Murder at Stonehenge

Summary

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal
Episode: Murder at Stonehenge
Release Date: June 16, 2025
Hosts: Anthony Delaney & Maddy Pelling

---

Introduction to Stonehenge's Dark History

In this episode, Anthony Delaney and Maddy Pelling delve into the enigmatic and violent past surrounding one of the world's most iconic prehistoric monuments—Stonehenge. Moving beyond the mystical allure of the stone circle, the hosts uncover a gripping narrative of murder and mystery that dates back over 4,000 years.

The Discovery of the Stonehenge Archer

The episode opens with Maddy Pelling recounting a pivotal archaeological find:

"It's May 1978, and in the shadow of Stonehenge's mighty stones... the grave and bones of the Stonehenge archer." ([02:26])

This solitary individual, buried just outside the henge's towering sarsens, presents a chilling narrative. His remains, discovered in the outer ditch of Stonehenge, reveal signs of a violent death—specifically, fatal arrow wounds. This discovery offers a rare glimpse into the turbulent lives of early Bronze Age communities.

Construction Phases of Stonehenge

The hosts explore the intricate construction history of Stonehenge, breaking it down into distinct phases:

1. Early Wooden Structures (Mesolithic Period, 8500–7000 BC): Initially, the site featured wooden posts rather than stones, indicating its longstanding significance as a special place.

2. Earthwork Enclosure (Phase One, 3100–3000 BC):

   • Maddy: "Inside the enclosure are 56 pits, known as the Aubrey holes, likely remnants of wooden posts." ([09:48])
   • Anthony: Appreciates the detail of the ditching and banking, which archaeologists interpret as either ritualistic or defensive.

3. Introduction of Bluestones (Phase Two, 2900–2500 BC):

   • Maddy: Discusses the transportation of blue stones from the Preseli Hills in Wales, over 200 kilometers away.
   • Highlights the monumental effort and organization required to transport and erect these stones, suggesting a highly structured society.

4. Completion with Sarsen Stones (Phase Three, 2500–1600 BC):

   • Maddy: Describes the iconic trilithons—two upright sarsen stones capped with a horizontal lintel.
   • Explains the sophisticated engineering techniques used to position these massive stones, emphasizing the community's craftsmanship and coordination.

Personal Experiences and Archaeological Insights

Maddy Pelling shares her personal experience attending the Winter Solstice at Stonehenge, highlighting the site's enduring spiritual and communal significance:

"We watched the sun come up and it felt like time had collapsed." ([07:14])

She emphasizes that Stonehenge was not an isolated monument but part of a broader prehistoric landscape filled with burial mounds and other ceremonial sites like Durrington Walls, which Maddy explains as representing life in contrast to Stonehenge's association with death.

The Stonehenge Archer: A Case Study

A central focus of the episode is the Stonehenge Archer, whose remains were discovered with:

• Arrowheads embedded in his ribs ([34:19])
• A wrist guard suggesting he was an archer by profession ([35:09])

Maddy interviews Adrian Green, the museum director at Salisbury Museum, who provides detailed insights into the archer's life and death:

"He was found in the ditch at Stonehenge by accident... his sternum has an arrow mark on the inside of the bone." ([34:07])

This discovery is unique as it provides a definitive cause of death, rare for prehistoric remains, offering a tangible connection to the violent events that may have occurred during Stonehenge's zenith.

The Decline of Stonehenge's Centrality

The hosts discuss the gradual decline in Stonehenge’s importance around 1500 BC, correlating it with the arrival of the Beaker People—a group that brought new technologies and social structures, shifting the focus from large communal monuments to more individualized and smaller-scale rituals. Maddy notes:

"Stonehenge just sort of falls out of favor... but it never really dies." ([43:37])

The Enduring Legacy of Stonehenge

Despite its decline in prehistoric use, Stonehenge has maintained its prominence through the centuries. Maddy reflects on its "remarkable afterlives," noting how Stonehenge has been repurposed and revered in various cultural contexts, from 19th-century picturesque landscapes to modern-day heritage and national identity symbols.

Conclusion and Teasers for Episode Two

Wrapping up, the hosts invite listeners to share their perspectives on Stonehenge, highlighting the dynamic interplay of historical facts and personal interpretations. Maddy teases the next episode, which promises to explore:

"Aliens, 20th-century rock, a weird connection to Winston Churchill..." ([45:40])

This continuation aims to unpack the myriad myths and stories that have enveloped Stonehenge, further illuminating its place in both history and popular culture.

---

Notable Quotes:

• "I'm going to be honest, and I think we've all earned and deserve this honesty. There are topics in history that all of us...are not as interested in as we might be." – Anthony Delaney ([04:54])

• "One of the most exciting and interesting sites in Britain...Stonehenge is just a part of this complex puzzle." – Maddy Pelling ([09:48])

• "Stonehenge whispers of the ancient magic etched into this landscape..." – Maddy Pelling ([04:54])

---

Key Takeaways:

• Stonehenge is not merely a prehistoric monument but a focal point of complex social, religious, and possibly violent activities.

• The Stonehenge Archer provides rare, concrete evidence of violence in the Bronze Age, offering insights into the societal dynamics of the time.

• The construction and evolution of Stonehenge reflect sophisticated community organization and shifting cultural priorities over millennia.

• Stonehenge’s enduring legacy continues to inspire fascination, debate, and reinterpretation in modern times.

For those intrigued by Stonehenge's dark history and the mysteries that surround it, this episode offers a compelling blend of archaeological evidence, historical context, and engaging storytelling.

