Stonehenge’s monumental six-ton Altar Stone, long believed to be from Wales, actually comes from Scotland, a whopping 750 kilometres away.
Furthermore, the findings of a new study published in Nature point to the existence of unexpectedly advanced methods of transport and social organisation at the time of the stone’s arrival at its current location in southern England some 5,000 years ago.
Researchers from Curtin University studied the age and chemistry of mineral grains within fragments of the Altar Stone, which is a 50cm-thick sandstone block measuring 5 x 1 metre, found at the centre of the iconic Stonehenge stone circle in Wiltshire.
Lead author, PhD student Anthony Clarke from the Mineral Systems Timescales Group in Curtin’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said analysis of the age and chemical composition of minerals within the Altar Stone fragments matched rocks from north-east Scotland, while clearly differentiating them from Welsh bedrock.
“Our analysis found that specific mineral grains in the Altar Stone are mostly between 1 and 2 billion years old, while other minerals are around 450 million years old,” Clarke said in a statement.
“This provides a distinctive chemical fingerprint suggesting the stone came from rocks in the Orcadian Basin, Scotland, at least 750 kilometres from Stonehenge.
COULD HAVE COME BY SEA
“Given its Scottish origin, the finds raise fascinating questions, considering the technological limitations of the Neolithic era, about how such a huge stone was transported over great distances around 2600 BC.
Professor Chris Kirkland, co-author of the study and also from Curtin’s Mineral Systems Timescales Group, said the findings had significant implications for understanding ancient communities, their connections and their methods of transport.
“Our discovery of the origins of the Altar Stone highlights a significant level of social coordination during the Neolithic period and helps paint a fascinating picture of prehistoric Britain,” Professor Kirkland said.
“Transporting such a massive load overland from Scotland to southern England would have been extremely difficult, indicating a likely shipping route along the coast of Britain.
“This implies long-distance trade networks and a higher level of social organization than is thought to have existed during the Neolithic period in Britain.”
