Humans, not glaciers, moved Stonehenge’s bluestones, study finds

By Fatma Zehra Solmaz

ISTANBUL (AA) - New research has produced the strongest scientific evidence so far that Stonehenge’s iconic bluestones were transported to the site by humans, rather than by natural forces such as glaciers.

The study, published on Tuesday by researchers at Australia’s Curtin University, challenges one of archaeology’s longest-running debates by rejecting the theory that Ice Age glacial activity carried the stones to southern England, according to Science Daily.

Instead, the study lends significant weight to the view that the bluestones were deliberately moved by people over long distances.

Curtin researchers traced the stones’ journey by applying advanced mineral “fingerprinting” techniques to microscopic grains collected from rivers near Salisbury Plain in southern England. These minute mineral particles serve as geological time capsules, recording how sediments have traveled across Britain over millions of years.

Using world-leading instruments at Curtin’s John de Laeter Centre, the researchers analyzed over 500 zircon crystals. As one of the most durable minerals on Earth, zircon is especially well-suited to tracing ancient geological processes over deep time.

Lead author Anthony Clarke of the Timescales of Mineral Systems Group at Curtin’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences said the findings showed no evidence that glaciers ever extended into the Stonehenge region.

"If glaciers had carried rocks all the way from Scotland or Wales to Stonehenge, they would have left a clear mineral signature on the Salisbury Plain," Clarke said.

Over time, the rocks would have eroded, releasing tiny mineral grains that could be analyzed to reveal both their age and where they originated.

"We looked at the river sands near Stonehenge for some of those grains the glaciers might have carried and we did not find any. That makes the alternative explanation—that humans moved the stones—far more plausible," he added.

Clarke said there are various theories about how the stones may have been moved, including transport by boat from Scotland or Wales or overland using rolling logs, though the exact method may never be known. However, he stressed that one conclusion is clear: the stones were almost certainly not carried to the site by ice.