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3 hours ago
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A prehistoric burial site in Dorset is now thought to be the earliest known large circular enclosure in Britain prompting researchers to question whether current dating of Stonehenge may need revising.
The Flagstones monument, near Dorchester in Dorset, has been re-dated to about 3200BC, approximately two centuries earlier than previously thought, following analysis by the University of Exeter and Historic England.
The archaeologists used advanced radiocarbon analysis to examine some of the finds, including human remains, red deer antlers and charcoal.
Dr Susan Greaney, archaeologist from the University of Exeter and author of the study published in the Antiquity journal, said: “The chronology of Flagstones is essential for understanding the changing sequence of ceremonial and funeral monuments in Britain.
“The ‘sister’ monument to Flagstones is Stonehenge, whose first phase is almost identical, but it dates to around 2900BC.
“Could Stonehenge have been a copy of Flagstones? Or do these findings suggest our current dating of Stonehenge might need revision?”
Flagstones was discovered in the 1980s during the construction of the Dorchester bypass, and excavations showed it was formed of a 100-metre diameter circular ditch made of intersecting pits, probably an earthwork bank.
Today half of the site lies beneath the bypass, with the remainder beneath Max Gate, Thomas Hardy’s former home, now bequeathed to the National Trust.
Flagstones is a scheduled monument with finds and excavation archives preserved at Dorset Museum.
At least four burials were found to have been placed in the enclosure pits, a cremated adult and three children who had not been cremated, and there were three partial cremations of adults elsewhere.
The similarity of this site to the first phase of Stonehenge, dated to about 2900BC, led to the assumption that Flagstones must be of a similar date.
The new findings suggest the early Neolithic activity, including the digging of pits, took place in about 3650BC.
After a gap of many centuries, the circular ditched enclosure was created in about 3200BC, with burials placed within it immediately afterwards.
A later burial of a young adult male under a large sarsen stone at the centre of the enclosure took place about 1,000 years or so after its initial use.
Flagstones also shows connections to other significant sites, including at Llandegai in Gwynedd.
Greaney added that the analysis suggests that Flagstones may have served as a prototype for later monuments like Stonehenge.
“Flagstones is an unusual monument, a perfectly circular ditched enclosure, with burials and cremations associated with it,” Greaney said.
“In some respects it looks like monuments that come earlier, which we call causewayed enclosures, and in others it looks a bit like things that come later that we call henges.
“But we didn’t know where it sat between these types of monuments and the revised chronology places it in an earlier period than we expected.”
