Stonehenge thriller solved: Scientists work out the place enormous stones got here from

The massive stones at Stonehenge in Southern England got here from simply 15.5 miles away, in line with new analysis.

Many of the sarsens, or sandstone boulders, got here from West Woods within the English county of Wiltshire, researchers clarify, citing the chemical composition of the stones. The sarsens are as much as 30 toes tall and may weigh as a lot as 25 tons.

The analysis is printed within the journal Science Advances.

STONEHENGE WAS LIKE ANCIENT ‘LEGO,’ EXPERTS SAY

“Till just lately we didn’t comprehend it was doable to provenance a stone like sarsen,” mentioned David Nash, the examine’s lead creator, in a press release. “It has been actually thrilling to make use of 21st century science to grasp the Neolithic previous and reply a query that archaeologists have been debating for hundreds of years.”

File picture – A sprinkler waters the grass surrounding the traditional web site of Stonehenge, southern England April 30, 2011
(REUTERS/Chris Helgren)

Transportable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (PXRF) was used to research the stones. “Subsequent, the researchers carried out inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and ICP-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) of samples from a core beforehand drilled by means of one sarsen stone and a spread of sarsen boulders from throughout southern Britain,” the scientists defined, within the assertion.

This led the scientists to West Woods. “The rationale the monument’s builders chosen this web site stays a thriller, though the researchers recommend the scale and high quality of West Woods’ stones, and the benefit with which the builders might entry them, might have factored into the choice,” they defined within the assertion.

MISSING PIECE OF STONEHENGE RETURNED 60 YEARS AFTER IT WAS REMOVED DURING EXCAVATION

Stonehenge continues to be a supply of fascination for historians. Earlier this 12 months English Heritage, which oversees the well-known web site, famous that elements of Stonehenge bear a resemblance to an historic “Lego.”

In 2018, specialists mentioned that the positioning might have been constructed utilizing Greek thinker Pythagoras’ well-known theorem 2 millennia earlier than the mathematical equation was developed.

Final 12 months a lacking piece of Stonehenge was returned 60 years after it went lacking throughout an archaeological excavation.

STONEHENGE FEAST DISCOVERY THRILLS EXPERTS

The primary monument on the web site, an early “henge” monument, was constructed about 5,000 years in the past. The world-famous stone circle was constructed round 2,500 B.C. through the late Neolithic interval.

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The World Heritage web site is thought for its alignment with the actions of the solar – hundreds journey to the positioning close to Amesbury in Southern England to mark the solstices in summer time and winter.

The Related Press and Fox Information’ Chris Ciaccia contributed to this text.

Observe James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers

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