HomeInternational NewsNew Research Reveals Origin of Stonehenge's Altar Stone in Scotland

New Research Reveals Origin of Stonehenge’s Altar Stone in Scotland

Altar Stone, a massive sandstone located centrally within the famous megalithic monument Stonehenge, has been the subject of new research revealing its origins in northeastern Scotland. According to a recently published article in the journal *Nature*, the stone was transported approximately 750 kilometers (about 466 miles) to Salisbury Plain in southern England by the creators of Stonehenge. The stone’s geochemical fingerprint matches the bedrock in Scotland, solving one mystery but raising another: how did prehistoric builders manage to transport a six-ton stone over such a great distance?

Previous research had already identified the origins of the standing stones and the so-called bluestones located near the center of the monument. However, the origin of the Altar Stone remained a mystery. Anthony Clarke, a PhD student in geology at Curtin University in Australia and the lead author of the study, stated, “We could not believe it.” For more than a century, scientists had assumed that the Altar Stone originated from the much closer Wales, but earlier studies from that region yielded no results. This prompted a group of British and Australian researchers to broaden their search, leading to their sensational discovery.

Using chemical analysis, they identified the Altar Stone as coming from the Orcadian Basin in Scotland. Robert Ixer, a co-author from University College London, described the findings as “genuinely shocking.” The distance the stone was transported represents the longest ever recorded for a stone from this time period. This raises questions about whether people around 2500 BC were capable of transporting such massive stones from Wales, which has been a topic of intense debate among archaeologists and historians.

Researchers believe that the transportation of a five-meter-long stone across most of the United Kingdom indicates that the British Isles had a well-organized and interconnected society at the time. They are urging further research to uncover where in Scotland the stone originated and how it made its way to Stonehenge.

To determine the stone’s origin, the researchers employed laser beams on the crystals within a thin slice of the Altar Stone. The ratio of uranium to lead in these crystals acts as “miniature clocks” for the stones, providing information about their age. Chris Kirkland from Curtin University, a co-author of the study, stated that the researchers could conclude with a high degree of certainty that the stone came from the Orcadian Basin.

Susan Greaney, an archaeologist at the University of Exeter in the UK who was not involved in the study, commented that this highlights the first “direct connection” between southern England and northern Scotland during this period. “The placement of this stone at the heart of the monument, on the solstice axis, shows that they regarded this stone, and by implication the connection to the northern region, as incredibly important,” she added.

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