The Stonehenge Altar Stone Mystery

[@pwhitewick]

Fancy some behind the scenes shenanigans? Join this channel to get access to perks: kzbin.info/door/JV1EC8Mf87PpQYo9eUfd3Qjoin OR Patreon: www.patreon.com/PaulandRebeccaWhitewick

[@hedleythorne]

It took our builders decades to get the stone to finish our patio, so I fully appreciate the frustrations of the time.

[@hardyakka6200]

LOL

[@rogerwood4846]

if it had been a traveller builders they would still be taking the stones from Avebury

[@paulinehedges5088]

Paul. You never fail to bring something new EVERY week to entertain and inform us and get us asking for more information. Thank you SO MUCH. 😊😊😊😊😊

[@pwhitewick]

Thanks as always Pauline. Appreciate your support. 😊

[@TheGahta]

Its an evocative picture with the wandering stone over generations Certainly a past worth exploring

[@pwhitewick]

Absolutely

[@gwyn2]

Then it could also be viewed as having been moved on water along the coast over generations.

[@TheGahta]

@@gwyn2 a worship raft sounds rad too XD though its only one mistake from having to get it back out of at best shallow water and possibly quite soft underground while having it being rolled over a couple hundred meters one can prepare ahead of time sounds like a ton of work, but scalable and less likely to just go awry vOv how much force is needed to flick it over the water?

[@AdamMorganIbbotson]

What a video! You’ve done an amazing job balancing out both sides of the aisle. One thing that’s rarely mentioned about that study, is the rock samples they used against the Altar Stone sample, came from a rock shop in Whitby (I believe they have scientific samples). It’d be good to see them do some more fieldwork to grab primary samples from the areas the stone is supposedly from. Also, like you mention, why did this not influence the construction of the hundreds of megalithic sites in between? Weird! Add it to the pile of mysteries Stonehenge throws up, but rarely resolves…

[@pwhitewick]

Thanks Adam, appreciated. I do feel that qualifying certain aspects of Stonehenge would be in English heritages best interest. We only know the true location of the megaliths source because the American dude that took a core was having a clear out. Instead we are reliant on Rock Shops in Whitby! (nice though they are i am sure).

[@bobwightman1054]

There is a hypothesis (not sure if it's backed up by evidence) that building stone circles began in the north and migrated southwards. If that's the case then it's plausible that the altar stone was used several times as the practice advanced. Another comment noted that the Maui of Easter Island "walked" - those that are in their final location have flat bases whereas those found "in transit" have bevelled bases. This allows the Maui to "walk" as rocking from side to side makes them move towards the upper part of the bevel. I've seen videos where a few dozen individuals using ropes to either side are able to move a full sized Maui. I've been installing concrete gate posts weighing about 300kg and these also have a bevel on their base, once upright (a bit of a feat!) they are quite easy to walk/waddle along, you just have to keep them balanced. As a society we also tend to think in projects that last a few years at most - there's no evidence either way that this was true in the distant past. Just 50m per day equates to a total transit time of 14000 days or 38 years. That's plenty of time to get proficient at it! We also look back at the finished product, horse saddles as an example, without seeing any of the evolutionary steps that led to that.

[@philhawley1219]

50 metres a day? HS2 would be proud of that rate of progress!

[@davidberlanny3308]

Hi Paul, thanks for braving the cold!! Here's a thought, could it have been moved over ice if not by ice i.e. they made ice tracks in the winter? Its a fascinating subject that will keep running for a very long time. Thanks for bringing all these reports together. All the best!!

[@SteamCrane]

In the US + Canada, pre-machinery logging was often done by cutting trees in the summer, and hauling them on ice roads. Seriously heavy logs.

[@jabberwockytdi8901]

Given that rock from Norway is found on the east coast of Scotland due to ice flows in the last glaciation, I'm still not convinced it's impossible the altar stone wasn't found much further south even though all the info I could find about rock left behind on mainland after the ice receded suggests rocks weren't transported as far over land. ( See also the hypothesis that the Pembrokeshire bluestones at the Henge could have been taken pretty much right to the south west of England by ice flows from the irish sea into the modern day Severn estuary picking up glaciation material flowing south off Wales as the sea flows moved south west past the welsh coast)

[@paul.Darling]

Thank you Paul ( yet again 😁 ), for another great video, I think the main thing we tend to forget about our ancient forbears is that they lived and worked within their limits so moving any large item was a practical exercise not a technological one. Therefor we are most likely "overthinking" their methodology.... ( keep it simple guys 😛 )

[@pwhitewick]

Yup, fair point. Its difficult to step outside of the thinking of the world we live in now!

[@paulberen]

Not mentionned in the vid, but there were Preselli Blue Stones and barges found on the seabed between Wales and the South West of England.. Transport by Sea would certainly be far easiest than overland, while Rivers could also have easily enough been altered / dammed, etc; in places where distance enough of the stone barges would make the water option workable. The same surely would have been applicable to the Stonehenge 'Altar Stone' and having been identified as sourced from the North East area of Scotland and around.. The much easier water transport where water was available, makes uncertain overland routes more likely where they link up with sea and coastal routes..

