Stonehenge Altar Stone really could have come from Caithness, leading professor says
More research could help to discover whether a central part of the world-famous prehistoric monument at Stonehenge really did come from Caithness.
A new study appears to have ruled out Orkney as the origin of the Altar Stone – a six-tonne block of sandstone at the centre of the circle near Salisbury in Wiltshire – which is now known to have come from the far north of Scotland.
Geochemical analysis of the stone led to a paper, published in the international science journal Nature recently, that traces the source of the Altar Stone to Old Red Sandstone formations in the Orcadian Basin, an area that includes Caithness and Orkney.
Now a separate academic study looking into the chemical composition of rocks at the Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar, as well as other deposits in Mainland Orkney, shows a clear difference between these and the Altar Stone, leading to the conclusion that it is not the source.
Dr Rob Ixer, an honorary senior research fellow at University College London who co-authored the latest research, told the Guardian: “Everybody and their dog would have said: ‘Let’s try Orkney first. It’s going to be Orkney.’ Life would have been far simpler had it turned out to be similar to the stones of Brodgar.
“The more we learn [about Stonehenge], the weirder it gets.”
He added that he would be “astonished if there weren’t other people shoving little probes around suitable stones” in Aberdeenshire and Caithness.
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The study, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, means that the Altar Stone could have originated elsewhere within the Old Red Sandstone deposit area, which covers much of Shetland, Orkney and Caithness, as well as parts of Aberdeenshire.
A Caithness archaeology group said it would be interesting to find the true origin of the Stonehenge relic.
Ken McElroy of Caithness Broch Project said: “That’s fascinating to hear – it’s incredible to think that the stone might have originated in Caithness.
“We would absolutely welcome more research in the Caithness area, to see if there is a connection with Stonehenge. We’ll have to wait and see!”
The lead author of the research, Prof Richard Bevins of Aberystwyth University, told the Caithness Courier: “Yes, there is a possibility that the Altar Stone may have been sourced in Caithness and we will be planning to undertake a fieldwork programme, most probably in the spring.”
