Why Stonehenge was ‘ultimately a failure’ in striking new theory on its origins

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Now researchers have suggested that the stone circle at Stonehenge, built during this period, may have been designed to unite early farming communities across Britain in response to the influx of new people. “This was a period of substantial population replacement following the arrival from continental Europe of Beaker-using communities with steppe ancestry,” Prof Mike Parker Pearson, from the UCL Institute of Archaeology, and Professor Richard Bevins, of Aberystwyth University, said in the new research paper. “The Altar Stone’s incorporation into Stonehenge as an attempt at unity may have been a response to a legitimation crisis brought on by this influx of new people.” But by the end of the five-stage construction sequence of Stonehenge, Britain’s “insular Neolithic population appears to have been largely replaced”, the authors note. They conclude: “As an attempt at unification, Stonehenge was ultimately a failure.” open image in gallery People take part in the Winter Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge It has been known for a long time that the stones came from further than 12 miles away, but the long-distance links boost the theory that Stonehenge served a unifying purpose in ancient Britain.