Despite being one of the most iconic sites in the UK , Stonehengeremains frustratingly puzzling , contribute away very few clue as to its origins . However , the discovery of an ancient settlement just 1.5 kilometers ( 1 mile ) from the prehistoric repository may finally ply some answer as to who work up it .
roll in the hay as Blick Mead , the archaeologic site was antecedently imagine to have been a relatively insignificant papistic village , but recent digs have provided evidence that it may in fact have been aNeolithicsettlement . Researchers believe it may even be Britain ’s first - ever ‘ city ’ , and that its inhabitant probablyconstructed Stonehenge .
Professor David Jacques , who has been guide the excavation project , toldThe Telegraphthat “ at Blick Mead we found shed load of stuff and nonsense . Up until 2006 only 30 finds had ever been recovered from this flow at any one land site , and now we ’re up to more than 70,000 , so it ’s been a total gamechanger . ”
These token – many of which are Oliver Stone tools – are thought to vary greatly in age , with the oldest date back around 10,000 long time . This suggests that Blick Mead was dwell over a very long period , and was therefore a permanent settlement rather than a transient camp . This sixth sense may even reshape our understanding of how the great unwashed live during the Stone Age .
“ We ’re talking about a very humble country that hoi polloi were number to again and again and I think it was probably some sorting of permanent colony , so all our ideas of how Orion - gatherers move around in circularise communities needs to be revised , ” explained Jacques .
While the site now baby-sit virtually to a belittled spring , several millennia ago it would have been serviced by a tidy river , make it an excellent spot for a closure . It is thought that the surrounding plains were inhabited by tremendous ancient cattle calledaurochs , providing plenty of hound opportunities .
The discovery of aurochs skulls and bones at Stonehenge itself lends enceinte weight to the hypothesis that the resident of Blick Mead may have ramp up the famous monument , and that aurochs were seen as sanctified as well as a beginning of food for thought .
Within Blick Mead , archaeologists discover a 9 - cadence ( 30 - foot ) political program , made from stone flint , which Jacques believes was probably used for spiritual ceremonies .
“ It has a blue-blooded incline down to the water so it would have been useful to pull up a sauceboat . But the interesting affair is it ’s made of Lucy Stone . Other examples of platforms from this time are made of wood , so this evoke it had an air of permanence , ” he allege .
The latest finding from Blick Mead are to be presented in a new National Geographic documentary calledLost Cities .
