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Durrington Walls was a Neolithic settlement that dates to around 2500 BC. It was built very close to Stonehenge, and likely to be where those who built the stone circle lived.聽Butchered animal bones previously found at the site show that those living at Durrington Walls held feasts where cattle and pigs were eaten.

Pieces of faeces that had been preserved over the millennia - coprolites - were excavated from the site. Nineteen of these were analysed in the collaborative study (led by the University of Cambridge), and some were found聽to聽肠辞苍迟补颈苍听the eggs of parasitic worms,聽suggesting the inhabitants feasted on the internal organs of cattle and fed leftovers to their dogs.聽

One of the coprolites, which belonged to a dog, contained the eggs of fish tapeworm. This indicates that the dog had previously eaten raw freshwater fish and become infected by the tapeworm.

According to Mike Parker Pearson,聽who excavated Durrington Walls聽and was one of the authors of the study:

This聽evidence tells us something new about the people who came here for winter feasts during the construction of Stonehenge. Pork and beef were spit-roasted or boiled in clay pots but it looks as if the offal wasn鈥檛 always so well cooked. People weren鈥檛 eating freshwater fish at Durrington Walls so they must have picked up the tapeworms at their home settlements鈥�.

The open access research paper may be cited as:聽Mitchell, P., Anastasiou, E., Whelton, H., Bull, I., Parker Pearson, M., & Shillito, L. (2022). Intestinal parasites in the Neolithic population who built Stonehenge (Durrington Walls, 2500 BCE).聽Parasitology,聽1-7. doi:10.1017/S0031182022000476

Image: Stonehenge聽(Image courtesy of聽Adam Stanford 漏 Aerial-Cam Ltd)聽聽

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