Curtin Study Confirms Humans Moved Stonehenge’s 6-Ton Altar Stone 400 Miles
Updated
Updated · Popular Science · Jun 4
Curtin Study Confirms Humans Moved Stonehenge’s 6-Ton Altar Stone 400 Miles
3 articles · Updated · Popular Science · Jun 4
Summary
A Curtin University team said new ice-sheet modeling and mineral-grain dating show Stonehenge’s six-ton Altar Stone was deliberately transported about 400 miles by people, not delivered near the site by glaciers.
The study, published in the Journal of Quaternary Science, found no viable glacial pathway from the stone’s likely Scottish source region to Salisbury Plain, undercutting a long-running natural-transport theory.
Researchers said the megalith was probably moved in stages across a difficult landscape, likely using a mix of overland hauling and river travel, though the exact method remains unknown.
The finding sharpens the picture of Stonehenge’s construction 5,000 years ago, suggesting Neolithic communities coordinated a highly planned long-distance effort to place the monument’s central sandstone.