Transcript

[Anthony Delaney]

Hi, we're your hosts Anthony Delaney and Maddy Pelling. And if you would like After Dark Myths, Misdeeds and the Paranormal ad free and get early access.

[Maddy Pelling]

Sign up to History Hit with a History Hit subscription. You can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries with top history presenters and enjoy a new release every week.

[Anthony Delaney]

Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com subscribe.

[Monday CRM]

You know that feeling when you clear your inbox or end a meeting early or finally check your pipeline and everything's actually under control? That's what Monday CRM feels like. It's fast, easy to use, and with built in AI, it helps you move faster without the busywork. Try it [e-mail] CRM because sales should feel this good. If you're an experienced pet owner, you already know that having a pet is 25% belly rubs, 25% yelling drop it. And 50% groaning at the bill from every vet visit. Which is why Lemonade Pet Insurance is tailor made for your pet and can save you up to 90% on vet bills. It can help cover checkups, emergencies, diagnostics, basically all the stuff that makes your bank account nervous. Claims are filed super easily through the Lemonade app and half get settled instantly. Get a'@lemonade.com pet and they'll help cover the vet bill for whatever your pet swallowed after you yelled drop it.

[eBay]

Picture this. You're halfway through a DIY car fix, tools scattered everywhere, and boom. You realize you're missing a part. It's okay because you know, whatever it is, it's on ebay. They've got everything. Brakes, headlights, cold air intakes, whatever you need. And it's guaranteed to fit. Which means no more crossing your fingers and hoping you ordered the right thing. All the parts you need at prices you'll love. Guaranteed to fit every time. Ebay Things people love.

[Anthony Delaney]

Hello and welcome to After Dark. I'm Anthony.

[Maddy Pelling]

And I'm Maddie.

[Anthony Delaney]

And in today's episode, we are taking you back to the conception and building of one of the world's most iconic and mysterious prehistoric monuments. That, of course, is Stonehenge.

[Maddy Pelling]

It's May 1978, and in the shadow of Stonehenge's mighty stones, raised with astonishing precision over 4,000 years ago, archaeologists are making a remarkable discovery. It's a find that will wrench open a window into a violent and enigmatic past. The grave and bones of the Stonehenge archer. Buried just outside the henge's towering sarsens, this solitary individual had lain undisturbed for millennia. A Bronze Age relic shrouded in mystery, his body, excavated, analysed and to this day on display at Salisbury Museum, tells a dramatic and violent story. This was no peaceful burial. It hints perhaps at an execution or a brutal ambush. The archer's final moments, just meters from the most mystifying monument in prehistoric Britain, speak to a world very different from our own, and of a man who seemingly crossed the invisible line between the living and the dead, the everyday and the sacred. Found next to his, or almost complete skeleton were artefacts which possibly give us a hint as to his occupation, as well as his death. Arrowheads sat among his ribs, the same that had pierced his flesh in his final moments. But who was he? A guardian? A rival? A ritual sacrifice? Today, we're still searching for answers. His presence, evoking the intense drama of early Bronze Age life on the Salisbury Plain, a time when Stonehenge was not just a monument, but a magnet for power, pilgrimage and bloodshed. Even in death, the Stonehenge archer whispers of the ancient magic etched into this landscape, where sun, stars and stone meet and the shadows of forgotten lives still flicker beneath the soil.

[Anthony Delaney]

I'm going to be honest, and I think we've all earned and deserve this honesty. There are topics in history that all of us, as historians and listeners and fanatics and whatever it might be, are not as interested in as we might be. In other words, topics that's just natural, that's just how that's going to pan out. Stonehenge is one of those topics for me where I'm like, yeah, lovely stones, but if you were trying to grab my attention across two episodes on a podcast called After Dark, which turns out we are, this would be a really good way to try and grab my attention with this particular little slice of a story. Because this story does actually interest me, it does bring me into the story and go, hold on, what is going on there? Like, why was he there? Why is he the only one there? So there's a lot of questions that come from this. And as I say, we're going to be exploring Stonehenge in two different ways over the next two episodes. This being a look at the kind of history and mystery. Ooh, that rhymes. Of this particular monolith, I suppose. So, Maddy, before we get into kind of the details of what you've just described there, let's talk a little bit about the construction itself. What the hell is it?

[Maddy Pelling]

Well, hold on a minute.

[Anthony Delaney]

Oh, right, go on. Sorry, we're not skipping over that.

[Maddy Pelling]

Before we have any conversation about this, I have two things to say to you. First of all, the bad news is it doesn't matter if you're interested or not, Anthony, because you have to sit here for the next two hours and make this podcast for me. So you will be talking about this. And the good news?

[Anthony Delaney]

It's good. That's a good thing. I think I need to open my.

[Maddy Pelling]

Mind, I would say. So the good news is that this is one of the most exciting and interesting sites in Britain. I'm assuming you've never been to Stonehenge.

[Anthony Delaney]

I have no interest.

[Maddy Pelling]

It's remarkable. I live 10 minutes down the road from Stonehenge and I pass it all the time on the A road that goes right past it is amazing. And I went last year to the winter solstice.

[Anthony Delaney]

You did.

[Maddy Pelling]

And let me tell you, that was an incredible experience. You have to get up. Bearing in mind the sun rises in winter, obviously much later in the morning, you still have to get up super, super early because you have to sit in the solstice traffic of everyone trying to get there for about three hours.

[Anthony Delaney]

I will say, Maddie, you're not selling it. That's terrible.