[@pwhitewick]

Oooh. I was unaware. Do we have a paper on this you could point me to?

[@UsualYaddaYadda]

Yes please! That would be faskin ating.

[@trevorhoward2254]

Where can I find out about Blue Stones and barges found on the seabed, please?

[@angharadhafod]

I'm just picturing some Neolithic tribe somewhere in the middle of Britain, and some people arrive on the northern edge of their territory with a 6 tonne rock. "Hey, would you help us take this on south?" "It's a rock." "Yeah but a very special one, see?" "Are you mad?" This would make a good Monty Python script I think.

[@willbohland3698]

We'll definitely be mad if you don't help us.

[@johndownie9385]

rock off haggis eater.....ya bampot

[@scotbotvideos]

Paul, you may find it advisable to carry a small foldable seat pad for comfortable rock sitting during cold winter days. Doesn't have to be fancy.

[@pwhitewick]

Very good shout!

[@UsualYaddaYadda]

Or a peg loomed wool mat, made from found tresses of sheep's wool, drawn from hedges. Way more fitting, easier to carry and more comfortable!

[@Jacob-W-5570]

I'm confused why people have such a hard time believing they could move a stone 700 km. but they have no problem believing that the stones where placed there. If you can move an object 1 meter, you can also move it 700.000 meters, just repeat your action enough times.

[@pwhitewick]

Absolutely.

[@Axel_Andersen]

@@pwhitewick I alone could raise a stone like that to ten feet height in week or so just for the fun of it, but it would take so many people so many years to move it 700 km. Possilbe? Yes. Likely? No, Glaciers did it and the it was used because it was there and more likely than not the stones resting place decided where this 'temple' was built.

[@JossBenyon]

Excuse the armchair observation/guess and feel free to pick holes in it. But if stone henge is built around the winter solstice, and winters were colder for longer back around the time of construction, is it too much of a leap to assume that activity and building of the henge were done during the winter. Could it have been cold enough to use sledges over ice to transport heavy stones?

[@ahmedshaharyarejaz9886]

Now that's a good theory 👍

[@ronboe6325]

This is science at its' finest. Paper is published, people in the field attempt to poke holes in it and come up with their own ideas. Rinse & repeat. Eventually either the truth comes out or we're left with the best guesses given what we really know. There is a risk in making assumptions about what the Neolithic people felt was time pressure or transportation risks. After all we don't know what the land looked like, exactly, back then. What the sea and sea shores were then. Or even conflict or cooperation with people between Stonehenge and the quarry that could color opinions on where or how to move that rock. In the end. Too many variables, too many questions- fun stuff!

[@compostjohn]

I don't understand why it can't be a glacial erratic. Case in point, the 'Baggy Point Erratic' near Woolacombe in north Devon is from Scotland. However I'm not an expert on such things and I guess experts have decided it's impossible. I'm not suggesting a glacial ice sheet brought it all the way to Wiltshire - but could have brought it some of the way. Modern humans love erratics, seeing them as anomalies in the landscape, sometimes perched precariously on other stones or on a narrow edge, balanced (such as the Bowder Stone in Borrowdale) so I think that early humans could have found a venerated balanced stone and brought it a shorter distance to Stonehenge. Just a theory.

[@agrxdrowflow958]

The Scottish Highlands were part of the Central Pangean Mountains formed around 340 million years ago. When Pangea separated, some of these mountains went to the Appalachians in America. Thus, you could probably find a match in Tennessee. Now, explain THAT journey!

[@UsualYaddaYadda]

Easy! Lizards. In spaceships.

[@raedwulf61]

Nice video with a good explanation. Thank you. Transporting a 6-tonne stone by sea would be faster and generally easier than a land route, but as far as we know, the sail was not present in Northern Europe in the Neolithic. Such a boat would have been likely paddled, and it would have to have been rather large and highly stable. There are some watercraft from that period, namely the Brigg Raft and the Ferriby boats that you may want to look at for this.

[@willhemmings]

Good job. That stone has been everywhere, the Senni beds off Milford Haven, the Cosheston Beds also in South Wales, somewhere near Abergavenny and now the Orcadian basin. The monoliths in 2001 A Space Odyssey could not attract more speculation if they were found to be real. I would bet the truth is that stone 80 was the one and only stone to exist precisely at the spot in which it resides and everything else was built around it

[@David-mo5jw]

I understood that some feasting bones in the area were found to have been from Scotland,so they would have been brought to specific feasting events . If you consider the settlement of Shetland and the tidal waters around Orkney are some of the strongest in the world then clearly they must have been extremely competent mariners. Stonehenge appears to be a project to bring groups together and if so then there must have been persons who could instruct and order across tribal groups ensuring co operation and completion of projects.

