Stonehenge came from even further than Wales

Megalith in the centre of Stonehenge not Welsh after all. It turns out it comes from much further – the north of Scotland.

Archeologists have been saying for more than a century that the megalithic stone in the middle of Stonehenge was taken from Wales to complete the monument on Salisbury Plain, but it turns out they travelled a lot further.

A new study has just come up with evidence that says it actually came all the way from Scotland on a 466 mile (750km) trip. The astonishing discovery following studies of what is known as the ‘Altar Stone’ which would have been transported from around the area of Inverness, or even from as far as Orkney, now calls into question all sorts of previous assumptions made about civilisation at the time of the Neolithic age. Anthropologists are now trying to reassess what kind of relationships and communications networks civilisations on the British Isles had.

Central megalith not the same material as other stones

The centre piece is not of the same material as the immense, lintel-topped Sarsen stones that formed the circle, but a 5-metre-tall, 6-tonne fallen megalith that lays partially covered by two other rocks which remains mostly hidden from view, is actually made of old red sandstone.

It was always thought to have been brought from Pembrokeshire in Wales, which would have been an astonishing enough feat in itself, but now geologists have concluded it actually came from much further afield. While the precise point of origin is still being studied, experts have narrowed it down to somewhere probably near John O’Groats, not far from Elgin.