Stonehenge was "a Long-Term Cemetery"

Scientists now speculate that England's Stonehenge was a burial ground for much longer than had previously been believed. The site was used as a cemetery for 500 years, from the point of its inception.

Archaeologists have said the cremation burials found at the site might represent a single elite family and its descendents - perhaps a ruling dynasty. Their results suggest burials took place at the site from the initiation of Stonehenge, just after 3,000 BC, until the time the large stones appear at about 2,500 BC.

You can read more on the BBC News web site at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7426195.stm.

Comments

[Marcia Bignall]

Fascinating and how logical that the original use of the Stonehenge site is thought to have been a burial site and memorial to an ancient royal dynasty. The National Geographic site has in depth coverage of the archaeological research and some stunning nighttime photographs taken by photographer Ken Geiger using a technique he calls "light painting." One of his photos graces the cover of the June issue of National Geographic magazine.

While browsing the Nat Geographic site I came across photos of Memorial Amphitheater in Arlington National Cemetery and was struck by the similarity of style and purpose between the amphitheater and Stonehenge.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/05/080529-stonehenge-cemetery.html

[Jason Presley]

I love how, thanks to advances in archaeology (both in technology and imagination), we're learning that ancient man and ancient civilizations were much more advanced and sophisticated than the self-absorbed, elite English "scientific community" of the late 1800s to mid 1900s gave them credit for. So much knowledge has been lost over the past 2,000 years that, in a way, the world is STILL recovering from disasters like the burning of the library at Alexandria and the effects of the Dark Ages. And that's just European, North African and Middle Eastern knowledge, nevermind all that has been lost in South America and Southeast Asia due to wars, disease and expanding empires.