[@KravKernow]

In Cornwall there are a number of legends of saints arriving here from Ireland having floated over the sea on a millstone. This makes sense when you remember that millstones were used as ballast in coracles, the main form of water transport back then. So I can well believe that the alter stone was used as ballast on a vessel. Maybe one bringing things from Orkney to Durrington for one of the feasts. If it's then not needed for a return journey (we've eaten all the cargo) then why not leave it behind? I can also believe there was some sort of pilgrimage with the stone staying in places en route. We have that analog with things like Charing Cross. But, to me, all the evidence suggests Stonehenge (in it's sarsen phase) was a bit of a rush job. So it seems inconsistent with that level of planning and foresight. It would be interesting to know exactly when the alter stone arrived on site compared to the other stones.

[@ashleywagner227]

Another amazing video! I love having new topics to go down rabbit holes with.

[@tgbluewolf]

As an American, this land vs sea debate gives me an image of a neolithic stonemason telling the other craftsmen that he'll put up one torch if the stones come by land and two torches if they come by sea. That night, he ran through the village shouting "the stones are coming, the stones are coming!"

[@Sailor376also]

Glaciers. My own small lot,1/4 hectare, when the house was built, excavations, gradings,, and many stones were turned. I travel a great deal and have an interest in geology. Just and only in my yard I turned up stones from 1,000 kilometers away, and as large as a meter plus and 800 kilograms. Britain has been covered in ice many times,, even the last reached as far south as the Midlands. ANY single stone could, and likely is, an erratic.

[@pwhitewick]

Just one stone though. Absolutely no others in this region and it just so happens to be the Altar?

[@Sailor376also]

@@pwhitewick There may be many,, but dispersed and underground. The fact it is a single, and from far away, and not terribly large,, In my small bit of heaven, there was a single rock 700 or 800 kilos, a bit flat,1.5 meters across, and I know where it came from. It is a rock unique to an area about 700 kilometers north. It came from there. Interestingly, the final glaciation in my area came from the SE. So that one stone traveled in different glacial epochs. I believe the paper, as to where the stone came from. If there were two stones,, or certainly if there were three stones I would tend toward the human agency moving them. But a single? Occam's Razor. My first guess would be humourous, that stone was found right there. It is the original stone that located Stonehenge.

[@Axel_Andersen]

@@Sailor376also I'm with your hypothesis 100%, such a simple and workable solution.

[@malcolmrichardson3881]

A stoney problem - or set of problems! As your fascinating video indicates, there seem to be many loose ends, not least in the scientific methodology used and the constraints imposed by English Heritage in taking samples for rigorous testing and analysis. I think your video highlights some of the problems to be addressed in reaching a definitive answer as to the origins of the Altar Stone. Perhaps it's wise to remember, that in archaeology, as in most other disciplines, results are almost always, provisional and subject to the weight of further evidence and investigation. Great stuff. Thank you.

[@davie941]

this was so interesting again Paul , really well done and thank you😊

[@pwhitewick]

Many thanks!

[@danlw212]

Another great video, Paul! Thank you for your passion! My 2 cents: I am skeptical of this theory that the stone was specifically brought from Scotland for use in Stonehenge. I am skeptical more in a “I can’t wrap my head around it!” since that “I don’t believe it’s conceivable!” since. I DO believe that ancient people could move large stones over a distance without assistance from the aliens! The stone may very well be from Scotland, but did a team from Salisbury travel there to bring it back or a team from Scotland purposely quarry it and carry it to Salisbury? Today, many of use are familiar geologically, biologically, botanically, culturally, historically, etc. with areas 700km away from where we currently live. Even if we are not familiar with the area, we have maps, atlases and navigation apps to help us find these places. What I have a hard time wrapping my head around is 5000+ years ago how did they know to go 100km to Wales for those stones, let alone 700km to Scotland? I really am posting this as a question because I have never studied anything about it so I would love to learn if I am missing something from those that have studied it.

[@pwhitewick]

All very valid questions and points. I feel the answer lies in the vast periods of time we are talking about. We see our lives as they are.. short.

[@Axel_Andersen]

Ice age, glaciers.

[@danlw212]

@@pwhitewick👍 Like I said, it’s so hard wrapping my head around it. It’s almost like we are talking about an alien civilization because of how long ago it was compared to what we think of as “a long time”. For what it’s worth, I’m American so 300 years is a REALLY long time ago!🤣

[@philiptaylor7902]

Great video Paul, I love the idea of the stone gradually making its way south over generations, accruing significance and sacredness along the way. Wouldn’t it be amazing if more accurate tests could show it was originally part of the rings at Brodgar or Stenness.

[@jonbinki9651]

It's possible, I would imagine building a giant raft of 20+ large tree logs... using all kinds of animal leather straps, tree bast fibres and other stabilisers and use a large crew of people, both on raft/ canoe and even beach guides to slowly - agonisingly slowly - pull the raft gently in shallow water as close to the beaches as possible... completely parking and resting the raft at wild water days on a beach break... and just carefully take it yard by yard... day by day... for months, perhaps an entire year...

