Origin of Stonehenge's stones hints at purpose of mysterious monument

Stonehenge may have been built to unite the early people of Britain - long before there was a kingdom, a new study has suggested.

Geological analysis has revealed the stones were brought to Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire from the far north, west and south of the island nearly 5,000 years ago.

The effort to transport them hundreds of miles with only primitive tools must mean they had a unifying purpose, according to research published in the journal Archaeology International.

Professor Mike Parker Pearson, lead researcher and an archaeologist at University College London, said: "The fact that all of its stones originated from distant regions, making it unique among over 900 stone circles in Britain, suggests that [Stonehenge] may have had a political as well as a religious purpose - as a monument of unification for the peoples of Britain, celebrating their eternal links with their ancestors and the cosmos."

Recent research on the six-tonne altar stone, which lies within the circle, has given a new insight to the mysterious monument.

A team from Aberystwyth University showed it came from northeast Scotland, not from west Wales, as had previously been thought.

The finding could explain why the alter stone is laid horizontally, with similarities to the "recumbent" stone circles only found in that area of Scotland.

"The similarities in architecture and material culture between the Stonehenge area and northern Scotland now make more sense," said Prof Parker Pearson.

"It's helped to solve the puzzle of why these distant places had more in common than we might have once thought."

It is believed ancient farmers from across the land gathered near Stonehenge for a feast over the winter solstice on 21 December, which marks the moment the days start to lengthen again.

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Heather Sebire, English Heritage senior properties curator, said ancient people were more interconnected than is often thought.

"These people were just like us," she said. "Although they had different technologies, they probably had people who wanted to leave their community and communicate with other people.

"We know they were trading. There were small items coming that distance, but obviously this [transporting a large stone] is different.

"There is the whole issue over how they could have moved it all this way."