Stonehenge is one of the most famous megalith monuments worldwide. Nevertheless, this Stone Age sanctuary is still puzzled. This also includes two cattle pine, which were buried around 4900 years ago on both south entrance to the Steinkreis – for reasons that have been unexplained so far. Now a research team has analyzed one of these prehistoric cattle pine more precisely – with a surprising result.
The beginnings of the famous Megalith monument in southern England go back until 5100 years ago. People of the Windmill Hill culture, which were among the first sedentary farmers in England, built a 115-meter ring made of wooden post, lined with a circular earth wall on the wide level of Salisbury. In the following centuries, Stonehenge was repeatedly rebuilt and expanded, gradually the megaliths received to this day were added. In the meantime, analyzes have revealed that some of these large stones were brought about over enormous distances: the blue stones came from Wales, the altar stone of the stone circle even from Scotland, 750 kilometers away. Why is it unclear so far.
Enigmatic cattle jaw
Another puzzle is two cattle pine, which were buried around 2900 BC on both south entrance to the Stonehenge-Steinkreis. These pine and teeth were each at the end of the surrounding ring grave and flanked the entrance and animal guardians. But why cattle? What was special about these animals? In order to clarify these questions, Jane Evans from the British Geological Survey and her team examined the larger of the two cattle jawbones in more detail. They subjected a molar tooth from this jawbone of an isotope analysis and determined the ratio of oxygen, carbon, strontium and lead isotopes. These can provide information about food, origin and possible change of location of this animal. The researchers also analyzed protein remains in the tissue to find out the gender of this beef.
The analyzes showed that this cattle pine comes from an older cow that had died 55 to 270 years before buried in Stonehenge. The bone or possibly the entire skull of this animal must have been kept for so long. “The well -preserved surfaces of the mandable indicate that this cattle pine was in a protected environment before it was placed in the ditch,” report Evans and her colleagues. This could indicate that this cow played a special role at the time – which, however, is unknown.
From Wales to southern England
The isotope analyzes also show that the cow experienced a significant change at around two years. With the transition from winter to summer, their food of branches and leaves from the forest to pasture grass, as the oxygen and carbon isotopes revealed. Evans and her colleagues suspect that this cow was collected in the forest in the forest in winter and was fed as a hay plants before it came back to the pasture in spring. However, the strontium isotopes also indicate a change of location. These values from summer correspond to the local conditions in Stonehenge. However, the values from the previous winter are not: “The higher winter value excludes most of Southwest English and also the south of Scotland,” report the researchers. Instead, the strontium values of the cow tooth fit to whale-the likely place of origin of the Stonehenge Erbauer and the Blaustein.
“This provides the first proof that cattle from Wales were also brought to Stonehenge,” says Evans. A few years ago, analyzes of human remains from the last construction phase of Stonehenge showed that some of the monuments builders together with the bluestone of the monument could have come from their origin region, which was around 250 kilometers away. The cow buried in Stonehenge could have been brought to Stonehenge as part of this transport. Why is still unclear. However, the analyzes of the lead isotopes in their molar tooth indicate that this cow gave birth to a veal at the time of their hike or had a calf.
“Our results give us decisive insights into the biography of this enigmatic cow, the remains of which have been deposited in such an important place,” says co-author Richard Madgwick from Cardiff University. “They provide us with unique details about the distant origin of the animal and the strenuous journey that it had to do.” It was the first time that a connection according to Wales was also demonstrated for Stonehenge’s beef relics. “Even the rehearsal of a single cow tooth can tell us an extraordinary story,” says Evans. “We hope to learn more about the long journey of this cow with the help of new scientific tools and methods.”
Source: British Geological Survey; Specialist articles: Journal of Archaeological Science, DOI: 10.1016/J.Jas.2025.106269
