Stonehenge Altar Stone from Scotland, Not Wales

I don’t think I’ll be forgiven by people back home. It will be a great loss for Wales!

Welsh PhD student Anthony Clarke, who led a new study showing the the Altar Stone at Stonehenge is from Scotland and not Wales as previously thought.

Why It Matters: A new study published by Nature finds the Altar Stone at Stonehenge is from northeast Scotland, a distance of about 434 miles, meaning Stonehenge has rocks from every part of Great Britain. The discovery suggests that the ancient landmark was built from a more collaborative society than originally thought. Researchers from the Australian Curtin University analyzed samples of the rocks to find unique mineral compositions that correlate to different areas of the world. The new study raises more questions than it answers, as Dr. Robert Ixer, from University College London, explains, “The work prompts two important questions: how was the Altar Stone transported from the very north of Scotland, a distance of more than 700 kilometres, to Stonehenge, and, more intriguing, why?”

Read More: Famous Stonehenge stone came from Scotland not Wales (BBC)

Photo Credit: K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash