The plot thickened over the mystery of the Stonehenge altar stone weeks after geologists sensationally revealed that the large Neolithic rock was transported hundreds of kilometers to Wiltshire from the far north of Scotland.
That discovery, described as “mouthwatering” by one of the scientists involved, definitively established that the six-tonne megalith was not brought from Wales, as had long been believed, but came from sandstone deposits in an area that the islands of Orkney and Shetland and a coastal strip on the north-eastern Scottish mainland.
Many experts adopted that the most likely place of origin was Orkney, based on the islands’ rich Neolithic culture and tradition of monument building.
But a separate academic study has now found that Orkney is not, in fact, the source of the altar stone, meaning the tempting hunt for its place of origin continues.
The new study, carried out separately from last month’s Australian-led paper but involving some of the same scientists, examined the chemical and mineralogical composition of the stones in Orkney’s two major stone circles – the Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar – as well as multiple field samples of rock deposits across the Orkney Islands.
When their key markers, identified in portable X-rays, were compared to the altar stone’s, they were found to be strikingly different, leading the authors to conclude that Orkney could not have been its source.
The lead author of the report, Richard Bevinsthe honorary professor of geography and earth sciences at Aberystwyth University, said Orkney was “the obvious place to look” once initial research several years ago pointed away from Wales to an unknown location in northern Britain.
Extensive evidence exists of long-distance communication between Orkney and Stonehenge around 3000 BC, and a number of key innovations in technology and culture are believed to have originated in the archipelago.
“Everyone and their dog would have said, ‘Let’s try Orkney first. It’s going to be Orkney,” agreed co-author Dr Rob Ixer, an honorary senior research fellow at University College London, who like Bevins was also involved in the Australian-led research. He added: “Life would have been a lot simpler if it looked like the stones of Brodgar.
“The more we learn [about Stonehenge]the weirder it gets.”
Ruling out Orkney so quickly could help limit the search in other areas of ancient red sandstone, said Bevins, who said he was “optimistic” that the specific source of the rock would one day be identified. “The Orcadian Basin [the area of old red sandstone from which the altar stone originated] is quite a large area so I wouldn’t say it will be found quickly. What I would say is, it’s doable.”
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Ixer said he would be “surprised if there aren’t other people pushing small sins around suitable stones” in Aberdeenshire and Caithness.
Alison Sheridan, former Chief Curator of Prehistory at National Museums Scotland (NMS), which was not involved in the research, said the new findings were “an intriguing additional twist to the story”. She added: “As with many things about Stonehenge, nothing is ever simple.”
Attention has understandably turned to Orkney because of what was known of the sophisticated society that built the Ness of Brodgar, says Sheridan, who is now a research fellow at NMS.
“What we don’t know as much about is the social organization of other parts of Britain at the time. There is clearly scope that humans were just as sophisticated and well connected geographically and socially [elsewhere].
“I think it would do us no harm to reconsider what we already know about late Neolithic communities in north-east Scotland.”
The study be published in Journal of Archaeological Science.
