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Craft workers linked to builders of Stonehenge

When the Ringlemere cup was crafted more than 3,500 years ago, Stonehenge was a half-finished collection of rocks and Britain was dominated by the mysterious “bell-beaker folk”, who first brought the Bronze Age to these shores. The beaker people, whose name comes from the distinctive bell-shaped drinking pots found in their settlements, are thought to have arrived in Cornwall in about 2000BC, bringing with them the continental art of smelting bronze, an alloy of 10 per cent tin and 90 per cent copper.

The new arrivals transformed an existing temple at Stonehenge, which was then ditches and earthworks, into the imposing stone circle, transporting bluestones 240 miles from the Preseli Mountains in Wales and sarsen stones from the Marlborough Downs, 50 miles away. The common notion that Stonehenge was built by the Druids is a myth sparked by Roman reports of an ancient Celtic priesthood that thrived at the time of Julius Caesar’s conquest in 55BC.

By that time, Stonehenge was already at least 15 centuries old and had fallen into ruin. By 1500BC, the latest possible date for the Ringlemere cup, the outer ring of Stonehenge was complete and the Wessex Culture had been established.

Dozens of barrows from the period, particularly around Stonehenge, have yielded battleaxes, metal daggers with decorated hilts and ornaments of gold and amber that suggest an advanced civilisation. Most striking are the two golden cups, which are so elaborately made that some observers have suggested that the beaker people traded with Mycenae in Ancient Greece, where such skills were more advanced.

This is disputed by many archaeologists, but there is general agreement that the beaker folk had extensive trade links with continental Europe, which probably brought gold-crafting skills to Britain.

- - Read more at The Times