Mystery solved?

Stonehenge: Researchers make a huge discovery

Stonehenge is a mystery to mankind.(Bild: AFP/ANDREW COWIE)

The mystery surrounding the Stonehenge monument in the southwest of England has been enriched by another chapter: according to a British-Australian study, part of the almost 5,000-year-old stone constellation comes from around 750 kilometers away in the northeast of Scotland, as surprised scientists explained on Wednesday.

How the six-ton stone could have been transported over such a long distance is still unclear. "This is a truly astonishing result," explained one of the co-authors of the study, archaeologist Robert Ixer from University College London.

His colleague Nick Pearce from the University of Aberystwyth in Wales emphasized that the "astonishing" distance is the longest distance ever documented for a stone at the time of Stonehenge's creation.

Clues to the origin of the altar stone
The stone constellation from the Neolithic period has puzzled people for thousands of years. According to a medieval legend, the wizard Merlin stole the monument from Ireland and brought it to England. Archaeologists have since discovered that the upright sandstones originate from nearby Marlborough, while the bluestones lined up in the center of the circle come from Wales.

The origin of the central altar stone was previously unknown. For the recently published study, British and Australian archaeologists measured the uranium and lead content of the stone - and found similarities with sediments from the Orcadian Basin in present-day Scotland. The stone comes "with a high degree of certainty" from this region, explained Chris Kirkland, another Australian researcher involved in the study.

Were stones transported by sea?
How the five-meter-long stone arrived in the southwest of England will have to be investigated further. According to the researchers, natural movements in the prehistoric ice would have driven the material northwards, away from Stonehenge. It is also considered unlikely that people brought the stone south by land due to the dense forests, swamps and mountains of the time.

However, there is evidence of an "extensive shipping network" through which pottery and precious stones were shipped at the time the Stonehenge monument was created, explained the head of the study, Australian archaeologist Anthony Clarke. It is therefore possible that the stone was transported by sea.