Origins of Stonehenge

**Origins of Stonehenge** is the 3rd episode in Season 4 of Expedition Unknown.

## Plot Synopsis

Josh travels to his ancestral home of Great Britain to explore the origins of Stonehenge; from high in the air to deep under the sea, he finds an unexpected network of monuments that could have inspired one of history's most mystical locations.

## Historical Context

"Stonehenge, myth and legend have always surrounded its origins. It's been called both a healing site and a place of human sacrifice. Was it a calendar or a stellar observatory? Its construction has been attributed to druids, the wizard Merlin, and even aliens. For centuries, historians have fiercely debated the site's true purpose but now, for the first time ever, they're coming close to solving the enigma."

- Josh Gates

## Summary

Josh goes to Stonehenge where he meets Mike Parker Pearson, an archaeologist, Susan Greaney, a historian, and Rupert who tell him about how Stonehenge isn't just an astronomical clock but a mass graveyard. They meet Steven Ramsay and Antonio Mendes who help complete a scan of Stonehenge and they find the stones that align with the midwinter sunset are more refined and many stones have carved X's.

Mike leads Josh to Superhenge nearby that was once surrounded by a timber circle. They go by helicopter to see Silbury Hill and the town of Avebury which sits inside a stone circle. Josh drives to Bryn Celli Ddu, a prehistoric site, in Wales where he meets Dr Seren Griffiths, an archaeologist. He learns the site has similar uses to Stonehenge and they then meet up with Ben Edwards, an archaeologist, and he helps them perform a test with a resistivity meter and they find out the site is a henge.

The next day, Josh goes to Urquhart Castle in Scotland and then to John O'Groats. He then travels by ferry to Stromness in the Orkney Islands where he meets Caroline Wickham-Jones, an archaeologist, at Skara Brae, a Stone Age village. They go to the Stones of Stenness, which may be the oldest henge in the UK. They then meet Richard Bates, a geophysicist, and go out into the Bay of Firth, once dry land, where they find evidence of what may be the true first henge, inspiring the ones to come. They dive and do a sonar scan and they find that it is a henge.

## Final Words

"I've gone all around the United Kingdom travelling through time in the process. I've seen how technology is settling long-simmering debates about the site's purpose. While Stonehenge is a place of ritual, it wasn't just used for celebrations. This appears to be a cemetery, a land of the dead, but it's also a part of a much larger story. It's connected to superhenges and to monuments in Walles and in Orkney that are older than we once thought possible. And in cold Scottish waters, the origins of all henge monuments might finally be coming into view. All of it tells a tale far richer than the popular myths and led on of a restless and inventive people whose perseverance, ingenuity, and creativity would pave the way for the Britain that so many love and cherish today. Stonehenge will be here longe after we're gone. And as the sun continues to rise and set across these mysterious stones, I'm left marvelling, not just at the monuments, but at the people who lived, died, and endured here."

~ Josh Gates

## Notes & Trivia

* Richard Bates is also featured in India's Atlantis and Africa's Cursed Lake of Gold.

## Quotes

* "I'm officially too tall for this shop."
* "What do you think the Welsh National Spelling Bee looks like?"
* "Oh, this suddenly got a lot less fun."
* "Though I'm not sure how much trouble I can get into looking like an old man with a tricked out walker."
* "I always think of Scotland as England's slightly-edgy older brother. A bit rowdier, a bit drunker, been to jail a few times, but a lot of fun."
* "It says here there is a $1 million reward, Brian, if you capture evidence of Nessie. So pretty much the episode took a hard turn. We're just gonna be staying here now."
* "Oh my god. There it is. Yard henge. Very rare unless you have a subscription to an English Skymall catalogue."
* "There have definitely been advances in doorframe technology since the Stone Age."
* "I feel like I look like the Michelin Man, and Richard looks like James Bond."

## References

1. ↑ https://api.discovery.com/v1/images/5ba08ac76b66d17207732ac9?aspectRatio=16x9&width=1200&key=3020a40c2356a645b4b4