All over the globe are historical m

All over the globe

are historical mysteries

left to us by the ancient

world – lost civilizations,

abandoned cities, and

puzzling monuments.

One unexplained mystery

that has both inspired

and mystified modern

man for centuries is

Stonehenge. Though it

is one of the best-known

artifacts in the world, we have no definitive idea of why it was

built and what it was actually used for. Today, however, two new

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The first theory begins with findings being unearthed not at

Stonehenge, but at a location nearby. Archeologist Mike Parker

Pearson and his colleagues have been studying an area about

three kilometers (two miles) northeast of Stonehenge. Here stands

Durrington Walls – a structure similar to Stonehenge but about 20

times larger. In and around Durrington Walls were three circular

structures made of wood. Evidence suggests that these wooden

circles were holy places, or perhaps the residences of important

officials who cared for Durrington. Outside Durrington Walls,

Parker Pearson and his colleagues have also recently discovered a

village of up to 300 houses which date back more than 4,500 years.

What do the findings at Durrington Walls have to do with

Stonehenge? Parker Pearson believes there is a connection between

the two places, and he cites his recent studies of the Malagasy

cultures in Madagaskar to help explain his theory. In Malagasy

culture, stone is a symbol of hardened bones and death. Wood, in

Using this model, Parker Pearson sees associations between

the wooden structures of Durrington and the hard monument of

Stonehenge. Durrington, in this new theory, is the domain of the

In Wales, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) west of Stonehenge,

archeologists have another theory about why the monument was

built and what it was used for. In this region of Wales are the Preseli

Mountains. Archeologists have traced the origin of Stonehenge’s

oldest stones (often referred to as “bluestones” because of their

Stonehenge was one of the last great monuments built in

ancient England. It was abandoned about 3,500 years ago, and

because its creators wrote no texts to explain it, they have left us forever with one of history’s great puzzles to solve.