Stonehenge cremations shed light on where mysterious monument builders came from | Science Magazine

Stonehenge. Photo: Qalinx CC BY 2.0

Five thousand years ago, the people of Stonehenge buried cremated bodies under the ancient and mysterious site, near Amesbury, U.K. Archaeologists have long believed that the remains belonged to individuals connected with the monument, but for more than a century, they’ve been unable to figure out where they came from or why they were buried there. Now, a new analysis of these remains is providing some answers.

“This is an extremely important study,” says Martin Smith, a biological anthropologist at Bournemouth University in Poole, U.K., who was not involved in the research.

The burials of 58 individuals were uncovered in 1919. The cremated bones had been interred in now vanished organic containers, perhaps leather bags, in round pits near the monument. Intriguingly, these pits may once have held standing stones, as well as the human remains.

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