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Mysterious 4,000-year-old ‘Seahenge’ structure finally decoded

Home> Science> News

Published 15:18 3 Jun 2024 GMT+1

Mysterious 4,000-year-old ‘Seahenge’ structure finally decoded

This curious archaeological discovery might finally be explained.

Prudence Wade

Prudence Wade

Featured Image Credit: DANIEL LEAL / Contributor / Getty
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A mysterious structure found on a beach in the UK might have finally been decoded by experts after a thorough investigation.

The 4,000-year-old wooden circle had been dubbed 'Seahenge' thanks to its dramatic location and the way it looked, but for a long time researchers weren't sure what to make of it.

It was first uncovered by the shifting tides and sands in Holme-next-the-sea back in 1998, and is comprised of a dramatic tree stump surrounded by oak beams arranged in a neat circle.

Experts have now been able to date that wood to 2049 BC, and it's believed that when it was first built it was further from the sea.

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That doesn't mean the structure has moved over time - rather, the coastline has been eroded away to make it far more precarious.


The whole thing was apparently covered in a layer of peat at some point, and this was a major part of why the timber survived for so long in such good condition.

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Another nearby ring has been dated to the same year, fuelling speculation that they were for related purposes.

Previous long-standing theories have wondered whether the structures were built to honor someone in death, or even as locations to leave dead bodies in so-called 'sky burials', to be devoured by carrion birds.

Now, though, researchers have published a paper in GeoJournal arguing that Seahenge may have been built as part of a ritual seeking to extend a brief summer during a period of stark global cooling.

Archaeologist David Nance from the University of Aberdeen said: "Dating of Seahenge timbers showed they were felled in spring, and it was considered most probable that these timbers were aligned with sunrise on the summer solstice."

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He went on to explain: "We know that the period in which they were constructed 4,000 years ago was a prolonged period of decreased atmospheric temperatures and severe winters and late springs placing these early coastal societies under stress."

Roger Tidman / Getty
Roger Tidman / Getty

The central stump in the main circle apparently might have been placed to mimic the sort of tree a cuckoo would nest in, with that bird being traditionally associated with the end of summer.

The other circle, which had two logs laid horizontally in its center, might have had a different purpose, according to Nance and his team, potentially hosting the intermittent ritual sacrifice of kings: "Evidence suggests that they were ritually sacrificed every eight years at Samhain (now Halloween) coincident with the eight-year cycle of Venus."

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So, as the researchers concluded: “Both monuments are best explained as having different functions and associated rituals, but with a common intent: to end the severely cold weather."

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