After all, modern druids gather at Stonehenge on the solstices.
Stonehenge is one of the world's most iconic, and mysterious, prehistoric monuments, and it has intrigued people for thousands of years. Scholars are still unsure exactly who built it and why, though many believe it was a religious site. Its circular layout aligns with the movements of the sun .
The short answer is no, they probably didn't. Archaeological work indicates that Stonehenge was constructed between roughly 4,000 and 5,000 years ago, while the earliest surviving written record of the druids dates back about 2,400 years. It's possible that the druids may go back somewhat further, but experts doubt they were around when Stonehenge was being built.
"Druids only emerge in the last half of the 1st millennium B.C.," long after Stonehenge was built, Caroline Malone, an emeritus professor of prehistory at Queen's University Belfast's School of Natural and Built Environment, told Live Science in an email.
This may seem surprising, as modern-day druids identify with Stonehenge, and many visit the site on the solstices. However, the druids who exist today don't necessarily follow the same practices as the ancient druids did. The ancient druids disappeared about 1,200 years ago, during the Middle Ages, while a revival movement didn't occur until about 300 years ago.
Demand from publishers also played a role in linking the druids to Stonehenge. Stukeley, who studied Stonehenge and other stone circles,"failed to find a publisher for his serious books on the henge monuments," Malone noted.