It has just been revealed that this ancient burial site in Dorset is older than Stonehenge. New research by the University of Exeter and Historic England has redated the Flagstones monument to be 200 years older than previously thought after it was first discovered in the 1980s. The site is now the earliest known large circular enclosure in Britain, dating back to around 3,200 BC – 5,225 years ago.
Dr Susan Greaney, an archaeologist from the University of Exeter and author of the study, 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 2900 BC.
“Could Stonehenge have been a copy of Flagstones? Or do these findings suggest our current dating of Stonehenge might need revision?”
Advanced radiocarbon analysis of findings, such as human remains, red deer antlers, and charcoal, suggests that Flagstones, near Dorchester, may have been a prototype for later monuments like Stonehenge.
The findings also highlight the connections between Flagstones and other significant Neolithic sites in Britain, Wales, and Ireland, as well as the interconnectedness of ancient communities across the region.
Greaney added: “Flagstones is an unusual monument, a perfectly circular ditched enclosure, with burials and cremations associated with it.
“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.”