[@pwhitewick]

Yup. I think you could almost do some experimental archaeology here.

[@jointgib]

@@pwhitewick already looking forward to this collaboration ep

[@kevin-e5h5t]

Therein, they knew they lived on an island. Local villagers would not have been aware of such things, but the shaman/priest/sage class were information gatherers, and had their own oral history, passed down for generations. Their network across the land, transferred knowledge of how to make things, and the guilds prospered. Before the written language, a stone of yore was passed.

[@oremstale8558]

to think, we know SO little about our pre-roman country...

[@pwhitewick]

Indeed yes. Lots to discover.

[@johnslavin2270]

There were nae Romans in Moray though

[@oremstale8558]

@@johnslavin2270 i suppose it's still pre-roman then...

[@frankgulla2335]

Thank you, Paul.

[@danielmalinen6337]

Ice age glaciers could also carry boulders for many kilometers. Thus, for example, stones that came from Finland have been found in Germany and Poland.

[@pwhitewick]

Indeed they can, but not in that direction, quite the opposite in fact.

[@tripledprojects]

You mean large ice sheets? I think the ones that would have picked up and moved large boulders great distances date significantly earlier, perhaps 12-18k years ago.

[@reekinronald6776]

Exactly, it's the obvious answer. These transported rocks are called "Glacial Erratics".

[@danielmalinen6337]

@tripledprojects During the several Ice Ages, there was repeatedly many kilometers thick layer of ice that covered Northern Europe and the British Isles.

[@jono1457-qd9ft]

​​@@pwhitewickNonsense. Do you know anything about glaciation?

[@briangodfrey7424]

Some thoughts: 1. A six ton piece of sandstone is heavy, but not as dimensionally large as one might think. An intelligent natural engineer could easily figure out how to move it either across land or on/off of a raft or boat. Especially those guys, who built structures with much larger stones than 6 tons. Basically, if they can move those huge stones 26 miles (or whatever it was) then they can move a 6 ton stone much farther. 2. I think the biggest issue with the long overland journey is "politics". Will they meet with hostile people along the way or will they be welcomed wherever they go? Since this was no small undertaking, I assume they had that all figured out before they started. I mean, these weren't just a bunch of frat-boys deciding to move a stone on the spur of the moment. 3. The thought of it being an ambassador for all of those much larger and harder to transport stones is intriguing and evocative. I like it. And it might have helped with the diplomacy required to pass through so much settled territory. 4. The water journey might not have been any more risky than an overland journey. There are a lot of opportunities to drop and break the stone on a long overland journey. Going by water you need to get it on the raft or boat at the beginning, off of it at the end, and the rest is the luck of the weather. If they lost one on a previous attempt, we'd never know, would we? If they meant to have three stones and only one of them made it we'd never know, either. Etc. But when you consider that humans somehow navigated to Luzon (Philippines) about 700,000 years ago - and that was pre-Homo sapiens, probably Homo erectus - then ancient people obviously had the capacity to build craft that could successfully navigate in the ocean.

[@thehaprust6312]

I think there is a tendency to underestimate the level of seaborn communication in the prehistoric world, in some part because ships and boats are very ephemeral in most conditions, while roads and paths can leave an impact on the landscape that can be observed after centuries and millennia. I certainly believe that late neolithic or early bronze age cultures could manage costal navigation quite well, and the idea that a generations-long overland transportation could be seen as a cultural phenomenon seems like special pleading. I don't have an opinion about the origin of the stone itself or the accuracy of the identification, but over-water transport makes more sense to me in a historical and archeological context.

[@hholton7245]

Probably took the altar stone down the A9/A90 then onto the A1 stopping off at the Devils Arrow's at Boroughbridge? Great presentation thanks for sharing.

[@WC21UKProductionsLtd]

Great summary of all the latest on this, Paul. Do we know if Parker Pearson has finally given up on his idea that the stone circle was moved from Wales?!

[@pwhitewick]

Cheers, Darren. I'm not actually sure where we are with that. I think, as you imply, we are back to Quarry, direct to the site. As for MPP, who knows.

[@WC21UKProductionsLtd]

@ I think he ended up being accused of that most heinous of things: interpretive inflation!

[@bob_._.]

Perhaps English Heritage could be asked nicely if a small divot could be removed so that a core sample could be taken invisibly from underneath? Replacing the divot afterwards, of course.

[@pwhitewick]

Yup. Seems like a reasonable ask

[@HarperJodies]

Your videos are always so funny and exciting! Thank you for your creativity and your ability to make us laugh!😍🫶💧

[@donmurray3638]

"Laurentian" one of the words near the start refers to the Laurentian craton , ancient core of North American. Scotland (north of the Great Glen) was originally part of that continent before continental drift separated them.

[@bartsanders1553]

Last time I was this early, Richard III's grave was still missing.

[@pwhitewick]

I'm here all day. Try the veil.

