This story first appeared on BBC News Online on 13 June 2006 - click here to read the original article.In a new twist, Open University geologists say the stones were in fact moved to Salisbury Plain by glaciers.
Last year archaeologists said the
stones came from the Preseli Hills.
Recent research in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology suggests the stones were ripped from the ground and moved by glaciers during the Ice Age.
Geologists from the Open University first claimed in 1991 that the bluestones at one of Britain's best-known historic landmarks had not come from a quarry, but from different sources in the Preseli area.
The recent work was conducted by a team headed by Professor Olwen Williams-Thorpe, who said she and her colleagues had used geochemical analysis to trace the origins of axe heads found at Stonehenge and this backed up the original work.
The researchDr Brian John, a geomorphologist living in Pembrokeshire, said he always thought the idea that Bronze Age man had quarried the stones and then taken them so far "stretched credibility".
But he said the debate would go on until someone was able to prove beyond doubt what happened one way or the other.
"This is very exciting, and it moves the bluestone debate on from the fanciful and unscientific assertions of the past," he said.
"Much of the archaeology in recent years has been based upon the assumption that Bronze Age man had a reason for transporting bluestones all the way from west Wales to Stonehenge and the technical capacity to do it.
"That has been the ruling hypothesis, and there has been a great reluctance to allow facts to interfere with a good story."
"Glaciers may move very slowly, but they have an excellent record when it comes to the transport of large stones from one part of the country to another."
MORE ON BBC.CO.UK:
BBC Wiltshire: StonehengeMORE ON THE WEB:
Oxford Journal of Archaeology
The Bluestone Enigma - Brian John
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Gayle, Cardiff
Could it be both.Some erratics and some quarried.Neolithic and Bronze age people did travel, theres archaeological evidence from the study of human remains that not everyone was static.Someone from Salisbury plains familair with the bluestone erratics might well have travelled to Wales and come across the bluestones there. Or vice versa. The answer I suspect is probably more complex than either side thinks it is.We have no idea what the beliefs of our ancient ancestors were and part of that belief could have been dragging stones from distance places for all we know.Equally unusual erratics would also have caught their attention. They might even have wanted to find the source of these unusual stones.The bluestone enigma has not been solved. There needs to be much more research before we are even close to finding the answer.
Mon Dec 29 10:52:02 2008
Brian John from Newport
Sorry - I just don't see any connection. The fact that there are scattered and broken blocks that "look like those at Stonehenge" around the Carn Meini area means nothing. They also look just like the majority of gateposts in North Pembs. Farmers have been taking stones off the mountain for just that purpose ever since the 1700's.
Mon Sep 29 15:55:05 2008
Peter Hannah of Milford Haven
I remember being taken on a walk in the 1980's on the Preselis by Roger Worsley. He showed me a quarry with several large bluestones, just like those at Stonehenge, lying part or completely cut out of the mountain. I felt it was compelling evidence that the stones were brought to Wiltshire.
Mon Jun 30 10:38:31 2008
Alan Gripton from Norwich
The stone movers had no choice concerning the choice of bluestones, Preseli was the geometrical solution to their grand plan. The source lies in direct alignment and equidistant from the Nuthampstead Zodiac to the central site of the Malvern Zodiac...The problem with modern archaeologists is that they spend years inspecting the door handle without ever thinking to open the door and discover the palace.
Mon Jun 2 13:18:23 2008
Brian John from Newport
There is actually quite a bit of evidence of foreign erratics (including dolerite and assorted sandstones) turning up on other parts of Salisbury Plain...I'm sure there are more to be found, if a systematic search was to be undertaken. But I still have doubts that the Irish Sea Glacier ever reached Salisbury Plain - we do know that it reached the Somerset Levels, as there are glacial deposits not far from Glastonbury.
My "best case" scenario at the moment is that the erratics were carried to the Glastonbury area by ice, and collected from that neighbourhood by the builders of Stonehenge. They used anything they could find for the "bluestone" settings, including a lot of smaller sarsen stones.
Tue May 6 09:04:35 2008
Steve Somers
The contra-glacial hypothesis viz. "Where are the other bluestones on Salisbury plain if they arrived by glacier?" is fundamentally flawed. Given the unpredictable way glaciers leave erratics (there's rather a strong clue in the name of these!) and the fact that these rocks would be left lying on the plain they would have been local landmarks - Neolithic man would have known the location of them all and when wanting building material would have used the nearest source.
Wed Apr 9 12:41:12 2008
ruth acquah, michigan
I do not agree with Doug..I don't think they would leave any trails to where they found the stones.
Thu Apr 3 10:28:14 2008
Ian F. Newcombe from Croydon
Bronze Age Man transporting large stones long distances is most probable. Look at the large OLMEC "African-looking" stone heads found in Middle-America. These are of the same stone type but separated by large distances.
Thu Apr 3 10:25:39 2008
Brian John from Newport
There are difficulties with both theories, Bob. I wouldn't mind betting that there are more "bluestones" on the bed of the Bristol Channel and maybe in the Somerset Levels, beneath the peat. Can you kindly show me some evidence of long-distance transport of large stones by Neolithic or Bronze Age people? They ALWAYS used stones that were close at hand, in their megalithic structures like standing stones and burial chambers. And don't forget that the "bluestones" at Stonehenge have come from at least 5 or 6 different rock outcrops, including one not far from Dinas. They were definitely not from a single "bluestone quarry" at Carn Meini - the geochemistry shows that conclusively.
Wed Mar 19 09:46:17 2008
Bob C Shark
I agree with Doug; there should be a scattering of bluestones in the henge area, and from what I have read...this is not the case.
Fri Feb 1 09:09:54 2008
Brian John from Newport
Not as easy as you think, Doug. Glaciers do not necessarily leave nice tidy trails of erratics between source and dumping ground. There are even more problems with the human transport idea -- archaeologists like to think there were 80 bluestones in the early stone setting. We know of about 47 "bluestones" of various rock types, so where are the other 33? I suspect that they were smaller sarsens, used later as lintels on the trilithons. In other words, the builders used whatever stones they could find, probably within a radius of 20 or 30 miles of the site. They did not use spotted dolerite preferentially, and it had no particular significance for them. It had no particular significance for the builders of cromlechs, standing stones and other monuments in Pembrokeshire either.
Mon Dec 4 10:45:04 2006
Doug Collinge, Victoria, Canada
It seems rather easy to determine the truth of this hypothesis. If glaciers dragged the stones then there will be plenty of other stones like them in the vicinity. If people transported them then there won't, because they won't have transported any more than they needed.
Thu Oct 12 09:14:15 2006
John Fish from Tenby
In 1998 I published a fictional novel which assumed that the legend was true. Since then I've come to realise that people hold strong views as to the truth of the legend which raises a question: Why is it of importance to disprove it? Ironically, of course, it is a testimony to the inspirational qualities of Europe's oldest legend.
Thu Sep 28 16:34:47 2006
What's your verdict? Do you think the Preseli bluestones travelled by glacier, or were they taken there by Man? Or is there another theory worth considering?
Have Your Say here.
A geology team has contradicted claims that bluestones were dug by Bronze Age man from a west Wales quarry and carried 240 miles to build Stonehenge.
