You can call it “The Game of Stones.”
Scientists have floated a wild theory that Stonehenge may have been an ancient stadium whose construction was one of those ancient events.
Could this iconic world, you wonder, really be the result of an ancient reality show competition?
“I think there may have been a game in getting these stones here,” said Win Scutt, who oversees the monument for English Heritage, the Times of London reported. “Groups of people, less competition, a challenge.”
Built in stages over 1,500 years from 3,000 BC, the site on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, UK, is perhaps the most famous prehistoric monument, although its function and the identity of the builders have been hotly debated.
Archaeologists have said it was everything from a sacred cemetery to a healing center and even an ancient observatory because the axis of the stone circle coincides with the summer and winter solstices,
However, according to Scutt, it may have been a UK sports arena, where people competed in contests of strength and skill similar to the Stone Age Olympiad.
“I think there were probably sports, like Panhellenic sports,” she said.
The main theory of location was based on the number of pig bones found in the area, many of which came from far away, suggesting that fans came from all over the UK to watch the event.
In fact, the competitive factor may also explain how stones travel such great distances.
Large slabs of sarsen, weighing 25 tons, are reported to have been transported from the Marlborough Downs a distance of 15 to 20 miles, while the Altar Stone weighing six tons came from a place 430 miles north-east of Scotland.
Archaeologist Luke Winter said that Stonehenge may not have been built with “kindness,” as theories have suggested, but because people were competing with each other.
“It’s not just a group of spouses getting together,” he said. “If there is a small, competitive edge, that will help.”
Meanwhile, Scutt added that the rivalry would have been greater if the builders “were from different places.”
He noted that there was evidence of “gang activity” at Durrington Walls, a settlement two kilometers from Stonehenge where the builders are said to have camped.
Interestingly, the idea comes as English Heritage launches an interesting recreation of the prehistoric building.
Called the Kusuma Neolithic Hall, the ode to ancient buildings was built by 100 volunteers using local materials and historically accurate methods – such as a white stone ax – based on evidence from Durrington Walls, the BBC reported.
“This is the first building of its kind — it’s truly historic,” announced Winter, who oversees the project, which will be used to teach visitors what life was like in the third millennium.
However, that was probably more interactive than Stonehenge, according to the researchers.
While the game theory is disputed, it could help explain the Stonehenge Cursus, a nearly two-mile-long area north of the stone circle, the Telegraph reports.
Originally thought to be a Roman racecourse, Scutt believes it could have been “a place of gathering, display, movement and activity, perhaps even competition.”
One of his theories was that the area was dedicated to deer training, a silly pastime that involved putting dogs on animals for the entertainment of spectators.
