The dead of Stonehenge (original) (raw)

Strontium isotope analysis on cremated human remains from Stonehenge support links with west Wales

Scientific Reports, 2018

Cremated human remains from Stonehenge provide direct evidence on the life of those few select individuals buried at this iconic Neolithic monument. The practice of cremation has, however, precluded the application of strontium isotope analysis of tooth enamel as the standard chemical approach to study their origin. New developments in strontium isotopic analysis of cremated bone reveal that at least 10 of the 25 cremated individuals analysed did not spend their lives on the Wessex chalk on which the monument is found. Combined with the archaeological evidence, we suggest that their most plausible origin lies in west Wales, the source of the bluestones erected in the early stage of the monument's construction. These results emphasise the importance of interregional connections involving the movement of both materials and people in the construction and use of Stonehenge. Despite over a century of intense study of Stonehenge, we still know very little about the individuals buried at the site. Attention has focused rather on its monumental construction – the sourcing of the stones, their transport and construction, and on astronomical alignments. Stonehenge, however, also functioned as a cemetery from an early stage in its long history. Excavations in 1919–26 recovered the cremated remains of up to 58 individuals, making Stonehenge one of the largest Late Neolithic burial sites known in Britain (Fig. 1). Following their initial excavation, the cremated remains found in various ' Aubrey Holes' (a series of 56 pits placed around the inner circumference of the bank and ditch, named in honour of the seventeenth century antiquarian John Aubrey who first noted them) and elsewhere at the site were re-interred in Aubrey Hole 7 (AH7). This pit was re-excavated in 2008, and osteoarchaeological analysis identified central occipital bone fragments from at least 25 individuals. Direct radiocarbon dating places them in the centuries between 3180–2965 and 2565–2380 BC, reflecting the monument's earlier stages of construction 1–3 , a period during which cremation was a common burial practice in Britain. While the large sarsens (silicified sandstone) of the second stage of Stonehenge were most likely sourced ca. 20 kilometres north of the site, the bluestones (rhyolite, spotted dolerite and other lithologies) – now thought to have been erected in an earlier stage – have long been linked with the Preseli Hills of west Wales, over 200 km away, with some now more specifically sourced to Craig Rhos-y-felin and Carn Goedog quarries 4,5. This raises questions about the nature of contacts between Wessex (south-central England) and western Britain, and the identity and origin of those chosen for burial at Stonehenge. Were they all drawn from communities in the immediate environs of Stonehenge, perhaps representing a local élite, albeit one possessing significant connections much further afield? Or did some people – as well as the stones – move here from elsewhere?

An Early Bronze Age Cremation Cemetery at Beggarwood Lane, Basingstoke, Hampshire

Hampshire Studies, 2019

An archaeological excavation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in February 2016, on land at Beggarwood Lane, Basingstoke, Hampshire. The excavation area was targeted on archaeological features identified by evaluation. Excavation identified a small Early Bronze Age cremation cemetery, comprising twenty-three pits containing deposits of cremated bone or pyre debris, seven of which were associated with urns. The identified vessels included both collared urn and 'food vessel' types, which are well-represented in cremation cemeteries of this date elsewhere in Hampshire. Cremated human bone was recovered from only nine features, of which three were associated with urns and six were unurned. Two pits contained possible evidence of post settings, and a small number of undated features had no association with cremation-related material, and were of unknown function. A single feature, of Roman date, contained a deposit of iron nails which, together with charred plant remains, su...