A Scottish provenance for the Altar Stone of Stonehenge.

Autor: Clarke AJI; Timescales of Mineral Systems Group, School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia. 20392091@student.curtin.edu.au., Kirkland CL; Timescales of Mineral Systems Group, School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia., Bevins RE; Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, UK., Pearce NJG; Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, UK., Glorie S; Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia., Ixer RA; Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, UK.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Nature [Nature] 2024 Aug; Vol. 632 (8025), pp. 570-575. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Aug 14.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07652-1
Abstrakt: Understanding the provenance of megaliths used in the Neolithic stone circle at Stonehenge, southern England, gives insight into the culture and connectivity of prehistoric Britain. The source of the Altar Stone, the central recumbent sandstone megalith, has remained unknown, with recent work discounting an Anglo-Welsh Basin origin 1,2 . Here we present the age and chemistry of detrital zircon, apatite and rutile grains from within fragments of the Altar Stone. The detrital zircon load largely comprises Mesoproterozoic and Archaean sources, whereas rutile and apatite are dominated by a mid-Ordovician source. The ages of these grains indicate derivation from an ultimate Laurentian crystalline source region that was overprinted by Grampian (around 460 million years ago) magmatism. Detrital age comparisons to sedimentary packages throughout Britain and Ireland reveal a remarkable similarity to the Old Red Sandstone of the Orcadian Basin in northeast Scotland. Such a provenance implies that the Altar Stone, a 6 tonne shaped block, was sourced at least 750 km from its current location. The difficulty of long-distance overland transport of such massive cargo from Scotland, navigating topographic barriers, suggests that it was transported by sea. Such routing demonstrates a high level of societal organization with intra-Britain transport during the Neolithic period.
(© 2024. The Author(s).)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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