Stonehenge may have been built with lard

Pork fat could have been used to grease the sleds used to transport the huge stones of Stonehenge, according to a new analysis of Newcastle University archaeologists.

Absorbed fat residues

Residues of grease on pottery fragments found at Durrington Walls, near Stonehenge, have long been thought to be related to feeding hundreds of people from all over Britain to help build the old monument.

However, a new analysis done by archaeologists from the University of Newcastle, UK, suggests that, as the fragments came from dishes that would have been of the size and shape of buckets, and not dishes of cooking or serving, they could have been used for the collection and storage of tallow: a form of animal fat.

Lisa-Marie Shillito, Lecturer in Landscape Archeology at Newcastle University, said: "I was interested in the exceptional level of conservation and the large amounts of lipids – or fat residues – that we We have recovered from the pottery.I wanted to know more about why we see these high amounts of pork fat in the pottery, while the animal bones that were excavated on the site show that a lot of pigs have been ' grilled on the spit 'rather than chopped as one would expect if they were cooked in pots. "

"Greasy Theory & # 39;

It is now generally accepted that the huge megaliths that make up Stonehenge have been affected by human efforts. Recent experiments suggest that 20 people could have moved stones up to 8 meters high by placing them on a sled and sliding them on logs.

Durrington Walls pottery is one of the best studied for organic residues. More than 300 fragments were analyzed in wider studies of the use of Grooved Ware in Britain and, more recently, in the Stonehenge Feeding Project, on which Dr. Shillito worked.

The analysis of absorbed fat residues is a well established technique for determining the foods used for different types of pottery. But more attention needs to be paid to how this information is interpreted, says Dr. Shillito.

"There are still many unanswered questions regarding the construction of Stonehenge," she said. "Until now, there was a general assumption that the traces of animal fat absorbed by these potteries were related to cooking and food consumption, which guided the first interpretations in this direction. But it may be that there have been other events as well, and these residues could be an enticing proof of the greased sleigh theory.

"Archaeological interpretations of pottery residues can sometimes only give us part of the picture.We need to think about the broader context of what we still know and adopt a" multi-proxy "approach to identify what is happening. other possibilities if we hope to gain a better understanding. "