British geologists have announced the discovery of at least one location where rock was quarried for use in the construction of Stonehenge.
Geologists Robert Ixer of the University of Leicester and Richard Bevins of the National Museum of Wales discovered the rock formations original location by comparing fragments of stone found at or near Stonehenge with rocks in the south-west Wales area. By using those segments they were able to determine the original rock outcrop for some of the material used at Stonehenge.
According to scientists they have discovered where the smaller standing stones (not the “Sarsen” ones) were taken from. According to researchers the stones came from a 70-yard-long outcropping approximately 160 miles from the Stonehedge site.
What researchers don’t understand at this point is how the stone was carried to the site. While it’s possible that the rock was transported by it’s builders some 5,000 years ago it could have arrived thousands of years earlier by way of glacier.
Researchers believe that if transported from Pembrokeshire in south-west Wales there was likely a reason for that transport. Early research into the period shows a strong belief system in which the Pembrokeshire stones had magical or ideological significance.
If carried 160 miles the stone would have made a dangerous trip around David’s Head, a rather hard to accomplish task on an old Neolithic boat. The rock could also have been carried over mountains which in itself would have posed a large obstacle.
Do you think Stonehenge was built for mystical or more practical reasons?