[@charlesjmouse]

Always interesting, thank you. FWVLIW: If an object can be moved at all the distance is immaterial as long as the will exists to move it... So what was the will..? What was the significance of the start and finish locations to make the journey? What was the connection? Was the 'alter stone' significant for the place it came from, or in it's own right? If the former then transport by sea makes most sense, being by far the easiest method. If the latter then over land might make more sense for people to see it and maybe to avoid possible loss at sea. PS: On the subject of moving the Sarsens, who knows? But I suspect they were moved on the Avon as again that would have been by far the easiest option, and there is a little-known 'henge' / landing site on the Avon at the spot it comes closest to Stone Henge, which if I remember correctly lines up with the avenue kink and all. Again, suspicion without proof: But if the Egyptians could move truly enormous stones along the Nile in vast numbers I see no reason why neolithic Britons couldn't do the very same thing at the same time with far fewer and smaller stones - never underestimate human ingenuity, especially where the desire to avoid hard work is concerned.

[@ahmedshaharyarejaz9886]

In the fertile crescent victorious cities would haul away the giant stone idols of the conquered cities. Perhaps something similar happened with this stone. It was originally quaried in Scotland by one tribe, but lost in some later war, and over a series of centuries it changed hands till it reached StoneHenge.

[@simonsaville9962]

Heavily wooded landscape, maybe plenty of natural 'anchors' for pivots ( and ropes? ). Just a case of weaving through the trees, picking a suitable course. Not sure how this could've worked for the distance involved.

[@catharinethomas5797]

Maybe because I've visited and studied the Channel Scablands in Washington State (site of huge glacial lake outflow), I cannot buy that these "wandering" stones were moved by Bronze Age characters. Easiest explanation: they are glacial erratics that were not moved hundreds of miles -- just a little ways.

[@pwhitewick]

Indeed, but we have zero evidence for that direction of travel from ice, and mountain in the opposite direction!

[@LeslieGilpinRailways]

Still puzzled why Stonehenge is the only place that gets researched -yet equally impressive landscapes remain undisturbed

[@pwhitewick]

Completely agree. Adam Morgan Ibbston did an amazing video on that actual topic

[@chrish1657]

Because it is unique, simple as that.

[@AnotherLostBall]

I wouldn’t say Stonehenge is “the only place that gets researched”. It may be fair to say that it’s the most famous place, or that Stonehenge gets more research resources than many other similar locations …. But it’s not “the only place” surely? And clearly many ancient sites would have been very impressive but very few, if any, have been so fully protected in such an impressive and accessible vista.

[@bigbasil1908]

Arbor Lowe in Derbyshire is a very impressive stone circle though all the stones are fallen

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

​​​@@chrish1657I doubt that it is unique, just better known.😊

[@dvorapa]

One though just rang the alarm bells in my head: the stone was not moved on land "because the land is heavily forrested". Are they sure? First, are the scientists really sure that at the time of moving the Altar stone, the land was heavily forrested? I mean I was taught at school about the great deforestation by people of Neolithic age because of farming. And where I come from the scientists agree that the land was fairly deforrested still in the late antiquity, afforested back during middle ages (I come from the Continent though). I'm no scientist, but nonetheless I would like to see some sources backing the claim - that might even be some good strategy to approve or disprove the land path vs. the water paths. Second I believe there might've been some neolithic routes or paths even in forrests at the time. It depends on the composition of the forrests at the time - also some good sources might confirm or not the composition of forrests at the time and probably find routes that might've been possible for the stone on land. If there were none suitable paths on land due to reasons above, it would make some good arguments for the water (sea, rivers) path (of course if any of the thoughts above could be proved today)

[@johnswift1736]

As an ex fisherman. Sea would be easier than you think. 4000 years ago boats shifted Stine in eygpt. Also boat and rivers were the trucks and roads only as far back as 1700s. Romans used them. Vikings did. And the time and effort would be easier to lose at sea and make again than dragging it so far.

[@johnslavin2270]

I think the builders of Stonehenge came down from NE Scotland bringing the altar stone with them blessed by their shaman. And most likely by boat taking some months over the spring to Autumn. Seafaring capability and boatbuilding skills were likely very high. They weren't bad masons either. And they must have come in peace. Oh for such peace in 2024

[@knutanderswik7562]

Scottish stone of significance pillaged and set up by the southerners in a neolithic cathedral, sounds familiar doesn't it

[@frank-y8n]

We do want to know where it came from. If it came from Norway it might have been an erratic stone in the Netherlands. Then it would certainly have come by boat. But even if it came from Scotland - you could transport a hundred of such stones by sea for the effort necessary to carry one over land, with the technology of that time.

[@landmannmike]

You can buy a 7 tonne stone today which is 2.5m x 1.5m x 1m. So yes, it is heavy, but about the size of a double bed. Not easy to move of course, but by no means impossible.

[@mikedjames]

I reckon that it would have been hard work but achievable to build a wood and skin based boat around a 6 ton stone, then wait for good weather and hop south along the coast. A boat about 10m long could easily have a 10 cubic metre displacement and weigh less than 4 tons made out of wood and hides.

