Ancient poop discovered close to Stonehenge indicated that the inhabitants of the settlement, who most likely built the stone circle, preyed on cattle. The village was founded around 2500 BC.

Pieces of fossilised poop, defined as coprolites by scientists, were discovered in a refuse pile at Durrington Walls, a settlement just 2.8 kilometres from Stonehenge. The eggs of parasitic worms were discovered in five pieces of poop, one human and four dogs.

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The eggs of capillariid worms, which were identified in part by their lemon shape, were found in human poop and three of the dog coprolites. The presence of this type of worm implies that the person had eaten raw or undercooked lungs or liver from an already infected animal, resulting in the parasite’s eggs passing directly through the digestive system.

As per the study, capillariid worms infect cattle and other ruminants, implying that eating cattle was the most likely source of the parasite and the dogs were most likely fed the leftovers. 

Bones discovered in the trash indicated that cattle were not the most commonly consumed animal. 90% of the 38,000 bones discovered belonged to pigs, while 10% belonged to cattle.

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One piece of dog poop contained fish tapeworm eggs, indicating that the dog became infected after eating raw freshwater fish.

However, no other signs of fish consumption, such as bones, were discovered at the site.  This insufficient evidence could be attributed to the fact that the site was not used all year, and the fish with the parasitic worm was consumed at a different settlement.

In a news release, Dr Piers Mitchell, a medical doctor and senior research associate and director of the Ancient Parasites Laboratory at the University of Cambridge‘s department of archaeology stated, “Durrington Walls was occupied on a largely seasonal basis, mainly in winter periods. The dog probably arrived already infected with the parasite.”

“Isotopic studies of cow bones at the site suggest they came from regions across southern Britain, which was likely also true of the people who lived and worked there,” added Dr Piers, who is a co-author of the study.

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Archaeologists believe that the people who built the second stage of the monument, the trilithons – two vertical stones topped by a third horizontal stone – lived at Durrington Walls.

The village is also assumed to have been a site of many festivities, as evidenced by pottery fragments and the large number of animal bones discovered there. There is, however, scant evidence that people lived or ate at Stonehenge.

The conclusions were published in the journal Parasitology on 19th May 2022.