[Maddy Pelling]

Admittedly not the best so far. Although I will say when we set off from our house and it literally a 10 minute drive that turned into hours long, but we did see a fox cross right in front of us on the road, which felt very mystical on the way to the winter solstice. It's amazing though, when you get there, you park in the giant English heritage car park, maybe not that atmospheric to begin with, but then you walk down the road and it's about a 10 minute walk to the stones themselves. And when you get there, unlike if you're a tourist who goes on any other day of the year apart from the summer solstice, of course, you can't get near the stones any other time on the winter solstice. Much like the summer solstice, you can get close to the stones, you can walk amongst them and it is a really, really special experience. And by this point, it's a little bit light, the sun's not fully come up yet, there are people milling around. There's a real atmosphere. I will say I did see one guy who had brought an axe with him and he was leaning against the stones, just humming to himself, which was a little bit alarming.

[Anthony Delaney]

Still not selling it. Sorry, Nope.

[Maddy Pelling]

But we stood there and we watched the sun come up and it felt like time had collapsed. It felt like being at one with whoever the people were who built this monument and that. We were looking essentially at the same site that they would have seen thousands of years ago. And it's amazing. I mean, I often talk about standing, you know, in the place where other people have stood. And certainly in the work that I've done on historical graffiti, you get to do that, right? You get to go to these sites and you get to kind of be in these spaces that people felt the need to leave their mark in. And Stonehenge is one of those. One of those spots, really, where you feel close to the past. Let me tell you about the construction. Stonehenge has different phases of being built, right? So the monument we see today is not necessarily what people at various points in history would have seen. The earliest activity is in the Mesolithic period, and this is roughly between 8,500 BC and 7,000 BC. I'm already struggling with the dates going the wrong way, as someone who resolutely works in the 18th and sometimes the 19th century. So in this period, the Mesolithic people were erecting wooden posts. So this is not a stone site at all. It is wooden posts. So it's potentially already a special place. Now cut to 3500 BC, which is.

[Anthony Delaney]

Later in time, just the odd 4000 years later.

[Maddy Pelling]

Yep, excellent. Adding, subtracting, who knows? Early farming communities built earthworks and the earliest burial mounds in this landscape.

[Anthony Delaney]

Now, I'm listening. Burial mound? Yes. You have.

[Maddy Pelling]

You have you like a bit of death? Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, that's the other thing about Stonehenge, right? It's part of a very complex landscape of all these layers of history, including. I mean, you cannot move for burial mounds. I say this about Wiltshire all the time. You can't move for Iron Age hill forts and prehistoric burial mounds. They're everywhere. If you walk in a hedgerow, there's one sticking out of a hedgerow. They're in the lines of the trees on the edge of fields. They're just everywhere. So this is the beginning of this, where communities are. You know, we think of prehistoric people maybe as in a very basic, general way, as being sort of transitory, that they are, you know, hunter gatherers, at least to begin with. By this era, people are starting to farm. They're starting to set down routes in certain places. And this site on Salisbury Plain is already important to them. Okay, so now we're approaching phase one. This is the earliest recognisable phase of the stone circle. And this is the earthwork enclosure. Right. So there's a ditch all the way around Stonehenge. This is made around about 3100-3000 BC. So only 100 year window there, which is nice and precise when you're dealing with prehistory. This is a ditch and a bank and this would have been dug and this never, ever fails to impress me. But probably using antler picks.

[Anthony Delaney]

Okay, I like that detail.

[Maddy Pelling]

Now, inside this enclosure, this earthen enclosure, you can always tell if a prehistoric site is defensive or religious, depending on which order the ditch in the bank is in. So if the bank is on the outside and then there's the ditch, that is ritualistic because it's not defensive. And if the ditch is on the outside and the bank is on the inside, the anyone attacking would need to go down into the ditch and then try and go over the the bank bit. So it's harder to attack, basically. So that's how I think archaeologists do. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they will. I'm sure, I'm sure and please feel free to. But I believe that's the case.

[Anthony Delaney]

That makes sense to me. That is a way to make ditches and banks interesting. Well done.

[Maddy Pelling]

I've made them sexy. There we go. Well, maybe not sexy, but you know, we're getting that. Reserve your judgment, please. Inside the enclosure are 56 pits. These are known as the Aubrey holes and I assume this is from John Aubrey who is a 17th century antiquarian who was very interested in Stonehenge. But essentially they are the ghostly echoes in the earth of where wooden posts or potentially stones, but probably wooden posts would have been. So we're starting to see there is purposeful architecture here. This isn't just a bit of land that people are flocking to or that they are farming on or gathering in in. They are creating something architectural, which is pretty important. So then we get to phase two. This is when the first stones that are now there are put in place, the blue stones. So this is from 2900 BC to 2500 BC, so only a window of a few hundred years. And the blue stones, we know that they very likely came from a site in the Preseli Hills in Wales, which is over 200 kilometres away, which is pretty wild to think about how far they've travelled. There's an amazing, amazing documentary about this and how they discovered that the stones had come from there. And I believe that they were already in a stone circle in Wales, that's the theory. And that they would remove. The whole thing was removed to the Salisbury Plain, which is kind of wild. So do check out that documentary, listeners. I'm Guessing Anthony will not. But it's really incredible. There is also a theory that the altar stone, so the central stone at Stonehenge during this period came all the way from Scotland. I think that's quite hotly debated and there's a lot of sort of ongoing, fast moving research on this, but that is the theory. And so you're starting to see these elements, these stone elements being brought into the same place. So people are therefore traveling to and from these places. Can we interpret that as a sort of unification of the British Isles, that different parts of it are being represented, different communities are being represented, different landscapes are being represented. And we see this also at Silbury Hill, which is a site just outside of Avebury, the other stone circle that I mentioned earlier, which is a colossal man made hill. It's huge. I mean, it's bizarre. In what is quite a flat landscape. And there's nothing, as far as archaeologists can tell, there is nothing in it.

