To the certain bumming out of many a conspiracy theorist, pagan mystic sort, science-fiction writer and general science-hating mystery lover, University of Sheffield archaeologists have announced the uncovering of a Stonehenge secret.

Reports ScienceDaily.com: "Archaeologists at the University of Sheffield have revealed new radiocarbon dates of human cremation burials at Stonehenge, which indicate that the monument was used as a cemetery from its inception just after 3000 B.C. until well after the large stones went up around 2500 B.C."

Sheffield professor Mike Parker-Pearson and professor Andrew Chamberlain are leading the collaborative radiocarbon dating project involving five universities and funding from the National Geographic Society and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Those blueblood phobic were further dismayed by Parker-Pearson's comments to the effect that "I don't think it was the common people getting buried at Stonehenge - it was clearly a special place at that time. One has to assume anyone buried there had some good credentials. ... The people buried here must have been drawn from a very small and select living population. Archaeologists have long speculated about whether Stonehenge was put up by prehistoric chiefs - perhaps even ancient royalty - and the new results suggest that not only is this likely to have been the case but it also was the resting place of their mortal remains."

So probably not a landing strip for alien spacecraft, then. Of course, as we always say here at MPR, that's what they want you to think.