[@pwhitewick]

Yup. Some experimental archaeology would work here!

[@garyives3318]

Great video as always. I'm intrigued as to why they chose to use a stone from so far away, when there appeared to be a ready souce of serviceable stone only 25 miles away. It seems an awful lot of extra effort. It must be a very special stone for some reason.

[@pwhitewick]

Absolutely. I think it tells us simple how important that Stone was.

[@QALibrary]

Wow that was great timing - not sure if I sent Paul the latest report about this subject a few weeks ago

[@pwhitewick]

Don't recall an email.

[@gilliangrainger9600]

Another very interesting video, thank you 😊

[@pwhitewick]

My pleasure!

[@markapted7937]

Thanks

[@pwhitewick]

Thank you

[@martinh4982]

I think my answer to this is still the simplest: the stone was used because it was there to be used. No need to add any unprovable entities, such as multi-generational religious quests involving pit-stops, applying mystical properties to rocks, magic levitation technology, or anything else. I'd also point out the fact that if the people of the time had the sophistication to move 6 tonne blocks many hundreds of miles, then they'd probably have the sophistication to realise that doing so is a complete waste of time.

[@Dave5843-d9m]

The stone might have been transported by glacier ice sheets and finally dumped in the (relative) south of England when the Ice sheets retreated. It was attractive to the Stonehenge builders so they moved it the same way as the larger megaliths.

[@Axel_Andersen]

@@Dave5843-d9m Exactly!

[@johnhughes8563]

Excellent video.

[@PhilipMurphy8]

Stonehenge is always a interesting topic

[@pwhitewick]

Agreed

[@S-T-E-V-E]

I wonder if it's connected to he Ring of Brodgar, it would be amazing if we found out they were quarried at the same site!

[@pwhitewick]

If the Altar came from southern Shetland (possible), then it may have played a part!

[@S-T-E-V-E]

@@pwhitewick Well the crazy thing is that stones used in the Ring of Brodgar on Orkney are believed to have come from Sandwick in the Shetland Islands, a possible source that you pointed out in your video!

[@falconfotographic]

A explanation about NE Scotland being the home of the highest density of Stone circles…predating Stonehenge may have helped some of the commenters here…..

[@rialobran]

I very much doubt the builders suddenly thought to themselves they needed a piece of sandstone from North East Scotland to finish off their monument. The several decade theory of slowly moving south seems a much more believable scenario.

[@PeterKertesz2013]

2:19 Why is the ground seems like relatively flat? Shouldn't be there some holes left after by the removed stones if they being "resourced exactly from there" ? Just curious

[@pwhitewick]

I often wonder if you can see any old Quarry spots. The issue is we are talking of a landscape 4500 years ago. Add to that much more moder mn quarries

[@Jimyjames73]

W😮W Paul - Some very big word that I don't understand let alone pronounce!!! 😉🚂🚂🚂

[@pwhitewick]

Happens to me daily

[@jointgib]

where could i find the Sarsen and Puddingstone map that appears around 6:16 please

[@bradarmstrong3952]

Sounds like they're pretty sure it came from Scotland, but just not sure exactly how it got there. Every answer raises a new question! Great fun! Thanks for your research, sharing your passion for the history of Britain, and your engaging presentations.

[@pwhitewick]

Pretty much yup. If only we had a core, we coukd probably pin it down some more

[@apb3251]

That would imply not only a trading system but also a common communication language amongst people from different tribes. The distance involved would take months for someone from e.g. Wiltshire (who has an idea) to for no obvious reason head north to find some stones that differ from what is locally available and then agree for the extraction and transportation. Not impossible but also not likely. Or for the northern tribe to decide to bring something something in their own accord

[@tristanmills4948]

​@@apb3251Communication and trade yes, and not unlikely, but the rest of your comment is not necessarily true. Language need not be a barrier, people can learn other languages, and would have then. Neighbouring groups would communicate too and either have mutual intelligibility or bilingual members. There's also many reasons that it could have moved which don't fit your comment. Off the top of my head it could have originated as spoils of war (like kidnapping your enemy's god). Or maybe there was a tradition of moving around with sacred stones to different communities. We'll likely never know, but more research into other monuments across the country might give some insight. Or maybe it was a neolithic Stone of Scone at some point in its journey (all three could be true at different times). The timeframe of Stonehenge is so long that there are many options and timeframes for this to happen, there's nothing saying the altar stone was intended for there when it was quarried. Ultimately English Heritage need to allow more research, but the current treatment is one exclusively of preservation.

[@apb3251]

@@tristanmills4948 but you now suggest tribal wars in an empire stretching nearly the length of the island. With such sparse and small population it’s difficult to see how that would work.

[@seanzealony9499]

Could the Romans have been involved moving the Scottish stone. Is there proof that all the stones were all laid out in same time period. Were some stones added much later than the first ones. Decades later or even centuries? Who knows !

[@themerkin1953]

I thought the altar stone led you down a secret tunnel to the pandorica?

