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Prehistoric International Tourism at Stonehenge

From tooth analyses of remains of prehistoric human burials near Stonehenge researchers have determined that some of the buried were from distant parts of Europe. Items suggesting that they were wealthy or of significant social status were buried with them. Among other things researchers speculate that Stonehenge was known as a place of magical healing.

According to Andrew Fitzpatrick, of Wessex Archaeology, Stonehenge would have been well known across Europe, and foreign visitors would have stared in amazement at the megaliths.

The findings were announced at a recent science symposium in London celebrating the 175th anniversary of the British Geological Survey.

http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/stonehenge-drew-prehistoric-t...

Tags: Jubinsky, Stonehenge

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Permalink Reply by Glenn Sogge on October 4, 2010 at 7:54am

Items suggesting that they were wealthy or of significant social status were buried with them. Researchers speculate that Stonehenge was known as a place of magical healing.

I guess that didn't work out too well for them if they couldn't even make it back home to die. "With healing like that, who needs .... ?"

Permalink Reply by Sarah Walton on October 4, 2010 at 9:34am

Stonehenge has become so exciting in recent years. We're getting a better idea of what these prehistoric Britons were doing there, and the picture we're getting is much different than I think anyone suspected. It would have been quite the cosmopolitan site for its day, with people coming from all over the Isles, and apparently continental Europe, to visit Stonehenge and other sites in the surrounding landscape.

Permalink Reply by Dr. Terence Meaden on October 4, 2010 at 3:03pm

Yes, John. Discoveries at and near Stonehenge continue to produce surprises.
I wrote a book on Stonehenge, published in 1991, and updated it in 1997.
Now a revision of several chapters is warranted. So much fresh archaeology has been done in recent years.

http://www.stonehenge-avebury.net/stnhngbooks.html

Stonehenge: The Secret of the Solstice.

Permalink Reply by John Jubinsky on October 5, 2010 at 5:38am

I am always amazed by how much can be determined from the remains.

Regarding what can be determined now days I am currently having my DNA analyzed and hoping that I did not contaminate the sample. I was overenthusiastic about putting saliva in the circled areas and a part of one of the circles washed out. If the sample is contaminated I hope they inform me instead of fudging the result. My grandparents on both sides were from Europe (and from entirely different areas) so I have a fairly good idea of what to expect.

Permalink Reply by Dr. Terence Meaden on October 5, 2010 at 8:08am

John, Do tell us all about your DNA when you get it it.

Mine is I1b2a on my father's side and U3 on my mother's. It was suggested by the analysts that these haplogroups were carried to Britain by migrating hunter-gatherers before Britain was isolated by the seas.

My wife's is U5a which I think is the same as that of 'Cheddar Man'.

Permalink Reply by John Jubinsky on October 5, 2010 at 2:50pm

Will do!

Permalink Reply by Dr. Terence Meaden on October 5, 2010 at 6:38pm

Extra notes:
The rising seas made Britain into an island around 6500 BC.
'Cheddar Man' is a skeleton from a Cheddar cave dating from about 8000 BC.
The last Ice Age was ending around 10,000 BC.
The ice sheets had got no further south than about where the west-to-east run of the River Thames through North Wiltshire and Oxfordshire is now, and south of that was treeless tundra.

Permalink Reply by John Jubinsky on November 20, 2010 at 2:50pm

As I suspected, my DNA sample was contaminated. It is just as well because I was using DNA Tribes for the analysis and, from its method, the results wouldn’t have told me anything I didn’t already know. Tribes is supposed to be the leader in the industry but does not evaluate DNA one parent at a time. Moreover, it only analyzes autosomal DNA and not sex chromosomes.

Tribes considers the total combination of markers from both parents and associates the blend with areas where it most frequently occurs and where it has most frequently occurred in the past. This would be meaningful if both parents were of the same nationality. However, mine were not. For all intents and purposes I am half Ukrainian and half Italian. A blend of those markers wouldn’t show up very frequently anywhere - present nor past. For meaningful information I need analysis on a per parent basis. I would also like to have my sex chromosomes analyzed. Therefore, I cancelled the order.

I am going to shop around to see if I can find a provider that can better serve my interests. For example, I know there are traces of Lombard and French on the Italian side. (My mother’s maiden name was Anselmi which is an Italianization of the Lombard name, Anselm, and I had an Italian great grandfather with the last name of Sallei which is an Italianization of the French name, Salle.) On the Ukrainian side there is very blonde hair the origins of which are unknown.

Given the state of the art in the industry I don’t know if any provider will be able to tell me much about these things. However, so far as having the sex chromosomes analyzed I am interested in the National Geographic project per below:

"https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/participate.html" target="_blank">https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/participate....

https://nationalgeographic.genographic.com/genographic/participate....

Permalink Reply by John Jubinsky on November 20, 2010 at 3:24pm

Sorry about the messed up link. The National Geographic DNA project is at:

https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/participate....

Permalink Reply by Grace Fitzpatrick on October 5, 2010 at 3:48pm