Tests show 5,000-year-old remains found at the world heritage site came from more than 100 miles away in west Wales
Maev Kennedy
The bones of people buried at Stonehenge, who died and were cremated about 5,000 years ago, have given up their secrets: like the bluestones, which form part of the famous prehistoric monument, they came from west Wales, near the Preseli Hills where the stones were quarried.
The remains of at least 10 of 25 individuals, whose brittle charred bones were buried at the monument, showed that they did not spend their lives on the Wessex chalk downland, but came from more than 100 miles away. Examination of the remains showed they were consistent with a region that includes west Wales, the most likely origin of at least some of these people.
Although the team, led by scientists from the University of Oxford with colleagues in Paris and Brussels, cannot prove that the remains are of people who actually built the monument, the earliest cremation dates are described as “tantalisingly” close to the date when the bluestones were brought into the earlier ditch and bank monument to form the first stone circle.
More:
theguardian.com/science/2018/aug/02/revealed-stonehenge-buried-welsh?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Well that fitted the story quite nicely.
'Although the team, led by scientists from the University of Oxford with colleagues in Paris and Brussels, cannot prove that the remains are of people who actually built the monument' ….but you can bet your last penny they will any day soon!
I've read the Guardian article and find it, by ANY standards, responsibly written.
OK, not wanting to get into a debate as I will quickly find myself out of my depth, however, I still believe the article in the Guardian to be misleading, particularly the headline which states
'Bones found at Stonehenge belonged to people from Wales'
whereas the base article states
'Strontium isotope analysis on cremated human remains from Stonehenge' support links with west Wales' and the article goes on to show Wales could be one of the possible places
Always trying to learn so acknowledge it was a good article in Scientific Reports just not sure the Guardian didn't read what it wanted to into it
Slightly more speculative, maybe, probably, words come to mind.
"showed that at least 10 of the 25 people did not live near Stonehenge prior to their death. Instead, they found the highest strontium isotope ratios in the remains were consistent with living in western Britain, a region that includes west Wales—the known source of Stonehenge's bluestones. Although strontium isotope ratios alone cannot distinguish between places with similar values, this connection suggests west Wales as the most likely origin of at least some of these people."
Read more at: phys.org/news/2018-08-people-built-stonehenge.html#jCp
Yes, CE, I too found the headline unhelpful...…….all too common these days!