'Genuinely shocking' findings shed new light - and mystery - on the famous rocks and raise a key question: why was the central stone so important?
The Altar Stone at the centre of Stonehenge was brought 500 miles from northern Scotland - not Wales - as was previously thought, according to new research, adding to the mystery of the Neolithic site. Geological fingerprinting has revealed the six-tonne stone almost certainly came from the Orcadian Basin, a rock deposit stretching north from Inverness up to the Orkney Islands. 'This is a genuinely shocking result,' said co-researcher Dr Robert Ixer from University College London.
' The scientists are confident the Altar Stone was deliberately transported, not carried south by glaciers during an ice age. One possibility is that it could have been brought on a raft, sailing down the coast of Britain. Mountains and dense forest would have made overland transport difficult. But it is unclear exactly what was so special about the sandstone of northeast Scotland that made it worthwhile to transport to southern England.
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