[Salisbury Museum]

But.

[Maddy Pelling]

But the earth that made it. The theory is potentially that it was brought from different places. That is all over the British Isles, potentially. And so there's something there in. I can't remember the dates of Silver Hill off the top of my head. I don't know if it's exactly concurrent to this phase two of the blue stones at Stonehenge, but there's something in prehistory, in these big broad strokes of bringing things to one important site. I just think that's magical. I think that can tell us so much about the mentality, the communities of these people. It gives me tingles.

[Anthony Delaney]

Wouldn't it be amazing if we've just missed something really obvious that, like, you know, like there's so much mystery surrounding this. There's so much this, that and the other.

[Maddy Pelling]

And just like they just had a really good stone postage.

[Anthony Delaney]

Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or like they were just like, no. We had these horses that no longer exist. It was no bother to them. They could go and come in a day. It was just whatever. And here we are going. The fairies brought the lovely stones and shoved them in the ground.

[Maddy Pelling]

And it was the fairies. Yes.

[Anthony Delaney]

Conclusion reached the end. You are going to mention fairies. I know you are. At some point in these two episodes. I defy you.

[Maddy Pelling]

They're coming up. They're coming up. Let's move on now to phase three. And this is when the monument is completed. And it looks like what we know it today. And this is the version of the monument that our skeleton from the beginning of this episode. Okay, it was not a skeleton would have Seen. Okay, so we're going to loop this back around. Okay, so phase three happens from around 2500 BC to 1600 BC. Okay, so that's a bit of a bigger time window now, but this is the most recognisable phase. And this is when we get the largest sarsen stones. Now, they only come. Only come from the Marlborough downs, which are 32km from Stonehenge, so really not that far. And again, Marlborough, you're up towards Avebury, you're up towards Silbury Hill. You know, this is. You have to think about Stonehenge as sitting within this landscape that. Yes, it's, you know, monuments are rising and falling over several thousand years, but it's all sort of interconnected, it's speaking to each other. It's all sacred to the people who are moving through it and gathering there. So these are the big. The big, big Stonehenge stones. Right? So some of them weigh up to 30 tons, and they were shaped using hammer stones, which are made of the same kind of rock, sarsen or sometimes a flint. This whole landscape is predominantly a sort of chalky flint landscape. So this is the moment when you get the iconic trilithon. So this is the two upright stones that have that horizontal lintel going across it. So, you know, the very sort of recognisable imagery of Stonehenge. And these are amazing. Like, you look at these, and especially if you go to the site and you just look at this massive, massive rock sat on top of two other massive rocks and it's meters high, and you just think, sorry, how. How did they lift that? And I'll tell you, Anthony, I'll tell you how they lifted it. So they would dig pits with sloping sides. They would use wooden stakes and a frames. There's a lot of carpentry going on to get these stones into position. And they would basically leverage weights and timber platforms and sort of gradually lift it. And what's incredible is the stone that's on top of. And the two below are attached together through a kind of tongue and groove fitting. You know, when you get like a protrusion or a lump and then there's a corresponding hole. That's how they stood together. And it's incredible because it shows craftsmanship and a real. A real knowledge of how to make these big structures. Right. And it also, I suppose, reflects just how highly organized this society was. This isn't a couple of lads in a field doing this. This is big groups of people coordinating, often having to move stones from hundreds, if not tens of kilometres away based on, you know, which other stones you're talking about and to get organized enough and determined enough to do this. You know, I think in this, this AI inflected, I'm going to go off on a rant now, but you know, this sort of digital age of self obsession, we could not coordinate and get together to do something like this. We'd all lose interest in five minutes, I reckon.

[Anthony Delaney]

Oh my God. God, you have a lovely time. I'm not going like no way. I'm, I am staying inside where it's cool. It might get too warm for me if I was lifting stones. In fact, I don't lift stones. I don't know who you think I am. I'm never going to go there and do that. Never. I just don't like lifting stones. Who cares? I'm not doing that either.

[Discover]

Are you still quoting 30 year old movies? Have you said cool beans in the past 90 days? Do you think Discover isn't widely accepted? If this sounds like you, you're stuck in the past. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. And every time you make a purchase with your card, you automatically earn cash back. Welcome to the now it pays to Discover. Learn [e-mail] credit card based on the February 2024 Nielsen report this summer, Instacart.

[Monday CRM]

Is bringing back your favorites from 1999 with prices from 1999. That means 90s prices on juice pouches that ought to be respected, 90s prices on box Mac and cheese and 90s prices on ham, cheese and cracker lunches. Enjoy all those throwbacks and more at throwback prices only through Instacart. $4.72 maximum discount per $10 of eligible items. Limit 3 offers per order expire September 5 while supplies last discount based on CPI comparison. You know that feeling when you clear your inbox or end a meeting early or finally check your pipeline and everything's actually under control. That's what Monday CRM feels like. It's fast, easy to use and with built in AI it helps you move without the busy work. Try it [e-mail] CRM because sales should feel this good.

[Maybelline]

Ever wonder what your lashes are destined for? The cards have spoken. Maybelline New York Mascara does it all. Whether you crave fully Fan lashes with Lash Sensational big bold volume from the Colossal A dramatic lift with Falsies Lash Lift or natural looking volume from Great Lash. Your perfect lash future awaits. Manifest your best mascara today. Shop Maybelline New York and design Discover Your lash Destiny Shop now at Walmart.

