New Information Regarding Stonehenge

In an article by National Geographic, it was cited that cattle teeth found three miles from the site were not from local animals. I find this interesting because it is known that the stone that Stonehenge is made of is not local either. Both the stone and the cattle teeth had links to Wales, which suggests the people who created and used Stonehenge had to travel very far to get to Stonehenge, near Salisbury England. Evidence archeologists found near Stonehenge give us a look at what people actually did there, and why they would travel such a distance. "Prehistoric garbage dumps, or middens, were filled with evidence of Stone Age partying, such as pig and cattle bones and broken pottery" (Owen, James). For whatever reason these people traveled to Stonehenge, it seems clear that it was celebratory. Looking into the ancient behaviors of these people is very interesting because we can compare our own customs to the way that they lived their lives. The massive amount of meat they acquired to fill this dump area with animal bones shows how important this ceremony was for them to prepare so great an amount of food. It was obviously of some importance to these people to bring their cattle and animals to this particular site, because there was no sign of the birthing and domesticating of the animals nearby. "If you have a site where animals were actually reared, you will almost certainly find a number of newborn casualties, but we are not finding that at all" (Owen, James) stated a researcher about the topic. This new information is interesting because of the mysteriousness that surrounds Stonehenge, however it does not provide much insight into the monument itself. Because of this I would not recomend the article, but would suggest reading about Stonehenge itself, because it is an anomoly that would be very interesting to know more about.

Work Cited:
Owen, James. "Stonehenge Partiers Came From Afar, Cattle Teeth Show." National Geographic News. 12 Sep 2008. 18 Sep 2008. .