Glaciers May Have Delivered Stonehenge’s Altar Stone from Scotland to Dogger Bank
Scientists suggest that Ice Age glaciers moved Stonehenge’s six-ton Altar Stone from northeast Scotland to the Dogger Bank region, after which prehistoric people hauled it to Salisbury Plain.
Researchers combining grain-size analysis with computer simulations of the last glaciation have traced Stonehenge’s six-tonne Altar Stone to the Orcadian Basin in northeast Scotland, about 700 km from the monument. Their models indicate that glaciers could have moved the stone to the Dogger Bank area of the North Sea during the Ice Age. Because no glacial routes extend to Salisbury Plain, the study argues that prehistoric communities later hauled the stone across land, possibly using river or coastal routes and the ancient Berkshire Ridgeway.
The authors suggest the stone may have been valued by Doggerland peoples, prompting its rescue from rising seas before its ultimate placement at Stonehenge. The work highlights the logistical complexity and coordinated effort required for such a multi-stage transport. The study was led by scholars from Sheffield Hallam University and Curtin University, with contributions from the University of Sheffield, Wessex Archaeology and the University of Bristol.
Why it matters
It reshapes our understanding of prehistoric engineering and the cultural importance of Stonehenge’s stones.
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