[Maddy Pelling]

So let's talk about the kinds of people who were living near this.

[Anthony Delaney]

Yes. Okay, this is. This is good.

[Maddy Pelling]

You need some human beings.

[Anthony Delaney]

Literally, this. This is what I want from this. This is exactly what I want. Who are these people? Why did they do this? Were they living there? Were they living nearby? Did. Traveled three and a half miles. Who? Who? Who?

[Maddy Pelling]

Okay, so the earliest structures at Stonehenge were built by communities of Neolithic farmers and then their descendants, people who were living in Britain during the late Stone Age and then the early Bronze Age. And amazingly, these are not people who originate from the British Isles. These are Neolithic migrants. These are people who've travelled through continental Europe from places like what is present day Turkey and the Aegean coast and almost around sort of 6,000 years ago. They're closely related to the populations in Iberia and Central Europe. And all of these people have sort of migrated westward and have reached Britain around 4000 BC. Right.

[Anthony Delaney]

Coming over here, stealing our stones.

[Maddy Pelling]

Stealing our stones, arranging them in nice little patterns on the Salisbury Plain. You know, I mean, I think this is a really important and interesting point, actually, that. And we'll talk about this in episode two, that Stonehenge has so often been an icon, part of the iconography of Britishness, right? Specifically Englishness. Ironic considering most of the stones are from Wales and possibly from Scotland. But it has been co opted for all different purposes. Some nefarious, you know, others artistic. But the people who made this monument, this icon of Britishness, did not originally come from Britain. So next time your racist uncle's going on about people coming here and stealing our jobs, talk to him about Stonehenge. I can see the reviews of us being too woke coming in immediately. So these are, by the time these people arrive, these migrants arrive in Britain, they are communities that bring farming techniques with them. Never mind what did the Romans do for us, it's what did the prehistoric migrants do for us? They brought domesticated animals, they bring new forms of social organisation, including, let's build monuments everywhere. Right? And as you might imagine, there's been a lot of archaeology done in the landscape around Stonehenge, not just at the site itself, which is of course one of the reasons why people are protesting a possible tunnel there. Right. That there's just so much still to find, there's so much delicate evidence of how these early inhabitants of the landscape lived. There's a site nearby called Durrington Walls, which we're going to go on to talk about because it relates to. To Stonehenge itself. But there. There is evidence of large scale feasting, of cooking practices that are, you know, pretty elaborate. They're clearly feeding a lot of people. Evidence of these big communal gatherings. Interestingly, archaeologists can, I believe, date some of these meetings to things like midwinter festivals. So there's something about. We're already getting this idea of the landscape and Stonehenge itself being tied to the seasons. Right. That is a really important idea that we're going to hear again and again in this.

[Anthony Delaney]

You said Durrington Walls there. That is not something I've ever heard of. I don't know what that is. I don't know how that links to Stonehenge. What's the connection there?

[Maddy Pelling]

Yes. So Durrington Walls is another prehistoric site nearby Stonehenge. It's close to the River Avon, and it was predominantly a site built in wood. And some of the working theories around Stonehenge are that the stones at Stonehenge represent death, and that this is part of a longer processional route, essentially, and that Durrington Walls, built in wood, close to the river, represents life, and that this is a route that people would traverse together in a ritualistic manner. And that it was basically walking the line between life and death somehow maybe connected to the seasons, this idea of sort of rebirth and cycles. But I think that's so interesting. And I think, you know, often people visit Stonehenge and they go to the visitor center, they go to Stonehenge and they don't think much about the landscape around it. You know, often if you've come on a coach or something, you might not have the opportunity to explore the other site. But Stonehenge is just a part of this complex puzzle, essentially.

[Anthony Delaney]

That makes it far more interesting, I think, because it's that location on its own. Seems to me like, yeah, there's some rocks in a field, but then zoom out. And if it is as probably seems likely to me. I mean, again, this is all new information to me, essentially, but it feels very unlikely that there would be things within reasonable distance from the same time periods, because we're dealing with a long period here that in no way connects. That would be very strange. So it does feel like it's part now of a much broader landscape of the area. And that is more intriguing to me. That says something, as you've kind of been hinting at the whole time, about societies and cultures and people and how they're living and what they believe. And also you mentioned two of the things that I'm most interested in, that is Life and death and the ritual that we invent around both of those things. So that's kind of intriguing. Why have we started linking these monuments and Stonehenge and Durrington Walls and all this to death? What is that? Why is death so present in these places?

[Maddy Pelling]

Well, there are lots and lots of theories about what Stonehenge in particular was used for. Obviously it was a burial site. At one point we spoke about cremations being placed in are going to get back to our skeleton who was found there. So some researchers actually believe that it may, in its earliest forms, have served as a cemetery for an elite family or one particular group, because there aren't that many burials there. There are burials, but considering the archaeological evidence elsewhere in the landscape of these big gatherings, you would potentially expect to see more burials there based on the population size. So it suggests that, that you had to be special in some way to be buried there. The other important thing about Stonehenge, and again, it comes back to this idea of cycles of seasons of life and death, rebirth, this kind of inevitable turning of the year of the planets as well, is that there are lunar and solar alignments at Stonehenge. So the stones align with the solstices at winter and at summer. And there are theories that Stonehenge therefore functioned as some kind of astronomical observatory, as a sort of calendar. Right. And you think about these communities who rely so much on things like the weather, the sun, who are at one with the seasons, not just because they are living within this landscape, but also because, you know, their food will not grow if the weather is not conducive to it. Their animals will not survive. They live in this sort of ecosystem, I suppose, you know, they're hunting, they're farming. They rely so much on nature. Why would they not look to track it in some way? Why would they not look to measure it and potentially to control it? You know, is Stonehenge a way of attempting to manipulate the sun and the moon to their advantage as well as worshipping them?

