Munich exhibition reveals Stonehenge’s ancient secrets

Stonehenge was built as a monument to honour the dead rather than as a temple for worshipping gods, according to findings presented in an exhibition in Munich, BR reported. The exhibition also examines how people moved the massive stones over long distances without iron or steel tools, cranes, wheels or other machines.

The stone circle in southern England consists of monoliths weighing up to 40 tonnes and standing five metres high, linked by lintels up to seven metres long. It was built around 5,000 years ago, during the Stone Age.

Heiner Schwarzberg of Munich’s Archaeological State Collection said the construction was remarkable not only from an engineering perspective but also because of the organisation it required. Hundreds of people are thought to have moved the stones, while others would have had to coordinate the work and provide food and other supplies over a long period.

For centuries, researchers and amateur investigators debated how and why Stonehenge was built. The monument was at times even cited as evidence of giants, wizards or extraterrestrials.

New excavations launched in 2003 followed an insight shared with British archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson by a colleague who had previously studied burial rituals in Madagascar. The idea was that stone represented ancestors, while wood represented the living: stone was permanent, while wood was temporary.

There is a similar wooden circle called Woodhenge about three kilometres from Stonehenge. The findings from the excavations indicate that Stonehenge was a monument honouring the dead. Its alignment with the sunrise and sunset during the winter and summer solstices does not change that interpretation.

Geologists have also found that the stones came from different parts of Britain. Some originated in Wales, about 220 kilometres away, while others came from the south coast. The altar stone at the centre came from northern Scotland, around 900 kilometres away.

The exhibition at the Archaeological State Collection in Munich presents these findings through models, reconstructions, large dioramas and videos. It also includes more than 600 original Stone Age artefacts, including antler picks used to dig holes for the monoliths, stones used to shape them and bone needles found in waste from the settlement beside Stonehenge.

According to Parker Pearson, the finds show that people transported the stones to the monument rather than glaciers carrying them there. Stonehenge was also a meeting place for people from across Britain, with the stones symbolising their identity and connection to the land.

The exhibition Stonehenge: Ancient secrets, new discoveries runs at the Archaeological State Collection in Munich until 29 August 2027.