{"id":1484241,"date":"2024-08-17T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-17T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1484241"},"modified":"2024-08-17T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-08-17T15:00:00","slug":"new-research-sheds-light-on-mysterious-origin-off-stonehenges-altar-stone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/new-research-sheds-light-on-mysterious-origin-off-stonehenges-altar-stone\/1484241\/","title":{"rendered":"New Research Sheds Light On Mysterious Origin Off Stonehenge’s ‘Altar Stone’"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Research Sheds Light On Mysterious Origin Off Stonehenge’s ‘Altar Stone’<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Matt McGregor via The Epoch Times<\/a> (emphasis ours),<\/em><\/p>\n

Geologists may have solved the mystery of the origin of the Altar Stone central to the ancient monument of Stonehenge on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Altar Stone was long believed to have traveled 150 miles from Preseli Hills in Southwest Wales with the other megaliths until later work discounted that theory.<\/p>\n

The prehistoric monument Stonehenge near Amesbury in southern England on Jan. 19, 2022. (Daniel Leal\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

According to new research<\/a> published in the scientific journal Nature, the 6-ton Altar Stone may have taken a longer journey of 600 miles from Northern Scotland.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe difficulty of long-distance overland transport of such massive cargo from Scotland, navigating topographic barriers, suggests that it was transported by sea<\/strong>,\u201d the study said. \u201cSuch routing demonstrates a high level of societal organization with intra-Britain transport during the Neolithic period.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the study, ancient Britons began construction of Stonehenge as early as 3000 B.C. and continued for two millennia.<\/p>\n

Stonehenge was constructed with sarsen stones and bluestones\u2014or rock \u201cconsidered exotic to the local area,\u201d the study said.<\/p>\n

The Altar Stone, the study said, is the largest of the bluestones in the ancient monument.<\/p>\n

Stonehenge\u2019s Origin<\/h2>\n

Nick Howe, host of Nature\u2019s \u201cNature Podcast<\/a>,\u201d said the Altar Stone has long perplexed geologists.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite its name, it\u2019s unclear whether it was actually used as an altar,<\/strong>\u201d he said. \u201cAnd while it now lies flat, with another stone fallen on top of it, it may have once stood upright.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

Because it\u2019s the largest of the stones and central to the structure, researchers have acknowledged its importance, Mr. Howe said.<\/p>\n

Ten thousand years ago, he said, Stonehenge was marked not with stones but with wooden posts, which suggested that the site had significance for the ancient Britons.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, around 6,000 years ago, a round ditch was constructed, the first signs of the familiar circular structure<\/strong>,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s around this time that it\u2019s thought that a set of stones, known as the bluestones, arrived at Stonehenge from the Preseli Hills in Wales, a journey of some 150 miles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hundreds of years later, the over 20-foot sarsen stones were transported to the site and raised to create what is known as Stonehenge today.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s thought that these massive slabs came from quite close by, maybe only 15 miles away,<\/strong>\u201d Mr. Howe said.<\/p>\n

Despite competing theories suggesting the Altar Stone arrived with either the sarsen or the bluestones, researchers have never reached a definitive conclusion, Mr. Howe said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year a detailed analysis ruled out a Welsh origin for the Altar Stone, so, until now, its origin has remained a mystery,\u201d Mr. Howe said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Unique Fingerprint\u2019<\/h2>\n

The study\u2019s co-author, geologist Richard Bevins at Aberystwyth University in Aberystwyth, Wales, wasn\u2019t allowed to use samples from the Altar Stone because it\u2019s a protected site.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Instead, he used a sample from the rock in the 19th century and sent it to Anthony Clarke, a PhD student at Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia, where he had the technology to analyze the sample \u201cgrain-by-grain.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom that chemistry, we could look up the ages and compare them with other source regions in the UK,<\/strong>\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Using this analysis, he then set about finding a match for the source of the Altar Stone.<\/p>\n

Though it\u2019s a small island, Britain has a complicated geology, Mr. Clarke said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Clarke was able to determine the \u201cunique fingerprint\u201d of the Altar Stone and compare it with other sedimentary basins, eventually finding a match in the Arcadian Basin of Northeast Scotland.<\/p>\n

Mr. Clarke told Mr. Howe that he intends to conduct further research to find the exact location of Northeast Scotland where the Altar Stone was taken, information which may help illustrate a relationship between the two distant regions.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing is for sure, though,\u201d Mr. Howe said. \u201cThis won\u2019t be the end of the mysteries that Stonehenge holds.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nSat, 08\/17\/2024 – 07:00<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/new-research-sheds-light-mysterious-origin-stonehenges-altar-stone<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Research Sheds Light On Mysterious Origin Off Stonehenge’s ‘Altar Stone’ Authored by Matt McGregor via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Geologists may have solved…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1484242,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1484241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbimBl-6e7n","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/08\/image288029_0-ek9fta.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1484241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1484241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1484241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1484242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1484241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1484241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1484241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}