Stonehenge (Photo: Rupert Jones via Flicker/Creative Commons)

As crowds converged on Stonehenge last week for the summer solstice, a new study based on 10 years of archaeological investigations revealed the ancient monument was built to unify all of the people of Britain.

For years, experts have tried to uncover the many mysteries of Stonehenge, one of the world’s most famous prehistoric sites, which was built about 4,500-to- 5,000 years ago in South Central England.

Stonehenge has long been thought to be a prehistoric observatory, a sun temple, a place of healing and a temple of the ancient druids.  But a team of archeologists, working on the Stonehenge Riverside Project, rejected all those possibilities.

Summer solstice sunrise at Stonehenge (Photo: AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

According to the research team, the Neolithic and Bronze Age structure was built after years of struggle and conflict between the people of eastern and western Britain.

The stones symbolize the ancestors of different farming communities in Great Britain, according to the researchers.

The building of Stonehenge also corresponded with a shift of identity for the British.

“When Stonehenge was built, there was a growing island-wide culture – the same styles of houses, pottery and other material forms were used from Orkney to the south coast,” said Mike Parker Pearson,  a member of the Stonehenge Riverside Project.  “This was very different to the regionalism of previous centuries. Just the work itself, requiring everyone literally to pull together, would have been an act of unification.”

The construction of Stonehenge required thousands of laborers to move the monolithic stones from as far away as west Wales.  Many more people were needed to shape and erect the stones after such a long journey.

Crowd gathers for 2012 Summer Solstice at Stonehenge (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Archeologists believe Stonehenge was built in stages from about 3000 BC to 2000 BC.

The location for Stonehenge wasn’t a random choice,  according to researchers.  The spot had a long-held, special significance to the prehistoric people of Britain.

The research team found that Stonehenge’s collection of stones, which are aligned with the solstices, actually sits on a series of natural landforms that form an axis between the directions of midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset.

“When we stumbled across this extraordinary natural arrangement of the sun’s path being marked in the land,” says Parker Pearson, “we realized that prehistoric people selected this place to build Stonehenge because of its pre-ordained significance. This might explain why there are eight monuments in the Stonehenge area with solstitial alignments, a number unmatched anywhere else. Perhaps they saw this place as the center of the world”.

(Photo: Michael Howard via Flickr/Creative Commons)

Exactly where man’s best friend came from remains a mystery.

Thousands of years of cross-breeding have made it difficult for scientists to trace the ancient genetic roots of today’s dogs.

Still, British researchers gave it a try. They recently compared genetic data from 1,375 modern-day dogs, from 35 different breeds, to global archeological records of dog remains.

Although, other genetic studies suggest dogs descended from the grey wolf, the researchers found modern dog breeds, genetically speaking, have little in common with their ancient ancestors.

Dogs were the first animals domesticated by man about 15,000 years ago. However, we really didn’t start keeping them as pets until about 2,000 years ago.  Even so, until fairly recently, most dogs were kept and used to perform specific jobs.

Although some dog breeds – such as the Akita, Afghan Hound and the Chinese Shar-Pei – have been classified as ancient by canine experts, they’re no closer to the first domesticated dogs than any other modern breeds.  This, according to the study, is again due to cross-breeding through the years.

Other aspects affecting the dog’s genetic diversity include human movement and migration.  Major worldwide events, such as the two world wars, also impacted the dog population, the researchers said.

Breeds like the Saluki appear genetically different because they were geographically isolated and were not part of the 19th century efforts to blend lineages to create most of the breeds we keep as pets today. (Photo: Keith Dobney)

Lead author Greger Larson, an evolutionary biologist in Durham University’s Department of Archaeology, said, “Ironically, the ubiquity of dogs combined with their deep history has obscured their origins and made it difficult for us to know how dogs became man’s best friend.  All dogs have undergone significant amounts of cross-breeding to the point that we have not yet been able to trace all the way back to their very first ancestors.”

Previous studies of breeds such Basenjis, Salukis and Dingoes indicated they had different genetic signatures, which provided evidence of an ancient heritage.

But the researchers say their new study shows the unique genetic signatures in these dogs were not necessarily due to being directly descended from ancient dogs, but merely appeared to be genetically different because they were geographically isolated and were not part of the 19th Century kennel clubs which blended various lineages in order to create most of the breeds we’re familiar with today.

As DNA sequencing becomes faster and cheaper, the scientists are hopeful more research will provide further insight into the evolution and domestication of our canine friends.