A 1924 discovery at Stonehenge, known as the Newall Boulder, may hold the key to unraveling the mystery behind the construction of the prehistoric monument. The bullet-shaped lithic lump has sparked a heated debate among archaeologists over whether the massive building blocks were brought to the site by natural forces or human hands.
Located on the Salisbury Plain in southern England, Stonehenge was built by Neolithic communities using materials from across Great Britain. The monument’s bluestones, for example, originated from the Preseli Hills in Wales, while the Altar Stone comes from northeast Scotland. Despite the massive distances these rocks traveled, their transportation remains a topic of debate.
In the 1990s, an analysis of the Newall Boulder suggested it may be a glacial erratic, meaning it was carried to the Salisbury Plain by a glacier thousands of years ago. However, a new study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports challenges this theory and instead supports the idea that humans transported the rocks.
The researchers argue that there is no evidence of glaciation on the Salisbury Plain and that the surface wear characteristics of the Newall Boulder do not support glacial transport. Instead, they point to petrographic features similar to those found in a nearby rocky outcrop in Wales as evidence that the boulder was once part of one of Stonehenge’s bluestones.
The study suggests that all the necessary data points towards the active extraction and transport of the bluestones by humans around 3000 BCE. With no conclusive evidence supporting glacial transport, this new research offers a fresh perspective on how one of the world’s most iconic monuments was built.
Source: https://www.iflscience.com/were-stonehenges-bluestones-transported-by-humans-or-ice-100-year-old-discovery-sparks-debate-80083