Radiocarbon dates from the Neolithic circular enclosure of Flagstones in Dorset, England, finds it was in use ~3200BC, 200 years earlier than expected. Could it have inspired Stonehenge?
The Middle Neolithic (c.3400-2800 cal. BC) in Britain was characterised by transition. The rectangular and linear monuments of the Early Neolithic, such as barrows and cursus monuments, made way for circular ones, known as 'proto-henges'.
They were funerary monuments, built to inter cremation and inhumation burials, and share qualities with earlier and contemporary funerary practices. Therefore, their chronology is very important to understanding how ceremonial practices in Britain changed over time.
Flagstones in Dorset is one such monument. A 100m-diameter circular enclosure containing 7 burials, only six radiocarbon dates are available for it. This is in contrast to similar monuments, such as Stonehenge's earliest phase, which has been precisely dated.
To correct this gap in the record, researchers radiocarbon dated samples of human bone and antler tools from Flagstones and calibrated the results using Bayesian statistical modelling to provide robust, precise dates.
Overall, they identified three distinct phases of activity: Early Neolithic pit digging; antler collection for the digging of the main enclosure; and funerary activity. They indicate Flagstones' construction and use for burial took place ~3200 BC.
This means Flagstones is around 200 years older than previously thought, but still places it later than nearby linear monuments such as Alington Avenue and Maiden Castle. It was, however, constructed nearer in time to these monuments than the nearby henge at Mount Pleasant.
It is possible that Flagstones gained legitimacy through its construction near to earlier monuments. Despite being a novel shape, Flagstones shares many similarities with earlier traditions. Could it represent cultural continuity between the Early and Middle Neolithic?
The dates also indicate that Flagstones could have been the first circular enclosure in Britain. Several other circular enclosures are yet to be dated, so we cannot say for certain that Flagstones is the earliest, however it is probably 110–225 years older than Stonehenge.
Overall, this suggests Flagstones was a monument that continued many of the earlier traditions associated with linear monuments, but was potentially unique at the time for its circular shape and large size. So where did this idea come from?
In the Boyne Valley of eastern Ireland, concentrically organised passage graves were superseded by more open circular enclosures. Flagstones was contemporaneous with the construction and funerary use of developed passage tombs such as Newgrange.
Flagstones also shows connections to this region in the form of curvilinear engravings, which appear on the vertical chalk sides of some of the pits at Flagstones as well as in the Boyne Valley.
Lying only 8km from the coast, it is very possible that the Dorchester area was connected to seaways and land routes that would have facilitated interactions between southern Britain and eastern Ireland.
Therefore, the funerary practices, art and artefacts at this innovative monument suggest long-distance connections, most strongly to Ireland. This new style of monument could have even been directly replicated at Stonehenge.