[Music] recently scientists made an astonishing discovery that might solve stonehenge's mystery they found something hidden deep within the DNA of stonehenge's sarson rods the huge monolithic ones and it might reveal why our Neolithic ancestors designed and built this thing in the first place over the years scientists have been scratching their heads trying to figure out where the huge sarson rocks came from for years they believe they came from a COR just 15 M away from the site known as marlor Downs at this site they found similar minerals to the ones that make up the sarson
Rocks but it turned out there was more to the story than they thought the understanding of how Stone Henge was built is always changing scientists need to really travel back in time to uncover its Mysteries where did the Rocks come from how were They Carried why was the site built you see the stone headden site located at Salsbury plain in England is made up of two main types of stone there are the super heavy sarsens and the lighter and smaller blue stones the sarsens each weigh about 25 tons that's as much as three African elephants
stacked together the heaviest sarson stone called the heel stone weighs 30 tons all by itself together the sarsens make that iconic outer ring circle inside the that Circle that's where you'll find the blue stones the naming might seem a bit misleading since they're not really blue they have a bluish tinge to them when they are freshly broken hence the name these smaller rocks probably came from the preli hills in Southwest Wales which is about 150 Mi away from stonan they're a bit lighter than the sarsens but still pretty heavy the alter Stone which is classified
as a blue stone is the heaviest one weighing around 6 tons its original location still isn't known for sure to figure out where a rock came from scientists first have to study their composition this is like checking the Rock's DNA then they cross reference the structure of the rock with minerals in the soil to see if it's a match most of the sarsens we see around Southern England are actually made of a type of sandstone known as silcrete think of silcrete as s that's been hardened by underground water processes over millions of years this process
mostly happened during a period called the paleogene about 65 to 23 million years ago these sarson rocks didn't form in one Big Slab but in patches like nature leaving Little Rock Gardens all over the place scientists reason the sarson spread out randomly forming in isolated pockets over time many were buried under layers of clay and chalk which helped preserve them when ancient Builders were on the lookout for materials these sarsens must have look perfect for something impressive like Stonehenge actually sarsens have been used in everything from Roman Villas to Medieval churches and even in things
like Road curbs and old field walls one could say these rocks were the it material for ancient Builders and continued to be popular even into more modern times this fact made scientists start wondering that maybe not all sarson stones that were used to build Stonehenge came from the same place they've identified sarson sites all over the UK in places such as Oxfordshire and Kent after hundreds of years of studying the sarsens geologists finally had the right type of technology to determine the origin of the stones now I wish I could tell you that it was
some undisclosed location very far away from the site but as it turned out the sarsens were originally from Westwoods the forest near [Music] Stonehenge a new Factor came into play when excavations uncovered empty Stone holes showing that at least six blue stone pillars were removed from a Presley Hill site called Juan May in prehistory they had a stone circle over there and it's believed that some of stonehenge's rocks were recycled rocks from from this more ancient Circle if this is true it might be that Stonehenge is part of a much larger landscape of ancient SES
if this is the case then Stonehenge is just the cherry on top of a much larger scale project think of it as the sacred centerpiece of an entire landscape of monuments Mounds Stone circles and things this is why scientists want to find out where the Rocks came from so badly it could lead to why and how Stonehenge was built now Stonehenge didn't just pop up overnight it was built in several stages over hundreds of years it's likely that it wasn't a single unified Vision but more like a big Community project that evolved over time with
each generation the builders brought in their own ideas creating a stone structure that would last for ages the first age was around 3,100 BC e that's when people dug out a circular ditch and likely set up some blue stones as sort of a starter ring later they added the sarsens and even top some of them with horizontal stones to form those famous arches you see today also known as the trons these ancient Builders had some challenges on their hands how would they move the Rocks there's an old Theory known as the ice road that suggests
that the Rocks were moved by natural icy Pathways that form during the winter this way they could slide the Rocks down all the way to Stonehenge but hey if we're talking about a distance of over 100 miles that's not too realistic anyways this theory was debunked because it was warmer back then than it is today there's also the river Theory which suggests that the Rocks were floated along the River from the quy to the side but if we're talking about sarson rocks they're too heavy to float so there goes that theory what we're saying is
no one knows how the Rocks were moved another interesting science tidbit came from all the research done in Stonehenge a recent laser survey of the stones revealed the different Stone working methods used and has shown that some of the parts of the monument were more carefully finished than others in particular the Northeast side and the inner faces of the central tril on were finely dressed FYI a triathon is one of ston hang's most famous shapes it's when two huge monoliths receive a third one on top of them connecting the two together this fancy word is
Simply Greek for having three stones but anyways the bigger question and the reason ston H is so famous is why it was built in the first place theories are all over the place and some sound like like they're strayed out of a Sci-Fi show so here's a rundown of the most popular ideas there's of course the solar calendar theory this one supposes that the stones are aligned with the movements of the sun especially during the summer and winter solstices during the summer solstice the sun rises to the left of the heel stone that's the lone
stone outside the main Circle lighting up the entire Monument some say it's the ancient version of a cal marking the year's longest and shortest days some archaeologists think Stonehenge might have been an ancient Healing Center pieces of blue stone have been found chipped away possibly by people who believe they had healing powers the theory goes that people traveled from all over to come to Stonehenge in hopes of a cure for whatever was ailing them there's also some speculation that Stonehenge was the place to be think of it as an ancient Gathering Spot some evidence suggest
that communities from distant areas travel to Stonehenge for Gatherings feasts and ceremonies studies of bones found near the site show they came from all over Britain making it a sort of prehistoric Meetup location that's it for today so hey if you pacified your curiosity then give the video a like and share it with your friends or if you want more just click on these videos and stay on the Bri right side