[@pwhitewick]

Watch this space

[@trevorhoward2254]

Definitely moved anthropogenically, definitely transported by sea but no evidence for either. Brian John is the bloke to heed in these matters.

[@michaelsargeaunt]

In reply to people who claim not to understand the fascination with Stonehenge. Don't you? well never mind, I will explain. It's because of the lintels, it has lintels. No other stone circle has lintels, never mind interlocking ones with tenons. So it is unique, both in appearance and conceptually. All the others are rocks in a circle.

[@garysmith5025]

There is evidence of trade between Orkney/Caithness and Europe predating the construction of Stonehenge, so the transport of a stone to southern England by sea seems entirely plausible.

[@sianwarwick633]

I think it's possible that the stone processed through Britain. Why not ? On an unrelated note, when it's cold, and you want to sit in a rock 🪨, you put a scarf between you and the rock ?

[@pwhitewick]

@@sianwarwick633 I had widely underestimated how many takes of the clips I would take. (I should know by now!)... so caught me off guard somewhat

[@cvtsboy]

How did southerners know that there was this of rock in north Scotland . Couldn’t another type of rock have been just as good?

[@johnslavin2270]

Possibly the builders of Stonehenge brought the altar stone with them

[@yodbod]

Perhaps the altar stone was vertical and the winter solstice sun cast a shadow with it . Could there have been a burial at the end of the shadow.??

[@petemarkey626]

It is not the distance that stagers me, It is the fact they were allowed to freely pass through the territories of countless tribes and kingdoms, many of which could have been waring. the cultural and language differences would have been staggering, it would be like going from Spain to China today but without language translation. How do you begin to negotiate that. With that in mind a sea trip seems more likely.

[@eppynt]

I love your channel

[@nickthegardener.1120]

The moai walked on Easter island 👌😊

[@robertuk444]

Brian John does know a few things about Geology. All the points he made in his video should be answered before we can take this recent story about the alter stones travels seriously.

[@burgersquid]

If moved by boat, does that change what we know about the kind of boats that could be built back then? 6 tons, that would have to be a boat that could carry 2 cars. if over land, that's a lot of varied terrain, obstacles, and groups of people that would have to be on board with or at least indifferent to you moving a giant stone through their land. A thing that would have taken a lot of people and animals, supplies and what have you. Beyond all that, something in the culture of the area around stonehenge lent importance to rocks from up there. What might that have been? The mind reels at the possibilities.

[@johnslavin2270]

You may be inspired on a visit to Orkney by the Ring of Brodgar to speculate on whether there was communication and exchange of goods and culture at the time of the stone circles. I think the builders of stonehenge brought the altar stone with them

[@North_West1]

Isn’t there another stone circle in the Orkney islands. (Underwater now). Alter stone Related?

[@pwhitewick]

oooh, interesting. I was unaware. Let me know if you find the detail.

[@davethornton2920]

Why state the distances in kilometres? The measurement for long distances in the UK is miles.

[@DanielMcgonigle-t8e]

Fair play for feeding your kids

[@knighthawk86855]

Well who's to say, they transported it by sea, and the first time they..... Shipped it, it made it, as if the first time they shipped it it did sink, they should look off the coast of England and see if there are any other huge stones off the coast?

[@scottzema3103]

Here is what you are not seeing, and many academics as well. During the Bronze Age there was a need for the materials to make bronze in Europe and the Middle East including tin. England was the source of that tin. Mined in Cornwall. So how did that tin make it from England to say, Egypt? The answer is: by ship. By a whole fleet of ships along a trade route likely dating from Neolithic times, from England with stops along Brittany and Spain, including 'Atlantis', a large Bronze Age port in southern Spain just on the west side of the Straits of Gibraltar, through the straits and then points east, and back again. In fact the tracks of this trade route and the consequent prosperity it brought to western Europe can be seen in the megalithic monuments of all types extending from Britain and into Brittany and the Loire Valley, including of course Stonehenge. Prosperous people can afford to build henges, dolmens, and other monuments. So what I am saying is that not only was transport of stone and ore and copper or sarsen stones possible at this period, movement of such items was routine. So to ship stone by sea by barge (Egyptians did the same thing transporting the granite for the pyramids) is entirely plausible. During this period only a matter of money. SZ BA MA Art History and Architecture

[@davidpoole5595]

I would use different stones from the most extreme points of the island north west east and build my fortress from it to show I control all the land of the island. I don't think Stonehenge has anything to do with stars etc...its a seat of power

[@harpersisland]

I read the Scottish Provenance paper and still think it’s glacial erratic. As the paper says “Moreover, there is little evidence of extensive glacial deposition in central southern Britain” what it doesn’t say is there is no evidence, making this all the more special for the builders of Stonehenge. Maybe the altar stone is why Stonehenge is there in the first place. Does the altar stone show any human modification or is it found in the position nature placed it?

