divine power. Place of worship. UFO landing site. Many uses of Stonehenge have been theorized. Researchers have now added another one: the Monument to Unity, they said. archeology international article.
There must have been a reason for this, as the stones that make up the various aspects of the mysterious structure were transported from various parts of the British Isles. After all, this is not the only henge in town. Hundreds of other stone circles have been discovered in England. However, almost all locally sourced building materials were used.
The Importance of Distant Stones
Stonehenge is unique in that respect. Its building blocks were collected from near and far. The most recent and perhaps most famous example is: “Altar stone.“The dominant rungs were somehow transported some 700 miles north of Scotland.
“The fact that all the stones originate from remote locations makes them unique among Britain’s more than 900 stone circles, suggesting that the stone circles may have had a political as well as a religious purpose. Britain celebrates our eternal connection with our ancestors and the universe.” Mike Parker PearsonThe archaeologist at College London and author of the paper said: press release.
However, altar stones are not ‘one-time stones’. This article provides a comprehensive list of where each stone likely came from and when it may have been moved. For example, 43 “bluestones” were transported from west Wales, about 140 miles away, while the larger “sarsen” stones originated about 15 miles northwest of the Stonehenge site on Salisbury Plain.
Read more: Stonehenge may be the ancient solar calendar
Stonehenge’s cultural significance
The provenance and placement of the altar stone suggest that it was moved that far, and not just because it is an unusually handsome rock. This paper highlights how the horizontal altar stones at Stonehenge match the size and layout of similar stones in north-east Scotland, where the altar stones originated.
Megalithic stones have ancestral meaning, the author writes. They represent the origins of people. The altar stone may therefore have been proposed by the people of northern Scotland to symbolize their alliance.
Stonehenge was also built in two stages. The first one appeared to contain more local material on the site. The second phase included stones from further afield, including Scotland and Wales. A series of stones may mark the Stonehenge area as an increasingly cosmopolitan area, at least in the Neolithic sense.
“The remote origins of the altar stones confirm Stonehenge’s unique status as a single stone circle built entirely of non-local stones, a material microcosm extruding on an enormous scale,” the paper concludes. “This is consistent with recent interpretations of Stonehenge as a monument that attempted, but ultimately failed, to establish some form of political unity and shared identity across Britain. It is a distant community within complex material and monumental expressions that express the unity between people, land, ancestors and sky.”
Read more: Stonehenge raises a new mystery: the altar stone came from faraway Scotland
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Before joining Discover Magazine, Paul Smaglik was a science journalist for more than 20 years, specializing in U.S. life sciences policy and global science career issues. He started his career in newspapers but switched to science magazines. His research has been published in publications such as Science News, Science, Nature, and Scientific American.
