According to a new study, scientists believe that the Stonehenge wonder was likely built of stone and the design was taken from an ancient Welsh memorial.
Researchers believe that some of the stones used at Stonehenge , near Salisbury in south-west England, were used in an earlier memorial 280km southwest in Wales.
Some of the stones used at Stonehenge were used in the Waun Mawn memorial.
The team behind the discovery from University College London (UCL) say there are key elements linking Stonehenge, built in 3000 BC, with an earlier stone circle called Waun Mawn . Waun Mawn is known as one of the oldest stone circles in England.
They suggest that the bluestones – distinct blue and gray stones native to Wales – may have been moved by the ancient Stonehenge builders on migration.
The findings, to be published in the journal Antiquity, will explain why the monoliths have been moved so far when most similar standing circles from that time were built near their quarries. .
The surrounding area of Waun Mawn was an important and crowded area until 3000 BC when activity seemed to come to an abrupt end.
Archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson from UCL said: “It’s as if they just disappeared. Maybe most people have migrated, bringing the stones.”
With an estimated 80 bluestones erected on the Salisbury Plain, it is likely that Waun Mawn, in the Preseli Hills in Pembrokeshire, is not the only monument to be recycled at Stonehenge, he added.
Scientific dating of coal and sediment from rock holes at the Welsh site, shows it was erected about 400 years before Stonehenge, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Besides, there are also indications that the builders of Stonehenge copied the monument in Wales.
Waun Mawn is 110 meters in diameter like a ditch that surrounds Stonehenge and both are aligned in the direction of the midsummer sunrise.