[Anthony Delaney]

I think this is a really interesting topic in so many different ways, despite my reticence, because I think part of and this feeds into my reticence, I think there are so many variables that even the die hard experts, and, you know, that is not us, but like the people who spend their lifetimes on this still don't know. And I think to a certain extent there's too many question marks sometimes. So all of those things make sense. But I'm always left with this niggling thing of going, are we just Inventing, obviously, not in terms of the eclipse and the solar system. That's very clearly mapped out. I don't know, it's just so ungettable. And for some people that's really inspiring, but for me it's a bit like, okay, well, I'll let other people try and get it then.

[Maddy Pelling]

See, this is what absolutely fascinates me about archaeology, is that there's this physical evidence that you can go out and find, but there will still be huge gaps in your evidence base and that you have to fill with some conjecture. And the extent to which you can do that and how you do that is just so fascinating to me. And it's an endless series of asking questions rather than finding necessarily the answers. And I just think that's so exciting. One of the other theories about Stonehenge is that it's a place of healing. And I think this is really, really interesting, right, because thinking about it as a kind of ritualistic site, as a almost, you know, it's a kind of mecca that people are drawn to for whatever reason, whether that's social, whether they're, you know, going on big seasonal hun or sacrificing animals or, you know, we are going to talk about potentially human sacrifice as well, you know, all of these things. A lot of the people coming to this place on the Salisbury Plain who are then buried there, there is evidence that they are injured in some way. Their remains have signs of injury, of illness, of disease. Now we are talking about a long stretch of prehistory when there is no nhs. There is, you know, most people live a very dangerous lifesty, not least if you're there building Stonehenge, can you imagine the health and safety issues? Like, can you imagine the injuries of these people and the damage that would be done to your body? So it could be that that was not uncommon to bear. Injuries that may not have caused your death and you may have recovered from them, but you'd carry them for all your life. In the Salisbury Museum, a few cases along from the Stonehenge Archer, who we started this episode with, there's the Amesbury Archer, who's from a nearby site, and he has a kneecap missing, which is something he lived with, I think, for most of his adult life. So, you know, people were walking around with all kinds of physical ailments and problems, but there was a theory that they were coming to Stonehenge specifically to have these cured. The other thing is the bluestones, which are from Wales. And this, again, it gives me tingles because it's like stepping. Because I think you're so kind of overwhelmed to a certain extent with this distance. Right. This historical distance that we just can't get at who these people were with any accuracy. Like, I think you find it frustrating that you can't have a concrete answer. But I think this is one of the ways we can access something of their world. The stones, when they are struck, produce musical tones. Don't ask me about the science, but they're known for it. Right. And I do know that in Wales, where the stones are from, there is a church that used the stones as the church bells up until the 18th century. So they are specifically musical stones. So there's a sense that is this kind of used for some kind of sound based ritual or music making as well. And the acoustics in Stonehenge are particularly interesting. So that's, you know, there's a question there as well. I am now going to tell you about this potential murder victim. Right, the skeleton that we heard about.

[Anthony Delaney]

Yes, now we're talking now. Yeah.

[Maddy Pelling]

Okay. So in May 1978, archaeologists are excavating this outer ditch and they make this amazing discovery. And it's not something they're expecting to find. And it's this skeleton. And what is interesting is that it one that this skeleton is in the ditch of Stonehenge. That's pretty unusual. But also that, you know, this is a landscape that is for all intents and purposes a graveyard. There are ceremonial burial mounds, barrows all around in the surrounding fields.

[Anthony Delaney]

That is a good day for an archaeologist at Stonehenge. Right. You find a brand new body. Oh my God, that's an archer. Now I'm like, okay, you can retire. Heading down now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Maddy Pelling]

This is an absolutely career defining moment for archaeologists. Yeah. As you say, to find something new at Stonehenge, let alone a pretty intact skeleton and a skeleton that has evidence of violence done to it. It's remarkable.

[Anthony Delaney]

And wait, did it have a bow and arrow? Is that how you know it's an archer?

[Maddy Pelling]

Well, you're going to find out because I went along to the Salisbury Museum to meet this skeleton and I was face to face with someone who saw Stonehenge in that final phase of completion. So remark. But I also spoke to the museum director, Adrian Green, who very kindly told me a little bit more information about the remains of this person. So I'm standing in the gallery at Salisbury Museum and I'm looking at a glass case with a skeleton in. And for all intents and purposes, it looks like many of the other glass cases and skeletons in this space. But I'm joined by the museum director, Adrian, who is going to give me a little bit of insight into just how unique this particular person is. So, Adrian, to the untrained eye, this looks like any other skeleton, but what can we tell from these bones?

[Salisbury Museum]

Well, he's an absolutely amazing discovery. He was found in the ditch at Stonehenge by accident by some archaeologists who, I think were doing some environmental sampling, and they could see from the bones that he had been shot with arrows.

[Maddy Pelling]

That's quite dramatic.

[Salisbury Museum]

Yeah, I mean, very dramatic. And it's a very rare thing to find in prehistoric burials. You actually have a defined cause of death, which is very hard to spot in human remains.

