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Stonehenge altar stone hails from Scotland

Mark Milligan
Heritage Daily
Wed, 14 Aug 2024 18:41 UTC

Comment: This discovery doesn't bring us any closer to solving the mystery of how Stonehenge's megaliths were transported into place, but it does move us further away from asinine notions that they were moved using ropes, carts and boats!

According to a new study published in the journal Nature, the Altar Stone at Stonehenge (thought to be Welsh in origin) actually hails from Scotland.

The Altar Stone, otherwise known as Stone 80, is a six-tonne recumbent megalith made from a micaceous sandstone.

Previous studies have attributed the Altar Stone to the Senni Beds formation of the Old Red Sandstone in Wales (ORS), however, a geochemical analysis of two 30-µm samples now suggests that the stone was transported from Scotland some 4,500-years-ago.

The research was led by a Welsh PhD student, Anthony Clarke, now working at Curtin University in Western Australia.

The study authors analysed the chemistry of detrital zircon, apatite and rutile grains from within fragments from the stone, revealing Mesoproterozoic and Archaean sources in the Zircon, and a mid-Ordovician source in the rutile and apatite.

According to the study authors: "Detrital age comparisons to sedimentary packages throughout Britain and Ireland reveal a remarkable similarity to the Old Red Sandstone of the Orcadian Basin in northeast Scotland. Such a provenance implies that the Altar Stone, a 6 tonne shaped block, was sourced at least 750 km from its current location."

How the stone was transported such a massive distance is speculated, but this latest revelation demonstrates a high level of societal organisation with intra-Britain transport from prehistoric times.

Study co-author, Professor Chris Kirkland, said: "Our discovery of the Altar Stone's origins highlights a significant level of societal coordination during the Neolithic period and helps paint a fascinating picture of prehistoric Britain".

"Transporting such massive cargo overland from Scotland to southern England would have been extremely challenging, indicating a likely marine shipping route along the coast of Britain," added Professor Kirkland.

Sources:

Clarke, A.J.I., Kirkland, C.L., Bevins, R.E. et al. A Scottish provenance for the Altar Stone of Stonehenge. Nature 632, 570-575 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07652-1

Reader Comments

Awordinyourear · 2024-08-15T08:29:31Z

The evidence from Durrington walls dig suggests that around 700 BCE the nationwide gatherings ceased and within a short period the hunter gatherers were replaced by Farmers from Europe. The debate still has not settled whether the H/G were assimilated peacefully or destroyed in conflict.

There is no evidence yet available.

I always thought it was originally a 'National Parliament' as well as an Observatory and annual Family festival area. If you study the drover's paths that all lead to the henge from all directions many sheep,pigs and cattle were driven to the site over many years with other neolithic sites radiating outwards a days drive to all parts of the country.

After 700 BCE no Scottish and only a few Welsh remains( in the animal bones) are found.

Civil War?

Martin Harris · 2024-08-15T10:59:24Z

Thousands of years ago we had an ice age, Glaciers moved across much of the British landmass from North to South.

The ice picked up and transported boulders and deposited them hundreds of miles from their source.

This is nothing new. Britain is littered with thousands of such rocks, which are geologically termed "erratic boulders".

The only mystery about this news is why its news at all. Nature, noy human agency, transported most of those stones to the locality where they were utilized to erect the Stonehenge structure.

Buffalo_Ken · 2024-08-15T21:42:24Z

Martin Harris - that sounds plausible versus all these other crazy ideas trying to ascribe this or that - at the end of the day, the folks created "Stonehenge" were just trying to understand - what is the purpose of it all?

Martin Harris · 2024-08-15T21:53:29Z

Buffalo_Ken

I did contact Nature (where the peer-reviewed article was published) with my suggestion. But not being an academic, I'm probably not qualified enough. you never know though, someone better qualified might claim credit for the solution

Buffalo_Ken · 2024-08-15T21:58:54Z

Martin Harris - here is a video about some rocks moved around shared by another here at sott.net - a great place to learn no doubt and these large rocks were unlikely moved by water.....but as for the rocks that ended upon Stonehenge - and mind you I have been there in person - it could be there were some floods from a long time ago and they dropped the rocks upon the locals, and then if times were peaceful, they thought - the locals at the time just living life and sharing - they thought: what the hell - lets see if we can line these up.....it is definitely a possibility - and if we have learned anything lately, we ought know - the so-called experts are often so biased they can't see their head up their own assholes.

