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🅰ntiquity Journal Profile picture
@AntiquityJ
Apr 28, 2021 • 12 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X
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Stonehenge is a magnificent monument, so we've put together a special collection of research into the site spanning nearly 100 years of study! 🪨

Here's an #AntiquityThread on some highlights from it (🆓) buff.ly/2NlXiag 1/ 🧵
One of the biggest recent discoveries about Stonehenge is that some of the monument's bluestones were originally part of Waun Mawn - another stone circle, over 200 km away in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿. 2/

📷: Remains of Waun Mawn
Most of the stones of Waun Mawn have been removed, but excavations of the empty stone holes was still able to identify key links with Stonehenge. 3/

🔗 to this research (🆓) doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2…
📷: One of the stone holes
Archaeologists identified Waun Mawn because they knew some of Stonehenge's stones came from that part of Wales.

Earlier research had identified several nearby quarries the monument's bluestones were mined from. 4/

📷: One of the quarries, Carn Goedog.
Cavities the megaliths were lifted from were still visible at the site. 5/

🔗 to the research (🆓) doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2…
📷: In situ pillars
How did they get all these stones to Stonehenge?

Lots of animal fat has been found on pottery from the nearby site of Durrington Walls - a sign of feasting, or a lubricant for moving rocks? 6/

🔗 to the research (🆓) doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2…
📷: Pottery from Durrington Walls
However the rocks arrived at Stonehenge, the work wasn't done. The monument has gone through several versions over its life. 7/

📷: The earliest version of Stonehenge, and how it is today, by Adamsan / CC BY-SA 3.0
The landscape around the monument changed as well. There used to be another stone circle, mostly made up of the smaller bluestones, nearby. 8/

Archaeologists gave it the creative title 'Bluestonehenge'

📷: Recreation of Bluestonehenge by Peter Dunn
Some of the bluestones from Waun Mawn may have also been part of this monument. 9/

🔗 to the research (🆓) doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2…

📷: Bluestonehenge under excavation.
Who moved all the bluestones all this way? Well, Stonehenge is actually a graveyard - human remains have been found in the leftover holes from earlier phases of the monument. 10/

🔗 to the research (🆓) doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2…
📷: Excavation of one hole
Later analysis suggests at least some of these people were likely migrants from the area of Waun Mawn.

Perhaps people decided to bring their monuments with them when they moved! 11/
Of course, this is just scratching the surface of that magnificent monument, so be sure to check out all the other research in the collection 👇 12/12

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More from @AntiquityJ

🅰ntiquity Journal Profile picture
Sep 23
NEW Analysis of Bronze Age arrowheads from the Tollense Valley 🇩🇪 reveals some were not produced locally, uncovering the earliest evidence for large-scale interregional conflict in Europe and suggesting a southern army fought at ‘Europe's oldest battle’.

#AntiquityThread 1/15 🧵 Leif Inselmann examining one of the foreign-type arrowheads in the find archive of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Schwerin (credit: Leif Inselmann).
Warning: this thread contains images of human remains 2/16
The Tollense Valley in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is well-known as the site of a large conflict dating to c.1250 BC. The quantity of human remains found (more than 150 individuals) suggests over 2000 people were involved, an amount unprecedented for the Nordic Bronze Age. 3/16 Map of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany, highlighting the location of the Tollense Valley in relation to the city of Strasburg. Insert: map of Central and Eastern Europe, indicating the location of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Read 16 tweets
🅰ntiquity Journal Profile picture
Mar 5
NEW Greek colonisation of the Mediterranean and the development of the Greek alphabet took place earlier than previously thought, radiocarbon dates from the Geometric period site of Zagora on the island of Andros find.

An #AntiquityThread 1/9 🧵 Fragment of a Late Geometric period krater, decorated with painted geometric patterns.
The Greek Geometric period is named after the ceramics of the time, which were painted with geometric patterns. It took place towards the end of the Early Iron Age in Greece and witnessed the beginning of Greek colonisation in the central Mediterranean. 2/9 Fragment of a Middle Geometric period pot, decorated with geometric patterns.
Key cultural developments, such as the introduction of the Greek alphabet, and a population boom took place during the Late Geometric period, which was thought to date from 760–700 BC. However, absolute dates are scarce and dating has been done using ceramic typologies. 3/9 Fragment of the base of a Sub-Protogeometric period skyphos.
Read 9 tweets
🅰ntiquity Journal Profile picture
Feb 8
NEW Painkiller or pleasure? Black henbane seeds discovered in a hollowed bone provide the first conclusive evidence for the intentional use of the poisonous plant in the Roman world.

