Stonehenge’s Aubrey holes were used for cremation burials for more than 500 years, from the Late Neolithic into the Early Bronze Age. William Hawley’s 1920s excavations opened 34 holes and recovered 59 cremations and about 45 kg of bone. A 2022 deposit beside Aubrey Hole 7 was dated to 3090–2900 BC; a later cremation dated to 2570–2340 BC. 💀🕯️
Aubrey Holes Reveal Stonehenge's Long-Running Cremation Cemetery
EnglandBioarchaeology
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Key facts
- Stonehenge has a ring of 56 Aubrey holes just inside the henge ditch; not every hole contained cremations, and most excavated deposits were later insertions into the holes' upper fills.
- William Hawley and his team excavated 34 holes in 1919–1926, recovering 59 cremations and about 45 kg of bone. Only a subset of the holes contained cremation deposits.
- Dated cremations extend from 3090–2900 BC to 2570–2340 BC, spanning the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age and indicating cemetery use for more than 500 years.
- A 2022 excavation recovered a cremation deposit adjacent to Aubrey Hole 7, dated to 3090–2900 BC; a later cremation was dated to 2570–2340 BC.
- The cremated population included adult men, adult women and children; isotope evidence indicates some individuals came from western Britain.
- The figure of up to 240 individuals was an estimate, not a burial count; later finds showed the cemetery's use began earlier than the 1920s evidence indicated.
- Postholes inside the henge indicate earlier timber structures.
Sources
english-heritage.org.uk
Linked in video description
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