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🅰ntiquity Journal

28 Apr, 12 tweets, 6 min read

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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Here's an #AntiquityThread on the find, published today (🆓) buff.ly/2Q2HTNR 1/🧵

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📷 by Tony Hisgett / CC BY 2.0

The palace is the largest residential Roman building discovered in Britain and has a massive number of amazing mosaics to match.

📷: Some of the wide-spanning mosaic floors, by Nigel Richardson / CC BY-SA 2.0

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🔗 to the excavations being reported in Antiquity (£) doi.org/10.1017/S00035…
📷: One of the mosaics being dug up

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🆕 #archaeology: Some of Stonehenge appears to have originally been part of a Welsh stone circle that was dismantled & moved 280 km to Salisbury Plain ~3000 BC.

Here's an #AntiquityThread on research published today in Antiquity (🆓) buff.ly/3rFcVsf 1/🧵

The discovery was made at the Waun Mawn site in the Preseli Hills of Wales, close to the quarries some of Stonehenge's bluestones came from. 2/

📷: Excavations at Waun Mawn

The researchers had previously identified that some of Stonehenge's bluestones came from those nearby quarries.

However, they found the stones were extracted before construction started at Stonehenge. 3/

📷: One of the quarries under excavation

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1 Dec 20

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Here's an #AntiquityThread on research published today in Antiquity (🆓) buff.ly/3mpoPnV 1/ 🧵

This event, known as the Storegga tsunami, was triggered by a giant submarine landslide in the North Sea ~8,150-years-ago. Over 3200 km3 of sediment was displaced. 2/

📷: The location of the landslide, by Lamiot / CC BY-SA 3.0

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📷: Tsunami sediment (grey upper layer) from Maryton on the Montrose Basin 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 by Stozy10 / CC BY-SA 3.0

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11 Nov 20

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📷: Archaeologists carrying out GPR analysis in front of the Jell Mound

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📷: Colder archaeologists carrying out GPR analysis in front of the Jell Mound.

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Here's an #AntiquityThread on what the largest find of its kind tells us about ancient politics 🧵 1/

Hattusa was established as by Hattusili I ~1650BC. The Hittite Empire would go on to rule most of Anatolia within a few centuries, coming into conflict with Assyrians and the New Kingdom of Egypt. 2/

📷: Map of the Hittite Empire at its greatest extent by Ikonact / CC BY-SA 3.0

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📷: Plan of the grannery.

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