What is the oldest prehistoric site in Britain? Is it stonehenge?

Question

And what is the oldest city/ town?

What is that one called Emily?

The land may be equally old Steve but the places where prehistoric people gathered vary in their ages.

It looks good Emily, thanks for that. Didn't Clannad sing about that?

stephen - I don't know what you mean. I'm not out for stars, just interesting answers

Answer 1

No, Stonehenge is not the oldest--it is just unique in its lintelled 'doorways',dressed stones and multitude of alignments. What is interesting, though, is that the holes of three massive timber totem poles were discovered in the carpark some years ago--radio-carbon dating has shown these poles were some 8000 YEARS OLD, so raised there long before the stones, possibly proving this site was somehow sacred way back at the very dawn of time.
But as far as great existing monuments go, the neolithic long barrows,which were communal houses for the dead, are the oldest ceremonial centres,along with 'causewayed camps'. A particularly fine long barrow is WEST KENNET which is about a mile from the vast stone circle of Avebury and even closer to Silbury Hill, the enigmatic late neolithic structure that is the largest man-made mound in Europe (pyramid sized).
The bones of several hundred people were found in west Kennet,mostly disarticulated (as the ancient people,it would seem, often left their dead out to be defleshed before burial & then used their bones in rituals),though the final interment was an elderly man who had a flint arrowhead in his throat....

Answer 2

...Thus England's peculiar character as an island nation came about through its very isolation. Early man came, settled, farmed and built. His remains tell us much about his lifestyle and his habits. Of course, the land was not then known as England, nor would it be until long after the Romans had departed.

We know of the island's early inhabitants from what they left behind on such sites as Clacton-on-Sea in Essex, and Swanscombe in Kent, gravel pits, the exploration of which opened up a whole new way of seeing our ancient ancestors dating back to the lower Paleolithic (early Stone Age). Here were deposited not only fine tools made of flint, including hand-axes, but also a fossilized skull of a young woman as well as bones of elephants, rhinoceroses, cave-bears, lions, horses, deer, giant oxen, wolves and hares. From the remains, we can assume that man lived at the same time as these animals which have long disappeared from the English landscape.

So we know that a thriving culture existed around 8,000 years ago in the misty, westward islands the Romans were to call Britannia...

Answer 3

Stonehenge grew to become into built over a era of a few million,4 hundred years. It began as a hoop of ditches, and later good sized stones, some from as some distance away as 380 km away, have been submit .working communities of hundreds used heavy ropes, tied to the stones and held in place with heavy products of wood to flow the stones.All paintings grew to become into achieved by means of human muscle to haul the stones. the biggest upright stones are 9m long and weigh 50 tonnes.

Answer 4

The caves on the Gower Peninsular near Swansea

Answer 5

well, if you're including Ireland there's another prehistoric site a lot older than that near dublin
http://www.knowth.com/
it's very cool, i've been there twice
this might help with the oldest town thing
http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/FeaturesBritain/EnglandOldestTown.htm

Answer 6

the red lady of paviland . a body found in a cave in wales is about 26 000 years old

Answer 7

Hullaballoo:Either you are American,or a moron.England ISN'T an island! Do you realise how insulting this is to,the Cymru(Welsh),Scots and Kernowan(?)Cornish!?

Answer 8

Surely it's all equally old, whether or not it's got big stones on it?

Answer 9

oldham?