© Kirsty Wigglesworth, Associated PressIn this Monday March 31, 2008 file photo, archaeology students Steve Bush, right, and Sam Ferguson, left, sieve through earth amongst the stones at Stonehenge, England. Two British archeologists say the first excavation at the site of Stonehenge in more than 40 years has shed new light on the purpose of the landmark. Professors Geoffrey Wainwright and Timothy Darvill told journalists Monday, Sept. 22, 2008, that Stonehenge was a kind of primeval Lourdes. They say the stone circle was a center of healing which attracted the sick and infirm from all over prehistoric Europe. They also say they have dated the first stone monuments at the site to about 2,300 B.C.
The first excavation of Stonehenge in more than 40 years has uncovered evidence that the stone circle drew ailing pilgrims from around Europe for what they believed to be its healing properties, archeologists said Monday.
Archaeologists Geoffrey Wainwright and Timothy Darvill said the content of graves scattered around the monument and the ancient chipping of its rocks to produce amulets indicated that Stonehenge was the primeval equivalent of Lourdes, the French shrine venerated for its supposed ability to cure the sick.
An unusual number of skeletons recovered from the area showed signs of serious disease or injury. Analysis of their dental records showed that about half were from outside the Stonehenge area.
"People were in a state of distress, if I can put it as politely as that, when they came to the Stonehenge monument," Darvill told journalists assembled at London's Society of Antiquaries.
He pointed out that experts near Stonehenge have found two skulls that showed evidence of primitive surgery, some of just a few known cases of operations in prehistoric Britain.
"Even today, that's the pretty serious end of medicine," he said. Also found near Stonehenge was the body of a man known as the Amesbury Archer, who had a damaged skull and badly hurt knee and died around the time the stones were being installed. Analysis of the Archer's bones showed he was from the Alps.
Darvill cautioned, however, that the new evidence did not rule out other uses for Stonehenge.