Strap in for a hallucinogenic #AntiquityThread 🧵 1/13

📷 BIAX Consult Hollowed sheep or goat bone next to many black seeds and a stopper made from black birch tar.
Archaeologists have discovered hundreds of black henbane seeds in a hollowed bone at the rural Roman-period settlement of Houten-Castellum in the Netherlands, providing the first firm evidence for the poisonous plant’s intentional use in the Roman world. 2/13 Many black henbane seeds.
Black henbane is a plant, known from ancient and historical sources both for its medical properties and for its hallucinogenic effects. Before now, however, no conclusive evidence of its use in the Roman world had been found. 3/13

📷 K.G. Simoglou / CC BY-SA 4.0 Two pale yellow black henbane flowers with black centres.
Read 13 tweets
🅰ntiquity Journal Profile picture
Jan 23
NEW Pottery analysis uncovers the complex flavours of Roman wine!

Archaeologists have compared Roman clay jars for winemaking with modern Georgian examples, revealing how Roman wine looked, smelled, and tasted. 🍷

A dry and full-bodied #AntiquityThread 1/12 🧵 Buried Roman fermentation jars (dolia) from Villa Regina, Boscoreale. Credit: E. Dodd, courtesy of the Ministero della Cultura – Parco Archaeologico di Pompei.
The Romans are well-known for their love of wine. In the Roman world, large clay pots called dolia were manufactured for fermenting, storing and ageing wines. 2/12 Roman wine cellar at Tortoreto Muracche (Abruzzo). Credit: Francesco Pizzimenti, courtesy of Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per le province di L’Aquila e Teramo.
"No study has yet scrutinised the role of these earthenware vessels in Roman winemaking and their impact on the look, smell and taste of ancient wines”, state the authors. 3/12
Read 12 tweets
🅰ntiquity Journal Profile picture
Jan 15
NEW DNA analysis has revealed that regional cuisines persisted as new staple crops spread across the prehistoric world, showing how even the first cooks retained strong cooking traditions.

Strap in for a tasty #AntiquityThread 1/12 🧵 The Yanghai cemeteries. A desert containing many pits. Credit: Hongen Jiang.
Broomcorn millet was first domesticated in China before spreading west into Central Asia and beyond. In China it was cooked through boiling and steaming, producing a wet and sticky end product. 2/12 Harvested millet gathered into bundles in a field, with a mountain in the background.
In Central Asia, however, grains were typically ground and baked into bread. When millet was introduced, people simply applied their pre-existing cooking techniques to the new grain. 3/12 Loaves of bread.
Read 12 tweets
🅰ntiquity Journal Profile picture
Dec 15, 2023
NEW Deep in the remote, boreal landscape of the Siberian taiga, a promontory fort has been found to be 8000 years old, making it the oldest in the world! It is a rare example of hunter-gatherers building fortified sites.

A wintery Antiquity Thread ❄️ 1/10 🧵 Above: a bank and ditch (highlighted red) marking the remains of a pit house. Below: a visible depression (highlighted red) marking the edge of the fortification.
Archaeologists have typically associated the rise of social and political 'complexity' in Eurasia with the development of agriculture. However, hunter-gatherers in Siberia built fortified settlements centuries before similar sites developed in Europe. 2/10 Map of Eurasia, showing hunter-gatherer (green) fortifications and agricultural (orange) enclosed sites.
To find out why, researchers performed fieldwork at a promontory fort (Amnya I), thought to be the oldest Stone Age fortification in Eurasia, and its associated settlement (Amnya II), providing the first direct radiocarbon dates for Amnya II. 3/10

📷 N. Golovanov Aerial photograph of the Amnya river and promontory.
Read 10 tweets

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