[Link] - shared by another and I can't remember - but I send out thanks for this video most compelling.

Martin Harris · 2024-08-15T22:09:58Z

Buffalo_Ken Thanks Ken

here's a really good one I just found that really hits the nail on the head:

Where did the boulders come from? | Erratic Project (erraticsproject.org)

Doesn't get much more obvious.

be sure that this doesn't diminish the creative genius of the ancient brits any, as Stonehenge is one heck of an accomplishment even using locally available stone, but I hate drumming up mysteries when Occams razor provides simple solutions.

Buffalo_Ken · 2024-08-15T22:24:27Z

Martin Harris - I'll check it out - and the only thing simpler than "Occams razor" sometimes is I think " plum simple " - like "duh" - why didn't I think of that....like it is "plum simplle" some stone hails from Scotland for fuck sake - and the UK - tis plum simple - that place is toast.

Hadrian's wall might be a good mark of demarcation. Of course the Irish have the imitative - and don't forget the Welsh - I mean who the hell wants to be in the UK these days - if the UK doesn't even know or recognize who is amongst it - tis a chimera - and illusion - built upon lies and deception. I hope it splits up.

Buffalo_Ken · 2024-08-15T22:36:38Z

Martin Harris - a specific link would be appreciated - all I found was this - [Link]
And when the text reads "imitative" - that is a new word just learned and the word I intended to type was "initiative" - that is the problem with the English language - in script some words meaning totally different things are so close - and sometimes one has to type quick - but odds are the big stone from Scotland was washed upon Stonehenge and then that is that - wouldn't want to be living in the UK just now - and if I was - I'd be clamoring for secession.

Martin Harris · 2024-08-25T07:15:55Z

Buffalo_Ken I don't have permission to post links here Ken.

Copy and paste the supplied link text into the search engine of your choice and it will become an active link to the specific article.

Buffalo_Ken · 2024-08-25T13:50:33Z

Martin Harris

I don't have permission to post links here Ken.

Sorry to read that, but I'll try to check it out....thanks.

Buffalo_Ken · 2024-08-15T21:39:39Z

Oh - what the heck were they thinking in Stonehenge?

Let the tutor make his charge pass everything through a sieve and lodge nothing in his head on mere authority and trust: let not Aristotle's principles be principles to him any more than those of the Stoics or Epicureans. Let this variety of ideas be set before him; he will choose if he can; if not, he will remain in doubt. Only the fools are certain and assured. "For doubting pleases me no less than knowing." [Dante]. For if he embraces Xenophon's and Plato's opinions by his own reasoning, they will no longer be theirs, they will be his. He who follows another follows nothing. He finds nothing; indeed he seeks nothing. "We are not under a king; let each one claim his own freedom." [Seneca]. . . . He must imbibe their way of thinking, not learn their precepts. And let him boldly forget, if he wants, where he got them, but let him know how to make them his own. Truth and reason are common to everyone, and no more belong to the man who first spoke them than to the man who says them later. It is no more according to Plato than according to me, since he and I see it in the same way. The bees plunder the flowers here and there, but afterward they make of them honey, which is all and purely their own, and no longer thyme and marjoram.[46][47]

[Link]
and for the fun of it -

I pull this out of the hat of Stonehenge - in regards to geometry:

Stonehenge builders had geometry skills to rival Pythagoras

Stone Age Britons had a sophisticated knowledge of geometry to rival Pythagoras - 2,000 years before the Greek "father of numbers" was born, according to a new study of Stonehenge. Five years of...

azigzagidiot · 2024-08-16T04:46:47Z

Buffalo_Ken fine work over there, Tyler.

Glad your 'stack was refound--I'd read about Cowpens there (and other writings at smartly named places) a while back--quite informative, thanks for that!