Stonehenge was 'domain of the dead', says scientist

Stonehenge served as a cemetery for more than 500 years – much longer than previously thought – a radiocarbon-dating study has found. Charred bones and teeth unearthed from the site on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, have been dated to various times between about 3,030 BC and 2,340 BC, according to Professor Mike Parker Pearson, an archaeologist at Sheffield University. The first stones were erected on the site about 2,500 BC.

Professor Parker Pearson believes the findings support the idea that the structure was the "domain of the dead" and linked via the river Avon to a similar circular wooden structure, Woodhenge, a couple of miles away, which he believes was the domain of the living.

The team believe there may have been up to 240 people buried at Stonehenge in prehistoric times and that they may be the descendents of a single important family. "It was a special place at that time. One has to assume anyone buried there had some good credentials," Professor Parker Pearson said.