London, England

Two British archeologists declared Monday that they have uncovered the core reason behind the construction of one of the world's best known and least understood landmarks.

The stone circle at Stonehenge has stood for thousands of years -- and bred endless debate over whether it was a temple for ancient sun-worshippers, a sacred burial site, or even a kind of massive prehistoric astronomical calculator.

Professors Geoffrey Wainwright and Timothy Darvill argued their own explanation for the mysterious monument: Stonehenge, they said, was a kind of primeval Lourdes, drawing prehistoric pilgrims from around Europe.

"We found several reasons to believe that the stones were built as part of a belief in a healing process," Wainwright told journalists assembled at London's Society of Antiquaries.

Wainwright and Darvill, the first to excavate the site in more than 40 years, said the key to their theory was Stonehenge's double circle of bluestones -- a rare rock known to geologists as spotted dolomite -- which lie at the center of the monument.

Dragged or floated on rafts from Pembrokeshire in Wales to Salisbury Plain in southern England, he said the bluestones were prized for their healing properties -- as evidenced by the small mountain of flakes the scientists uncovered during their dig.

Pieces ended up buried in tombs across the area, a testament to people's fascination with the rocks, Wainwright said.

The proof was not only in the stones -- but also in the bones. Skeletons recovered from the area showed signs of serious disease or injury.

"People were in a state of distress, if I can put it as politely as that, when they came to the Stonehenge monument," Darvill said.

The evidence, they said, pointed to a kind of shrine where people from across the Europe would go to seek healing. But they cautioned that that did not rule out alternative theories for Stonehenge's uses.

"It could have been a temple, even as it was a healing center," Darvill said. "Just as Lourdes, for example, is still a religious center."

How come when I added the URL to the story and clicked preview, it did not appear with the post?

Must have been a bug. It's showing this time.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/09/22...g.ap/index.html

I posted this same srory already, Yeti.

So stonehenge is an A & E department for injured warriors.One of the uses,maybe.many friends who have visited stonehenge have said it has a strange feeling about the place.It certainly grabs your attention as you drive past..there are many rear end shunts along that stretch of road.(perhaps they should re-open it as a medical centre).

I think this <b>theory</b> for Stonehenge's purpose may have inspired its creation. But surely one cannot deny logic. After a period where the sick and diseased were ultimately not healed by some neatly assembled rocks, logic would lead them to assume that the there was no use in trying to heal themselves there. Probably, it is this same reason that it took so long for scientists to come up with this theory, as people do not go there now, for the purpose of being healed.

Scientist's first created the <b>obvious</b> theories about Stonehenge's astronomical use because it still tracks the movement of the sun throughout certain points of the year (ex. Summer Solstice). And the obvious was not ignored until now. Perhaps it was the dying faith in Stonhenge's healing properties, that spawned professional healthcare (ex. the medicince man, nurses, surgeons, etc.).

At any rate, there are various civilizations that have built other monuments similar to Stonehenge, in that they all have the ability to track the positions of the sun. Other civilizations, have left evidence that shows serval "woodhenge" contruction sites, such as the one erected at the Cahokia Mounds. As for the true motive behind the construction of these sites, one can only theorize. But they all have the "sun tracker" capability.

I think the mindset of religion in early cultures was that all things that were not creations of man, should be worshipped as a creation of God. And, as a sign of worship, these monuments were created in each culture, for different purposes, but with the same general sense that there is a greater power that is behind whatever is happening in the world in which these older cultures existed.

I have a question for fun. What can you compare stonehenge to that we use in our culture??