Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:
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Scientists dissecting a Neolithic cow molar may have unlocked the mystery of its role in Stonehenge’s creation.
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By slicing into the tooth, researchers gained information about where and what the cow ate throughout its life.
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In a key find, the cow likely spent time near the bluestones found in Wales before Stonehenge.
Scientists sliced open a Neolithic cow’s molar, and now they believe they know quite a bit more about the history of Stonehenge.
This particular cow—or, at least, this particular cow’s jawbone—was first found in 1924, buried right next to the legendary standing bluestones. The fact that it was found alongside Stonehenge’ south entrance (in a prominent ritual location) suggested the animal’s importance, and its remains were eventually dated to between 2995 and 2990 B.C. But while that provided the “when,” there were still questions unanswered about why the fossil would have been placed in such an honored position.
Recently, a team from the British Geological Survey, Cardiff University, and University College London used isotope analysis to track this history, chronicling the findings in a new study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
To begin their inquiry, they sliced into the cow’s third molar, since that tooth records chemical signals from the animal’s second year of life. By creating nine horizontal sections of the tooth, the team was able to measure carbon, oxygen, strontium, and lead isotopes, each offering a clue regarding the cow’s diet, environment, and movement.
Through this method, they were able to determine where this cow spent the early years of its life grazing—and it wasn’t always in the fields near Stonehenge. With the data they gathered, these scientists were able to link the cattle’s remains to Wales, adding weight to theories that cows played a role in getting the infamous rocks across the country to where they currently rest.
“This is yet more fascinating evidence for Stonehenge’s link with southwest Wales,” Michael Parker Pearson, professor of British later prehistory at the University College London, said in a statement, “where its bluestones come from. It raised the tantalizing possibility that cattle helped to haul the stones.”
The oxygen isotopes show six months of growth—from winter to summer—and the carbon isotopes display how this cow’s diet switched from woodland fodder in the winter to open pasture grazing in summer. Strontium isotopes indicated the seasonal food sources came from different geological areas, indicating that the cow either moved seasonally or the winter fodder was an imported delicacy.
The lead isotopes revealed spikes in late winter and spring, pointing to a lead source older than the lead in the rest of the tooth. The researchers said this strongly suggests the cow originated from an area with Paleozoic rocks—possibly the same location as where the bluestones were before being moved to Stonehenge.
“It tells us that very early in its life it incorporated lead into its skeleton and that lead was from old Paleozoic rocks, older than about 400 million years old,” Jane Evans, professor and British Geological Survey honorary research associate, told The Guardian. “Those types of rocks crop up primarily in Britain in Wales, which is the nearest supply, and also in the Lake District and Scotland. That suggest this animal, found in Wiltshire, didn’t start life in that kind of area. It must have been grazing at some time on older rocks, and the obvious conclusion, given its Stonehenge, is that Wales is the probable origin of the cow’s early life.”
While the cows may not have been the ones hauling the stones, they were likely at least along for the journey. “I don’t know how long it takes to drag stones from Wales to Stonehenge, but you need to be able to feed yourself and so it’s going to be a big process,” Evans said. “You have got to have a huge support network to do it.”
“This study has revealed unprecedented details of six months in a cow’s life, providing the first evidence of cattle movement from Wales, as well as documenting dietary changes and life events that happened around 5,000 years ago,” Evans said in a statement. “A slice of one cow tooth has told us an extraordinary tale and, as new scientific tools emerge, we hope there is still more to learn from her long journey.”
Richard Madgwick, professor of archaeological science at Cardiff University, highlighted what makes this bovine approach important in a statement: “So often grand narratives dominate research on major archaeological sites, but this detailed biographical approach on a single animal provides a brand-new facet of the story of Stonehenge.”
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