One of humanity’s most enduring mysteries continues to fuel questions and fantasies. If Stonehenge, a colossal monument located in the English plain of Salisbury, fascinates, it is in particular because the enormous stones which constitute it seem simply untransportable for those who do not have modern means – and the site is approximately 5,000 years old. How did these stones get there? Several theories have been formulated, but none has really convinced us until now.
Relayed by The Debrief, a study based on recent research suggests that one of the most enigmatic stones of this site is even more remarkable than we imagined. Published in the Journal of Quaternary Science, it is based on the reconstruction of the potential route which would have made it possible to transport this altar stone weighing 6 tonnes over hundreds of kilometers.
An object of fascination
Research dating from 2024 shows that this stone comes from the north-east of Scotland and not Wales, which then only reinforced the questions, the distance traveled by the stone being in fact much greater than previously estimated. The 2026 study, which is based on geological analyzes and modeling of glacial flows, largely answers the question, since it reconstructs possible transport routes.
“The evidence indicates deliberate and carefully planned movement across a difficult and varied landscape”declares the Dr Anthony Clarke, co-author of the study and professor of Earth and planetary sciences at Curtin University (Australia), in a press release. “Transporting a stone of this size such a long distance requires planning, coordination and in-depth knowledge of the terrain, not to mention extraordinary determination.”
Researchers suggest the stone’s journey may have begun during the Ice Age, when glaciers helped transport it across parts of ancient Britain. According to the study, Scottish glaciers transported the sandstone to the now-submerged landscape of Doggerland, a vast plain that once linked Britain to continental Europe.
With global warming and rising sea levels (which occurred 7,000 to 8,000 years ago), Doggerland gradually disappeared beneath the waters of the North Sea. The stone would then have been discovered by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers living in the region. If this hypothesis is correct, it would mean that the altar stone was of importance long before the construction of Stonehenge.
Communities then may have seen the stone as unusual, culturally important, or symbolically powerful enough to preserve it as rising waters engulfed the surrounding landscape. Researchers say the altar stone was transported inland over several generations, eventually landing in southern England, where it was incorporated into the Stonehenge complex around 2500 BCE.
