3 min learnJun 5, 2026 07:58 PM IST
A brand new examine could have introduced researchers nearer to fixing one in every of Stonehenge’s longest-standing mysteries: how its huge Altar Stone travelled roughly 700 kilometres from northeast Scotland to southern England.
The six-tonne sandstone slab, which lies on the centre of Stonehenge, has lengthy puzzled archaeologists. Earlier analysis traced its origins to the Orcadian Basin in northeast Scotland, however the mechanism behind its journey to Salisbury Plain remained unclear.
Now, scientists from Sheffield Hallam College within the UK and Curtin College in Australia recommend that a part of the stone’s journey could have been achieved naturally. In accordance with their examine, revealed within the Journal of Quaternary Science, glaciers over the past Ice Age may have transported the Altar Stone southward so far as Dogger Financial institution, a area beneath the North Sea.
Over the last glacial interval, between about 33,000 and 11,700 years in the past, giant ice sheets moved throughout Britain and carried rocks over appreciable distances. The researchers modelled historical ice flows and concluded that glaciers may have moved the Altar Stone from Scotland to Doggerland. This prehistoric landmass as soon as linked Britain to mainland Europe earlier than being submerged by rising sea ranges.
Dogger Financial institution itself incorporates no pure supply of enormous stones, making glacial transport the most probably clarification for a way such boulders arrived there.
Nonetheless, the examine discovered no proof that glaciers carried the Altar Stone on to southern England. As an alternative, researchers suggest that Neolithic communities had been answerable for transporting it the remaining a whole lot of kilometres to Stonehenge.
In accordance with the crew, this journey could have concerned a mix of coastal routes, rivers, and overland transport. It was steered by the researchers that the stone may need been transported over the course of many generations earlier than being integrated into Stonehenge after round 5,000 years.
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In accordance with the researchers, the stone may need had cultural worth even earlier than making its approach to Stonehenge. The likelihood exists that if the communities in Doggerland had found and safeguarded the stone, the identical may need achieved its cultural standing earlier than its final transportation.
This paper presents a really excessive degree of organisational functionality displayed by Neolithic communities, as evidenced by the motion of a six-tonne stone over a substantial distance.
There nonetheless exist some uncertainties concerning the particular path adopted by the Altar Stone. Nonetheless, the analysis brings forth a believable situation whereby geological modifications, together with human exercise, led to the creation of Stonehenge.