Paper Boys

Episode 49

Was Stonehenge built using pig fat?

Neolithic people sure knew how to play with their food.

Stonehenge has puzzled people for centuries. What was the purpose of such a massive rock formation? And how were people able to move such large boulders from quarries 50-150 km away? As scientists and archaeologists have learned more though, a new mystery has appeared: why is there such a high concentration of pig fat on pottery found in the area? Join us this week as Charlie explores a new paper looking at how pig fat may have facilitated the construction of this famous, mysterious site.

Read the paper in Antiquity here (open access version here). Two great news articles on this paper are from Science Alert and Atlas Obscura.

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