British archaeologists: History of Arthur's Stone in England spans back 6,000 years

CAIRO – 31 August 2021: Archaeologists say the mysterious stone tomb in western England - known as the Arthur's Stone due to its connections to the legendary King Arthur - was founded nearly 6,000 years ago as part of a "ceremonial landscape" in the region.

The fossil appears near the ancient stone structure in the Herefordshire countryside, just east of the River Wye between England and Wales, which means the site first appeared on an earthen mound indicating another ancient structure nearby.

“But after a few hundred years, it was reconstructed and reorganized,” Julian Thomas, a professor of archeology at the University of Manchester in the UK, told Live Science.

"The monument was part of a ceremonial scene like that found around other monuments such as Stonehenge or Avebury," Thomas said. "It certainly means that this site was important politically or spiritually in the early Neolithic."

Thomas added that the reconstructed memorial most likely consists of stones that remain today inside a second earthen mound. It also had a "path" of wooden posts marking a prominent gap between two hills on the horizon about 12 miles away.

Arthur's Stone consists of nine columnar or "standing" stones supporting a massive "capstone" weighing more than 25 tons (23 metric tons). The corridor below it leads to what is believed to be a burial chamber, although no human remains have been found there.

The structure got its name from King Arthur, who was said to have resisted the Saxon invasion of Britain about 1,500 years ago.

Many historical events also took place there, including a duel between knights during the Wars of the Roses in the 15th century; and in 1645, during the English Civil War, King Charles dined with his army there.