Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – Latest analysis performed by Curtin College has revealed that the monumental six-tonne Altar Stone at Stonehenge, beforehand thought to have originated in Wales, is, in truth, from Scotland. This discovery has vital implications concerning the sophistication of transportation strategies and social group throughout the stone’s placement in southern England roughly 5,000 years in the past.
The Altar Stone at Stonehenge. Credit score: English Heritage
The analysis crew at Curtin College analyzed the age and chemical composition of mineral grains inside fragments of the Altar Stone. This sandstone block, measuring 5 x 1 meters and 50cm in thickness, is centrally positioned inside Stonehenge’s famend stone circle in Wiltshire.
Anthony Clarke, the lead creator and PhD pupil from the Timescales of Mineral Programs Group inside Curtin’s College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, reported that the mineral evaluation of the Altar Stone fragments indicated a match with rocks from northeast Scotland. Concurrently, the evaluation definitively distinguished these fragments from Welsh bedrock.
“Our evaluation discovered particular mineral grains within the Altar Stone are principally between 1000 to 2000 million years outdated, whereas different minerals are round 450 million years outdated,” Clarke stated.
“This offers a definite chemical fingerprint suggesting the stone got here from rocks within the Orcadian Basin, Scotland, a minimum of 750 kilometers away from Stonehenge.
“Given its Scottish origins, the findings increase fascinating questions, contemplating the technological constraints of the Neolithic period, as to how such a large stone was transported over huge distances round 2600 B.C.
“This discovery additionally holds private significance for me. I grew up within the Mynydd Preseli, Wales, the place a few of Stonehenge’s stones got here from. I first visited Stonehenge after I was one yr outdated and now at 25, I returned from Australia to assist make this scientific discovery – you could possibly say I’ve come full circle on the stone circle.”
Examine co-author Professor Chris Kirkland, additionally from the Timescales of Mineral Programs Group at Curtin, stated the findings had vital implications for understanding historic communities, their connections, and their transportation strategies.
“Our discovery of the Altar Stone’s origins highlights a big stage of societal coordination throughout the Neolithic interval and helps paint an interesting image of prehistoric Britain,” Professor Kirkland stated.
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“Transporting such huge cargo overland from Scotland to southern England would have been extraordinarily difficult, indicating a probable marine transport route alongside the coast of Britain.
“This suggests long-distance commerce networks and the next stage of societal group than is extensively understood to have existed throughout the Neolithic interval in Britain.”
The examine was printed in Nature
Written by Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com Workers Author
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