[Maddy Pelling]

Yeah. And it must be an archaeologist's dream to come across some skeleton that has a very obvious story to tell.

[Salisbury Museum]

Yeah. And a dramatic one at that. And at one of the most important prehistoric sites in the world.

[Maddy Pelling]

Absolutely. So we know that he's male, we know that he potentially died being shot by arrows. Certainly he had arrows in his bones, attached to his bones.

[Salisbury Museum]

They were found in situ. I think the most dramatic thing is you could see where these flint arrowheads, these barbed and tanged arrowheads, had glanced his ribs. So we could see they'd gone into him. But the most dramatic thing is his sternum, which you can see there, which has an arrow mark on the inside of the bone.

[Maddy Pelling]

It's quite incredible, isn't it? Let's move a bit closer and have a look. So this is. This piece here. It's a kind of. It's in two parts, isn't it? It's quite a long. The long bit. So this is the sternum, this is the front of the chest, right?

[Salisbury Museum]

Yeah. This is the bit. Yeah. In front of your heart, effectively. And I think what you can tell is that the final blow that effectively killed him actually went through his side and penetrated, you know, his body through his side and then through his heart and then hit the sternum from the other side.

[Maddy Pelling]

It's a pretty definitive cause of death, then.

[Salisbury Museum]

Yeah. He's the only complete skeleton of this date so far that has been found at Stonehenge.

[Maddy Pelling]

And what are his dates?

[Salisbury Museum]

He died about sort of 2400-2100 BC.

[Maddy Pelling]

And how unusual is it to have human remains, a skeleton, rather than a cremation, in that monument? Given the rest of the landscape is burial mounds, is that a mixture of burials and cremations? Why is he in the monument itself? It seems unusual.

[Salisbury Museum]

Now, that's the big question, I think. That's the thing we don't know the answer to, actually, is because, as I said, this is unbelievably rare. We haven't found another example of a burial like this in the monument. You're right. Out in the wider landscape, there are burial mounds. But remember, those are later. A lot of those burial mounds are sort of coming in sort of around about 2000 BC, something like that. So he's earlier than that. In fact, his earliest dates are around about the time that the stone monument took on the form that we're familiar with today, when the sarsen stones were erected in their final positions and the blue stones were realigned into their. Into the positions that we recognize today. So this was quite a big moment in Stonehenge's history to have this burial dating back potentially to that period. We know that he probably grew up in the local area looking at oxygen isotope analysis, which involves looking at teeth and water that was incorporated into the teeth when he was younger. So we can say that he was a local chap.

[Maddy Pelling]

It's really interesting, isn't it, the distance, I suppose, between the concrete evidence that we have, the archaeological record, and the stories that we might project onto him, some based in fact, and others maybe getting slightly caught up in his dramatic story. But he is known today as the Stonehenge. Why is that? Because, yes, he shot with arrows. Do we have any evidence that he was shooting them himself?

[Salisbury Museum]

Well, the only thing on his body that survived, apart from the arrowheads that were embedded in him, is a wrist guard. It's a piece of stone that may have been part of a decorative band worn on his arm, which was worn to protect your wrist from the recoil from a bow. So that's why we called him the Archer. He also appears to have suffered from a bad back, too. And. And if you think about Stonehenge and the work that was involved in constructing the monument, you could jump to the conclusion that he was involved with constructing the monument.

[Monday CRM]

You know that feeling when you clear your inbox or end a meeting early or finally check your pipeline and everything's actually under control? That's what Monday CRM feels like. It's fast, easy to use, and with built in AI, it helps you move faster without the busy work. Try it [e-mail] CRM because sales should feel this good.

[eBay]

Picture this, you're halfway through a DIY car fix, tools scattered everywhere, and boom. You realise you're missing a part. It's okay because, you know, whatever it is, it's on ebay. They've got everything. Brakes, headlights, cold air intakes, whatever you need. And it's guaranteed to fit, which means no more crossing your fingers and hoping you ordered the right thing. All the parts you need at prices you'll love. Guaranteed to fit every time. Ebay things people love.

[Maddy Pelling]

Wow.

[Anthony Delaney]

I love that detail of the stone. Who would have known that that was stone as well? What, are we good? Jesus Christ. They're using stone for everything. Like, I'll build my house with it and I'll also put a guard against arrow stuff on my arm. But that's amazing because you get this kind of insight into what he was wearing, even. And, yeah, like, it's stone, but it's still very tantalizing. And I love, I love, I love, I love when you're watching these documentaries and they're doing bone analysis and then they're like, well, we know what they were eating or we don't. Like how this is so amazing. Like, it's just takes you so far beyond what we can do in an archive, which is just so, so incredible. I mean, what strikes me about that is that this is the time when it's obviously very much in use for whatever bloody reason. Like, there's obviously ten hundred billion reasons why or thoughts as to why Stonehenge is being used or what it's being used for. But obviously, at some point, it stops becoming quite as pivotal and it's no longer as useful to people for whatever reason. That in itself is a bit weird. Do we know when it stopped being such a focal, useful point?

