A Swedish Stonehenge? Stone Age Tomb May Predate English Site

A Swedish Stonehenge? Stone Age Tomb May Predate English Site

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A 5,500-year-old tomb possibly belonging to a Stone Age chieftain has been unearthed at a megalithic monument in the shape of a ship called the Ale’s Stenar (Ale’s Stones). The tomb, in Sweden, was likely robbed of stones to build the Viking-era ship monument.

“We found traces — mostly imprints — of large boulders,” said lead archaeologist Bengst Söderberg of the Swedish National Heritage Board. “So my conviction is that some of the stones at least, they are standing on the ship setting.” The Ales Stenar megaliths, some of which weigh as much as 4,000 pounds, have distinctive cut marks similar to ones found at Stone Age sites, so researchers wondered whether the stones were stolen from an even older monument.