Stonehenge builders ate food brought from Scotland

London : Workers who built the famous monument of Stonehenge in England ate meat brought from as far as 800 km away, a study has found. Researchers from the UK-based charity English Heritage conducted an analysis of pig and cattle teeth at the Neolithic site in Wiltshire.

They found that some of the animals were from as far away as the north east of Scotland. Thousands of discarded animal bones and teeth excavated at Durrington Walls suggest it was not a typical village but a site of major feasting and ceremony, researchers said. An exhibition, aimed at allowing visitors to explore diet from 4,500 years ago, showcases the skull of an aurochs - an extinct species of cattle.

“Our exhibition explores the important role feasts and food played at Stonehenge,” Susan Greany, from the English Heritage was quoted as saying by ‘BBC News’. “Raising the ancient stones was an incredible feat but so too was feeding the army of builders.

Our exhibition reveals just how this was done,” said Greany. The displays reveal research and stories from a “feeding Stonehenge”project, which has been exploring the lives of the people who lived at the nearby settlement of Durrington Walls.