Thousands of years ago, our ancestors quarried 80 vast dolomite bluestones from the Preseli Hills in southwest Wales, and transported them 160 miles to Salisbury Plain. Last week archaeologists began excavating Stonehenge for the first time in more than 40 years, hoping to discover precisely when the bluestones were brought to Wiltshire, and casting light on the far larger mystery: why? Theories about Stonehenge abound - it was a temple; an observatory; a burial site - but none of these explains why the stones that made up the inner ring were brought all the way from Pembrokeshire, when others were dragged from the Marlborough area nearby. What was it that made these stones so special? The new dig is being led by Professors Tim Darvill and Geoffrey Wainwright - and they have their own theory: their extensive research in Pembrokeshire suggests that the bluestones were believed to have healing properties and that Stonehenge was created as a Bronze Age Lourdes. If they are right, it would explain why so many of the human remains found near the site show signs of physical trauma: they were injured, and came hoping to be cured.

From an article in The Week.

Well well well. The remains weren't from poor buggers who died working for less than the minimum wage for the longest days whilst their employers flouted health and safety regulations, nor were they the result of Mr Cowell's ancestor Simonia Cower taking the Stone-Age literally in the regular gathering of 'Search for a Star', in which the survivor was sold to the Romans who diverted attention from governance by keeping the masses pre-occupied with the enjoyment of seeing the survivor die a death in the public arena. No, these were just like all the poor buggers struggling to endure airport security and tiny seats just to visit a place thronging with shops full of 'Standing Stone Snowscenes' and 'Real Stone-dust' in the hope of being healed. I take it it didn't work then either?