[@John-2024-]

And it's twice as old. The nearest piece of archeology to an unused bluestone in west Wales is a 10k year old firepit, I think something like 1.5m from the stone. This date matches the erm totem pole next to the dry river bed that is yards from the henge. Actually they were pairs of upright posts on the bank of the river made of 1m round pine trees. Over time 500 years or something the river changed course or drifted and more pairs of post were added next the river. The start of construction date for stonehenge is very obviously 8500bc using at the very least rafts capable of moving 2 ton rocks by harnessing the tide in an end of ice age river that has since moved about 2 km away. I think of the 14 firpits in west Wales that start 10k years ago only about 2 match the 2500bc date experts give us. That and 1 burnt 5000 year old hazelnut is the foundation of there evidence.

[@honodle7219]

It would be interesting to know why it had to be THAT stone from so very far away. Why wouldn't a 6 ton rock from much closer work? Kind of like the London Stone. It had to be brought from far away. But why? It's a ROCK.

[@gaffysmenk]

Naa, its from Orkney. What do the specialist know. There's an easy way to tell if it's a large Orcadian flagstone. Simply stand on it when its wet, if you slip on your a*se then it's from Orkney.

[@pwhitewick]

I like this test.

[@StephenDavenport-zqz2ub]

If the rock type is only found in Scotland, then it must have been moved by man or glaciation. It could have rolled down of its own accord, Southern England is sinking and Scotland is rising. This is because the ice sheets pressed Scotland down because of their great weight. Now that weight has melted away, and only recently, Scotland can rise up again to its natural height.

[@johnslavin2270]

We can still rise now as Flower of Scotland has it

[@keithwesley2471]

The long time element is a more likely possibility and I guess they could've cut down the trees in front of their transport team and used them as rollers?

[@pwhitewick]

...true, but we had plenty of arears of scrubland too.

[@zebrabing]

why couldnt they have been floated up by Totnes and maybe canal to Present site?

[@qwertyuiopgarth]

I think that cultural perceptions of how old their culture is has something to do with how strong the preferences of that culture are for getting things done quickly. The younger the self-perception the more important 'getting it done now' feels....

[@ross1701]

Stones move easier when they don't weigh as much. Frequencies.

[@samhklm]

Paul - in the US you qualify as a archeologist, scholar and adjunct professor.

[@pwhitewick]

Too kind. 😊 But I assure you I remain an entusiastic story teller.

[@UsualYaddaYadda]

By Sam's somewhat snidey logic, that's because you remain in Europe. 😉

[@alexanderperry1844]

Stonehenge stones were sourced from across the country. Their movement to Wiltshire was a political project, orchestrated by the Druids as a distraction for the tribes involved.

[@pwhitewick]

The stone henge stones (megaliths) were from periglacial landforms process that resulted in their formation in what is now the West Woods. No movement prior to that. The inner smaller bluestones from the Presili mountains in south Wales.

[@alexanderperry1844]

@@pwhitewick And the altar stone from Scotland (?). I maintain that this was a political project intended to make various communities work together. Hauling the stones, even over a long distance, would have required the cooperation and commitment from the communities though which the passed. That would have been a key aim of the project.

[@pwhitewick]

@@alexanderperry1844 Oh indeed. I agree there needed to be cooperation and commitment at every turn.

[@bjbest]

Do you think the stones should be lifted and reset with archeology done below where they lay as this has likely been undisturbed for a very long time.

[@pwhitewick]

That's a great question. A huge question. The easy answer is, yes. Imagine it restored to as it was intended... plus an opportunity to do some amazing archaeology which will fill in so many gaps. But.... I fear there are many reasons that I personally don't know about as to why this hasn't happened already. (Asude missing stones).

[@bigbasil1908]

They partially rebuilt stone henge in the 1950's. Do a google image search of it and you'll see loads of old photos of the work being carried out.

[@johnslavin2270]

​@@pwhitewickPlease don't move the stones. I wonder what it looked like before the concreting in the 1950's? What mix did they use? Hopefully limecrete not Portland

[@lulabellegnostic8402]

To me the mystery is not how the stone was transported, the stones for the statuary on Delos was transported by sea. The mystery is how stone age people knew about stones 700Km away that would be desirable for their henge. It’s not like they were touring the area and happened to spot them.

[@robstallard9505]

You dont mention brian john's most important finding. This is determining the origin of the stone, your video does not question the Orkney/Scotland origin. However the number of samples of rocks of the same age and type as the altar stone is extremely patchy. There are whole regions of the UK that were not sampled or relied on just one or two samples. It is most likely that the stone came from the Midlands basin of Old Red Sandstone and may have been transported by ice to somewhere fairly close to Stonehenge. The idea that the stone comes from Orkney and therefore Neolithic people must have collaborated to transport it is deeply suspect without a lot more (hundreds of) expensive rock samples being analysed.

[@jonathanmercer7109]

Please, please - in Britain we use miles. I know kms give a bigger figure that sounds more dramatic, but what isn't dramatic about carting 6 tons of stone 500 miles?

[@interruptor]

Could it have been aliens?... I just feel like we shouldn't dismiss the possibility. Aliens love circles.