Wed Sep 24 12:10:00 UTC 2025: **FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**

**Stonehenge’s Altar Stone Not From Wales, But Scotland, New Study Reveals**

**WILTSHIRE, ENGLAND -** A new study has overturned previous understanding about the origins of Stonehenge’s Altar Stone, revealing it likely came from the Orcadian Basin in Scotland, roughly 466 miles from the iconic monument. Previously, the stone was believed to have originated in Wales.

Researchers from Curtin University and Aberystwyth University conducted a chemical analysis of mineral grains within fragments of the six-ton Altar Stone, a large greenish sandstone slab at the center of the Wiltshire circle. The resulting chemical fingerprint matched rocks from northeast Scotland, definitively distinguishing it from Welsh bedrock.

“Our analysis found specific mineral grains in the Altar Stone are mostly between 1,000 to 2,000 million years old, while other minerals are around 450 million years old,” said Anthony Clarke, lead author from Curtin’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences. “This provides a distinct chemical fingerprint suggesting the stone came from rocks in the Orcadian Basin, Scotland, at least 750 kilometers [466 miles] away from Stonehenge.”

The finding challenges the existing consensus that the Altar Stone came from the Brecon Beacons area of southeast Wales. Now, researchers are looking to pinpoint the exact origin within Scotland.

The discovery raises intriguing questions about the transport of such a massive stone during the Neolithic era, around 2,600 BC. The researchers suggest that the Altar Stone’s journey to England indicates the existence of advanced trade networks and a higher level of societal coordination than previously thought.

“Transporting such massive cargo overland from Scotland to southern England would have been extremely challenging, indicating a likely marine shipping route along the coast of Britain,” said Professor Chris Kirkland, study co-author. “This implies long-distance trade networks and a higher level of societal organization than is widely understood to have existed during the Neolithic period in Britain.”

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