[Maddy Pelling]

We do. So around 1500 BC we can tell the influence of the henge of that region. That whole area begins to wane, and the site stops attracting the large gatherings that it has previously. And it seems to be not as important as a sort of communal monument. And indeed, across the landscape, these big communal monuments are starting to lose their value. And part of that is the arrival of a new group into Britain known as the Beaker People, because of the potter pottery that they brought with them this new technology of making pottery. And they bring with them changes in beliefs, changes in practices, changes even in communal structure. So there's a focus more on individual and family groups rather than necessarily these sort of big. Yeah, as I say, kind of communal settings and sort of vignettes. The other thing that happens, and I find this fascinating as someone who has studied a lot of material culture and knows the value of small objects, that, spiritually speaking, people's focus, their sort of spiritual, religious focus shifts from large stone circles to smaller Valuable objects, valuable to them. I don't necessarily mean gold and silver, but that there's a sort of refocusing and it's smaller. And also that the dead are recorded and memorialized in smaller ways, right? Individual ways, rather than communal. But everything becomes more personal, more focused on these smaller groups, these smaller units. And Stonehenge just sort of falls out of favour.

[Anthony Delaney]

That's also, I think, just as inexplicable as everything else. Do you know what I mean? Like that. That feels to me unsatisfying. It doesn't feel sensible to have these huge landscape defining things that have been there for, you know, thousands of years and for them to then just kind of go, I don't think we need that anymore, in whatever capacity, do you know what I mean? Whatever. It's kind of doing it just because we do it. We need them again now, or we use them again now in different ways, in kind of celebratory ways and national identity ways, in acknowledging. And obviously there's this heritage that keeps going. But it's just weird to me that we lose the thread somehow.

[Maddy Pelling]

It's interesting that you talk about the sort of rejection there of the landscape, because the thing as well to remember is that in this moment and going forward in history, there's a shift in terms of how society is organised, right? No longer do people need to come together and organise themselves to create something vast in a particular place. And that actually the sort of psychogeography of the world is shifting. There's metalworking, there's trade, there's more sort of like long distance connections. You know, people are starting to move, not just to migrate now, but to go back and forth from different places and to trade with, you know, they've shrunken down into these smaller units, but they're trading, you know, maybe more sort of regularly, and that becomes the focus and coming together in one place becomes less and less important, certainly in the context of Stonehenge anyway.

[Anthony Delaney]

It's just strange to me that it's survived literally thousands of years of morphing by the looks of it, actually, because I think that's one of the things too, right? We're looking for what Stonehenge was. And the answer seems to me to be be a multitude of things over thousands of years. And then that usefulness stops morphing at some point. Like, you can see a world in which maybe they build a roof over it and then it becomes some kind of an enclosure or like, you know, I'm an architect now, but do you know what I mean, like, it stops.

[Maddy Pelling]

It stops being used.

[Anthony Delaney]

Morphing. And why? Why does it stop morphing?

[Maddy Pelling]

Well, I think it's such a monument, such. Well, it's such a testament, a monument even to human belief and the waxing and waning of that belief. A little bit like the moon, that it tracks. You're welcome. You know, that it's kind of. There are these rises and falls, these tides of certain beliefs that then ebb away and then a new idea will emerge. And maybe it's not using that monument in the same way. But I think the thing to say with Stonehenge, though, is that it has these remarkable afterlives as we're about to discuss in episode two, that it doesn't just crumble away to nothing. It's not left to rot in a field. You know, the stones aren't all tumbled. I mean, we can talk about. They are sort of repositioned in the 19th century to make it more sort of picturesque. But, you know, it's never fully out of fashion. It survives. And even today, it's an incredibly important thing for us in Britain and internationally. And we're gonna. We're gonna look at, in episode two, some of the international fascinations with it as well. But it never really dies. It certainly. In the prehistoric period, it wanes briefly, but it never, ever dies.

[Anthony Delaney]

Okay, listen. Well, tell us a little bit of a. We're about to wrap up today, so thank you to everybody for listening and for. I would be really interested to know where you stand on Stonehenge, because obviously we have two differing views here. And that is the amazing thing about history, babe. You know, I'd love to hear what other people think about it, because no matter what it is in the past, if it inspires love and passion and thought and thinking, then I'm just so. And I love that other people love it. So share your love with us. Let us know. Or your distaste if it's a case that you're.

[Maddy Pelling]

Basically, let us know if you're Team Anthony or Team Maddy.

[Anthony Delaney]

Oh, they're all going to be Team Maddy. That's just what. Everyone loves this thing. I'm just a cantankerous old shite. Maddy, let us know what we're going to be looking at in episode two for people if they want to come back and discover a little bit more about the myths around Stonehenge.

[Maddy Pelling]

We're going to be talking aliens, 20th century rock, a weird connection to Winston Churchill, right?

[Anthony Delaney]

So if 20th century rock stars and Winston Churchill and Stonehenge sound like your cup of tea? Then come back and listen to episode two and we will be waiting here for you to discuss Stonehenge and its myths in more details.

[Maddy Pelling]

If you've enjoyed this episode and want to get in touch with us to let us know about other topics you'd like us to cover, or just your thoughts on this topic and how much you love Stonehenge and hate Anthony the then you can email [e-mail] Hate Anthony.

[Anthony Delaney]

Not even hate their history wow.

[Maybelline]

Ever wonder what your lashes are destined for? The cards have spoken. Maybelline, New York Mascara does it all. Whether you crave Fully Fan Lashes with Lash Sensational Big Bold volume from the Colossal A Dramatic Look Lift with Falsies Lash Lift or Natural Looking volume from Great Lash. Your perfect Lash future awaits. Manifest your best mascara today. Shop Maybelline New York and discover your lash destiny. Shop now at Walmart. Hi, I'm Amanda Montel, author of Cultish the Language of Fanaticism, now available in paperback. If you're fascinated by cults, true crime.

[Maddy Pelling]

And the power of language to shape.

[Maybelline]

Our lives, this is the book for you, now available wherever books are sold.