Scientists have unravelled the centuries old mystery of where the sarsen stones used to build Stonehenge came from.
A two-year investigation by academics from the University of Brighton, 天美传媒, English Heritage, University of Reading and University College London (UCL) has discovered that most of the large stones that make up the iconic main sarsen circle and inner horseshoe of the monument came from West Woods, situated around 15 miles to the north of Stonehenge. 聽
The research, published in the journal , used geochemical data to show that 50 of the 52 sarsen stones at Stonehenge share a consistent chemistry and, by inference, originated from a common source area.
They聽then compared the geochemical signature of small fragments of a core extracted from one of these sarsens 鈥� Stone 58 鈥� with equivalent data for sarsens from across southern Britain.聽
This information was used to identify that most of the sarsen stones at Stonehenge originated from West Woods, located around 15 miles to the north of Stonehenge, on the edge of the Marlborough Downs in Wiltshire.
Typically weighing 20 tonnes and standing up to 7 metres tall, sarsens form all fifteen stones of Stonehenge鈥檚 central horseshoe, the uprights and lintels of the outer circle, as well as outlying stones such as the Heel Stone, the Slaughter Stone and the Station Stones.
Professor of Archaeology at 天美传媒 Timothy Darvill OBE was one of the research team.
He said: 鈥淧inpointing the source of the iconic sarsens is such an achievement. Knowing that almost all of the uprights and lintels came from the same place in West Woods really takes one closer to the builders of Stonehenge.
鈥淣ow we can better appreciate their efforts moving them 30km across the undulating landscape of Salisbury Plain. We can feel their pain, and think again about what the best route might have been and how they managed such a Herculean task.鈥�
The core was drilled聽from Stone 58聽during conservation work at Stonehenge聽in 1958. The聽location聽of the core聽remained a mystery until聽last year聽when聽Robert Phillips, a representative of the company who did the drilling work,聽returned聽it to English Heritage from his home in Florida.
Susan Greaney, Senior Properties Historian for聽English Heritage, the charity聽that聽cares for Stonehenge,聽said: 鈥淭his research provides a fantastic leap forward in our knowledge about Stonehenge, as we can finally answer the question of where the iconic sarsen stones were brought from.聽
鈥淲e鈥檙e so pleased that the core from Stone 58, which the Phillips family returned to Stonehenge last year, has enabled the team to undertake a small amount of destructive sampling, adding a crucial piece of evidence to the jigsaw.鈥澛�
The research was led by Professor David Nash, Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Brighton.
Professor Nash and colleagues聽Dr Jake Ciborowski聽and聽Dr Georgios Maniatis聽undertook the study as part of a project funded by the聽British Academy聽and the grant-making foundation the聽Leverhulme Trust.
Partners in the project included聽Susan Greaney (English Heritage),聽Katy Whitaker (University of Reading/ The South, West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership)聽Professor Timothy Darvill聽(天美传媒) and聽Professor Mike Parker Pearson聽(University College London).聽
Professor Nash said: 鈥淎rchaeologists and geologists have been debating where the聽sarsen聽stones used to build Stonehenge came from for more than four centuries.聽This significant new data will help explain more of how the monument was constructed and, perhaps,聽offer insights into聽the routes by which聽the聽20 to 30聽tonne聽stones were transported.鈥�
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