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A Scottish origin for Stonehenge's Altar Stone

Geologists have found the provenance for Stonehenge's central Altar Stone, in the Orcadian Basin in Scotland
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  1. Emily Bates
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Stonehenge, the Neolithic stone circle on Salisbury Plain in southern England, has captivated archaeologists, antiquarians and sightseers for centuries. For decades researchers have tried to find the origins of the stones, with some being sourced to the surrounding landscape and some from the Preseli Hills in Wales.

But new geochemical analysis of the Altar Stone, a partially buried slab of sandstone at the centre of the stone circle, suggests that this stone originally came from the Orcadian Basin in Scotland, over 700 kilometres away.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02651-8

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