Wales - 180 miles from Stonehenge. It makes more sense that the larger stones, which measure roughly thirteen by seven feet and weigh as much as 20 cars each, would come from nearby. 

  
  

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• 05
  
  via BBC

  Although we now know where most of the stones that make up Stonehenge come from, experts still have no idea how the stones were transported and put in place. Theories posit that the stones were dragged or rolled, but no-one knows for sure. For now it's another mystery to solve.

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