Stonehenge Study Reverses 100-Year-Old Theory, Suggests Potential for Further Discoveries
A research team led by researchers from the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences at Aberystwyth University in the UK has discovered a secret about Stone 80 (also known as the “altar stone”) at Stonehenge. Many smaller stones are thought to have been quarried 140 miles away from Stonehenge, but the altar stone is different and may have been quarried much further away.
According to the article “Time to broaden our geographic and stratigraphic horizons.” published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, the Stonehenge altar stone was probably quarried in the Anglo-Welsh Basin at not quarried from the Old Red Sandstone.
The Stonehenge Altarpiece is unique among the bluestones at Stonehenge in that it is composed of sandstone, in contrast to the igneous-dominated bluestones that form the inner circle of Stonehenge. Bluestones are small stones at Stonehenge that turn bluish when wetted.
An earlier theory attributed the origin of the altar stone to the Old Red Sandstone Formation in western Wales.
The Old Red Sandstone Formation was formed about 400 million years ago when what is now Europe and North America collided. Parts of this formation are distributed on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean and extend as far north as Greenland and Norway.
To determine the origin of the Alterstone, researchers performed a variety of analyses on samples from the Old Red Sandstone Formation within the Anglo-Welsh Basin, including optical petrology, portable X-ray fluorescence analysis, automated SEM-EDS analysis, and Raman spectroscopy. The samples are characterized by high barium content, which distinguishes them from many other basin and bluestone samples.
The results of this study indicate that the barium content of the altar stone is exceptional. Although some of the Basin Formation samples are consistent with its composition, the contrasting mineralogy makes it unlikely that they are from the same locality as the altar stone. This raises the question of the Anglo-Welsh Basin as the origin of the altar stone and suggests the need to extend the geographic and stratigraphic search to northern Britain Island to look for younger aged sandstones.
Primarily igneous in origin, the bluestones were called “foreign stones” by early Stonehenge excavators. The local source of the large stones used in the construction of Stonehenge is believed to have been as far as 15 miles away, but even so, at more than 55 tons per piece, it is a remarkable undertaking, suggesting a deeper significance in where the stones were transported.
The majority of the bluestones were transported from the Minid Preusseri region of western Wales, 140 miles west of Stonehenge.
Based on this research, the researchers suggest that the altar stone should be “declassified” as a bluestone, severing the connection between Stonehenge and the Minid Preusseri bluestone. If this is correct, it would mean that research into the origin of the altar stone has just begun.
The Meaning of Stonehenge
Although many astronomical theories have been proposed and debunked over the years, one aspect that has been confirmed by archaeology is that the structure has come to mean many things over the past 5,000 years. It makes sense to incorporate this monument into a burial place for the dead, a sacred healing place, a place of meditation, or a meeting place for the Druids or other traditional religions, if they are local. There is no doubt that a variety of rituals have been performed at Stonehenge. Whatever the original purpose, the legacy of Stonehenge is an endless sense of wonder, mystery, imagination, and vacation snapshots.
Source: Stonehenge Study Reverses 100-Year-Old Theory, Suggests Potential for Further Discoveries
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