Stonehenge Builders Unearthed

Archaeologists might have found the best evidence yet of when exactly Stonehenge was built—and by whom. A team of scientists excavating at Durrington Walls, about three kilometers away from the iconic set of giant stones, has unearthed evidence of a large settlement, including up to 25 full houses.

Uncovered in the remains of those houses were outlines of wooden dressers, cupboards, and even box beds. Animals bones were found on the clay floors as well.

The houses were 5 meters square in all, and they were on either side of a roadway that leads from the River Avon to a wooden Stonehenge not far away from the more famous stone one. Scientists believe that people gathered at Durrington Walls for feasts and other festive gatherings and at Stonehenge for burials and gatherings of reverence for the dead. Just as Stonehenge's avenue is aligned on the summer solstice, Durrington Walls's avenue is aligned on the winter solstice.

The archaeologists assert that the houses belonged to the people who built one or perhaps both of the megalithic sites.